Hi! My name is Stephanie. When you meet me, you may notice my attention to my appearance: stylish outfits, colorful eye makeup (sometimes also bright lipstick!), fun nail polish and well-moisturized hands. You may be tempted to write me off as a bubbly Californian valley girl who knows appearance and would be shocked to break standards.

Please don’t.

What you won’t realize is that I wash my hair once a week or less, do my laundry about every 5 weeks (I’m trying to get closer to 3), have no qualms about sitting on the grass, and I make my own deodorant (which is why I can go 3 or 4 days without applying it).

Appearance is a geeky thing, to me, something to fiddle with to see what works. I swear I have NO idea what I’m doing with makeup, but so far haven’t made a huge mess, and despite how self-conscious it makes me to wear bright red lipstick, I wouldn’t trade it for a thing.

I have about 5 dresses that I’ve rotated in and out this winter, combining them with different accessories for different “looks”. I still have no idea, really, what to do with my hair other than brush it (I’m trying for other things!). I devour beauty and hair blogs, trying to analyze how they do what they do and what I can do similarly.

But it’s not about looking good. It’s about playing with different combinations to delight myself in my creativity and use of color. And now that I’m one of them, I have to stop judging other people for wearing makeup on a daily basis. That’s their choice, just as it is mine.

P.S. I also love anime, sci-fi and fantasy, know bits of coding languages, and go on (and on) about this cool knitting thing I found. Yeah, you’ll really get me if you judge me by how I look (unless you recognize the pattern for the sweater I’m wearing and strike up a knitting conversation, then we’re probably good).