I was allowed to start wearing makeup when I turned 16. My mother sold cosmetics at a local department store. So she made sure my sister and I knew how to properly apply our makeup so that we didn’t “look like clowns when we leave the house.”

Less is more when it comes to makeup application – that is a philosophy I live by today. A little foundation and some lip gloss and I was out the door. I didn’t bother with eye shadow, eyeliner, mascara, etc. I just wanted to look alive and fresh-faced even though boys were not knocking down my door.

One day, I was chatting with some classmates in the hallway in between classes at school. I don’t remember what we were discussing. Yasmin, who was a white cheerleader and pretty popular, blurted out, “Courtney, are you wearing yellow eye shadow!?”

Everyone stopped and just stared at me, waiting for me to reply.

I wouldn’t have minded the question if a) she hadn’t asked it so loudly and b) she hadn’t said it with such a snobby tone of voice (insert clip from the movie “Mean Girls” to get an idea about how she said it).

“No, Yasmin, I am not wearing yellow eye shadow. I don’t have any eye shadow on at all.”

And I walked away.

What I wanted to say, was, “No you stuck-up, pretentious and spoiled brat, I am not wearing yellow eye shadow. I am a light-complected black person with olive skin!”

Yasmin moved away after that year. No one missed her.