Mikayla Nogueira, a Tiktoker, put off searching for a wedding dress until six months before she was to walk down the aisle.
The beauty influencer, who revealed her engagement to her fiancé Cody in 2021, opened up about her emotional struggle with body dysmorphia and how it affected her outlook on the process of finding a bridal gown in a series of get-ready with me videos that she posted on TikTok. The videos were titled “get ready with me.”
The postings that Nogueira made were in response to a user who had commented on how surprising it was that she hadn’t begun shopping until now.
Nogueira choked back tears as she said, “This is already rough,” in the first of three candid films that were taken before her journey to the wedding store.
She started to explain why she had continually postponed the purported special event, which she had hastily booked online without doing any research due to her anxiousness. She said this while taking deep breaths.
She questioned, “Doesn’t it seem that when small girls are growing up they always look forward to a day like this?” “However, in my experience, things are different when you suffer from body dysmorphia in addition to an eating problem and extreme insecurity.”
She then stated that body dysmorphia, a mental health issue that leads one to concentrate on perceived imperfections in appearance and that, according to the Mayo Clinic, may create anxiety among other feelings, has had a significant influence on the way that she perceives herself.
“It is not going to be an easy day for me since I already know I’m going to have to spend a lot of time gazing at myself in the mirror. I make a concerted effort not to stare at mirrors because I find that I start to criticize myself.”
In the second video, the makeup artist spoke about how her bodily dysmorphia has been with her since she was a child. She recalled the occasions when she had to change into her sports clothes at school.
“I always felt like there was something wrong with me because I was the only f- – – the girl who could not change in front of everybody,” she reveals, adding that, unlike her peers, she felt more comfortable changing in a “private, separate room.”
Nogueira has confessed that she does not feel in sync with her influencer moniker, despite the fact that her profession is viewed by millions of people (in Nogueira’s case, it looks like 14.4 million followers on TikTok alone), and is mostly oriented upon sitting in front of a camera.
“To this day, I have the impression that I do not belong in the category of an influencer in any manner, simply because I do not meet the f-ing ideal of beauty in any way. I really despise having to take selfies on Instagram because I just can’t bring myself to look at my own face “She spoke her mind openly.
However, just a short time after publishing the films, Nogueira shared footage of her dress-buying adventure at Vows Bridal in Massachusetts. The video included a montage of her modeling a number of their alternatives, except the one that she finally said yes to wearing.
She expressed her gratitude to a member of the Vows team for making her feel “very at ease” during the whole process. “I did feel like a princess, I wouldn’t lie. I felt quite fine.”
Although Nogueira is most known for her cosmetic tutorials and reviews, she has recently utilized her platform to discuss her struggles with mental illness and her path toward self-acceptance.
She admitted to the public in the spring of the previous year that she had gained up to 60 pounds in a single year. She revealed as much in a video that was uploaded to TikTok on April 4 and stated it was “tough” for her to lose weight since she suffered from an eating issue.
She said, “If I cry if I get emotional, it’s because I struggle with an eating disorder. So, I’m really working to overcome it, and this is really difficult for me, but I want to take you guys with me because you guys support me so much, and I love you to loss.” “If I cry, if I get emotional, it’s because I struggle with an eating disorder.”
