Too much makeup. Too much glitter. Too much blush. Too much highlighter. Too much colour. Too much contour. Too feminine. Too dramatic. Too loud.

But honestly, who made these rules?

We have always had these weird rules around beauty. You can wear makeup but not too much. You can dress up but don’t look like you are trying too hard. You can look good but it should still look “natural.” Like somehow we are supposed to look amazing but also pretend we did nothing.

Make it make sense.

For queer people, I feel like these rules can be even more annoying. There is already so much pressure around how we are supposed to look, especially when it comes to being masculine or feminine. A guy wearing makeup can be judged for it. Someone wearing glitter can be called “too much.” Someone wearing a full glam look can get comments about trying too hard.

But what if they just like makeup?

Sometimes there is no big reason behind it. Sometimes you just want a good base, a dramatic eye and enough highlighter to blind someone. And honestly, why not?

That is what I like about makeup. You can change it depending on your mood. One day you can keep it simple. The next day you can go all out. You can try something new, and if it looks horrible, you wash your face and move on. There is no rule saying you have to look the same every day.

The funny thing is that the idea of “too much” keeps changing. A makeup look that people thought was crazy a few years ago can become a normal everyday look today. Heavy contour, big lashes, overlined lips and lots of highlighter are now everywhere.

So who actually decides what is normal?

Beauty trends change all the time. What one person thinks is too much can be completely normal to someone else. And what looks dramatic on one person can look completely natural on another.

I also think we spend too much time worrying about how other people will react to our makeup. Instead of looking in the mirror and asking, “Do I like this?” we start thinking, “Will people think this is weird?” or “Is this too much?”

Maybe we should stop doing that.

Especially in queer beauty, there doesn’t have to be one correct way to look. You can be soft. You can be dramatic. You can wear no makeup at all. You can wear glitter at 10 in the morning just because you felt like it.

And if someone thinks that is too much?

Well… too much for who?

And honestly, maybe the whole idea of “too much” says more about the person looking at the makeup than the person wearing it. We all have different ideas of what looks good. Some people love a clean and simple look, while someone else might feel their best with a full face and a lot of colour. Neither one is wrong.

I think makeup becomes more interesting when you stop trying to make everyone happy with it. You start trying things because you like them. You stop asking if the look is too dramatic and start asking if it feels like you. That small change can make makeup feel completely different.

For queer people especially, this can be a big thing. There can be so many opinions about how we should look. Sometimes you are expected to look masculine enough. Sometimes feminine enough. Sometimes people want you to look queer but not “too queer.” It can feel like there is always a different rule depending on who is looking at you.

And that is exhausting.

Makeup can be a way of saying, “I’m not following all of that today.”

Maybe you want a glossy lip. Maybe you want sharp brows. Maybe you want a little blush or a full face. Maybe you want to wear a colour that people around you would never choose. It does not always have to be a statement about your identity. Sometimes you just saw a makeup look online and thought, “Wait, I need to try that.”

That is the fun part.

There is also something really nice about how makeup keeps changing. Trends come and go. One year everyone wants a super matte face. Then suddenly everyone wants to look shiny. One year it is thin brows. Then everyone is trying to grow their brows back. Beauty never stays in one place.

So why should we?

We should be allowed to change our looks without people thinking we are confused. You can love minimal makeup and then randomly decide to do full glam the next weekend. You can love a natural look in the morning and put glitter on before going out at night. You can change your mind. You can experiment.

And maybe that is what makes beauty so personal.

There is no universal amount of makeup that works for everyone. “Too much” is not a measurement. It is an opinion. What matters is how you feel when you look at yourself.

I have started thinking that maybe we should stop treating “too much” like an insult. Maybe being too much can actually be fun. Too much glitter. Too much colour. Too much blush. Too much drama. Too much personality.

Because sometimes being “too much” simply means you are not making yourself smaller for someone else’s comfort.

And if makeup makes you happy, then honestly, put the extra glitter on.

Because at the end of the day, the question was never really “Is this too much?”

It should be:

“Do I like it?”

And if the answer is yes, then that’s enough.