Makeup can help change your look, your mood, your personality. When i'm feeling blah, sometimes just getting ready and putting makeup on helps me to feel ready for the day. Or when I'm going out for the night, it helps to set the mood and how I may act for the night - demure, classy, flirty, sassy...makeup is almost like a costume or a character I take on, allowing me to tap into other areas of my personality. I think I learn about myself that way too.
Makeup, unfortunately can be used to bury who we are because of insecurities. I think I'm guilty of even using at as crutch. To cover up things I don't like about myself. Society can make you feel like you should even think about leaving the house without it; especially after seeing magazine after magazine exploiting "Celebrities without Makeup," as a negative thing, but then have an article on the "10 Things You Can Do To Love Yourself," it's a very confusing world.