Image via Youtube (Yesterdayswishes).
Doing your makeup can be difficult. There are complicated looking products, confusing techniques and some days, no matter how hard you try, your makeup just won’t do what you want it to.
Now imagine having another obstacle to battle with – not actually being able to see what you’re doing.
Lucy Edwards is a British beauty vlogger with a difference; she’s helping those who are blind feel confident about doing their own makeup by posting special beauty tutorials.
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The Birmingham-based 19 year-old AKA YesterdaysWishes knows what it’s like first hand, after becoming partially sighted aged 11 due to a rare disorder, before losing her sight completely two years ago.
In an interview with BuzzFeed, Edwards shared how her sister Alice worked with her to create a makeup routine that didn’t require a mirror.
“It wasn’t straightforward – it took about a year for me to be comfortable doing my makeup by myself,” she said. (Post continues after video.)
“At points I’ve been like, ‘I don’t want to do this any more,’ because it’s been so frustrating. But I have to calm down, and trust people. That’s a factor when you go blind – you have to put your trust in people a lot more with the way you look,” she says.
Edwards shares her experience of losing her vision with her 7000+ subscribers, as well as her product recommendations and makeup tricks on everything from applying eyeshadow, filling in her brows and yes, even perfecting that eyeliner.
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“You guys might be thinking ‘how does she do this so quickly?’ but I’m used to it now, it just seems second nature to me really,” she says applying eyeshadow from her Urban Decay Nude Palette in one of her videos.
"It can be really hard to tell when you don't have a mirror or a reference or someone telling you. If there isn't anyone around, then I usually just go with the flow."
On lining your waterline, Edwards advises: "I've worked hard at my depth perception techniques as I have none and have managed to get this down to a fine art. You might need to work on working out where your eye is as you can't see the pencil coming towards your face!"
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The 19 year-old law student highly recommends L'Oreal's Superliner which has allowed her to relearn how to line her eyes without the help of her sister.
"It looks daunting and it is really, really tricky and you might have to have so many goes at it because I've been so frustrated by it," she says.
"You might have to get someone to check it after, but once you've got the hang of it and get the depth perception right, it gets better." (Post continues after gallery.)
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Edwards uses her hands to feel and guide the pen in the right spot. "I personally still can't do flicks, so if I'm going out, I'll ask my sister," she says.
Her love of makeup grew after she lost her sight. "Because I can't see myself in the mirror, I feel the necessity of doing my face more," she said.
"Because I'm making myself pretty, it makes me feel better about myself on the inside. I know the media has a lot of rubbish about whether you need makeup and so on - I don't think I need it especially, but it's just a thing that makes me feel good about myself. It makes me feel like I'm in control," she says.
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Edwards says that makeup helps her feel more independent.
"Makeup for me, personally, means that I don't have to ask anyone about how my face looks anymore."
As well as assisting others, going on Youtube has also allowed Edwards to help herself.
"I've met people online who I can talk to, and get support from. And we can all be a network together," she says.
"Nobody is the definition of 'normal', but it makes you happy being with people around you who you know are experiencing similar things to you."
What's your favourite look from Lucy's channel?
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