Cleanse, Tone, Over Throw Capitalism - Blog Post | January 28th, 2022

Years ago, when I was doing my BTEC, they had this make-up artist come in to give us a talk about creative careers. I remember her saying the best advice she could give us was to get into a good skincare routine now, so we’d be less prone to signs of ageing. ‘I’ve never been so drunk or so tired that I forgot to take my make-up off before I went to bed.’

I’ve thought about her over the years. Every time I’ve woken up hungover with lipstick on my pillow. When I’ve crawled into bed at 5 in the afternoon with mascara on and a migraine starting. Whenever I’ve bought expensive skincare stuff and abandoned it after 3 days.

17 year old Letty, pale skin, brown over straighten hair and bad goth make up

If you’ve never been drunk enough or tired enough to go to bed with your make-up on, have you ever really been properly drunk or properly tired? If I’d been cleansing, toning and moisturising for the last 13 years would my face skin be nicer?

Last week I saw someone on Instagram talk through their 40-minute nightly skincare routine. Skincare is health care she said, caring for my skin is caring for my mental health.

Someone looked at this 17-year-old and saw a professional make-up artist in the making.

I thought, who has that kind of time? I thought, don’t you realise you’ve been sold this idea by capitalism? I felt daft not being able to stick to a proper skin-care routine. I felt daft for feeling like I needed one.

The truth is my skin is my own sovereign nation, it belongs only to me. I get to choose if I put moisturiser on twice a day, or just at night, or just whenever it gets dry and starts to itch.

The truth is I glamorise all kinds of daily routines because I’ve never been able to stick to one. I’m physically incapable of doing anything 2 days in a row. Sometimes I genuinely feel terrible about this in my creative life. I’ve internalised the idea that artists should have some kind of repeatable formula, a reliable process. I’ve never had one. I’m always reading about writers who do the same thing every day. And somehow I can’t take a step back like I can with the skincare thing. I can’t see the fiction.

It still happens. My creative work, I get it done. It doesn’t really matter if I’m doing it once a day, or once a flood or just when my brain starts itching.

There isn’t a right way to wash your face. There isn’t a right way to be creative. There isn’t a right way to be a person. And if I ever get invited to give a creative careers talk to a bunch of 17-year-olds, that’s the only advice I’m giving.

Reader, I did not start the thing