neurowonderful:

This photoset is dedicated to the people who have been sending me anonymous asks lately about how cute I am, about how nice my makeup looks in my videos, and about how they feel less-sparkly in comparison. The first two things are really nice to hear and I always appreciate sweet messages, but the last thing is sad to hear, especially from fellow chronically ill people and people with sensory issues.

These no-makeup selfies were all taken within the last twelve months. It’s important to keep in mind that I spend about an hour doing my makeup before filming my Ask an Autistic episodes, so the internet is really only ever seeing the prettiest, least-tired/sick looking version of myself. It’s the same way for lots of youtubers.

Most often I live in pyjamas, Marvin’s old t-shirts, and oversized sweatshirts, with messy hair and without a stitch of makeup to conceal the dark circles under my eyes or lengthen my eyelashes. And even in these selfies I am smiling and posed in a flattering way, so if we were speaking in person right now, I would look even farther from my appearance in my videos.

I am Amythest whether I am wearing makeup or not. Both versions are the “real me”, and I’m generally okay with how I look either way, but my youtube self is carefully crafted to be very feminine and fall in line with societal standards of beauty. I don’t look like that even three days out of the week. Please don’t compare yourself (or what kind of hygiene/beauty regime you can manage) to other people, especially not me. It’s so important to love yourself, or at least not be tearing yourself down. The world will do enough of that for us.

You are all super and great and cute, and I love you!