Quadriplegic Woman Proves Anyone Can Masterfully Do Her Own Makeup

There are countless beauty influencers out there creating makeup video tutorials, but Meag Gallagher is rewriting the script. The comedian, actress, singer, and producer proves she also has makeup artist skills. But what makes her video extraordinary and inspiring is that Meag is a quadriplegic, meaning her arms and legs are paralyzed.

On her YouTube bio, she writes, "After my injury in 2005, my hands were paralyzed as well. Thanks to a bilateral tendon transfer surgery performed by the amazing Dr. Elizabeth Anne Ouellette in 2008 I was able to use my hands in a functional way once again. Since then, I can hold my own wine glasses, apply my make up with ease, and pen nasty notes to my enemies with no trouble."

She told Mic that she created this to empower others. "I thought people would be interested in seeing how I put myself together, and maybe that could inspire someone else with their look, whether they're disabled or able-bodied," she explained.

In her first-ever makeup how-to, the Floridian walks us through how she does her face, from moisturizer and foundation to a gorgeous cat eye.

"I have special paws, but who cares?" she mused. "I can make my face look beautiful thanks to makeup!" And that she does.

She teaches us how important the right tools are. "If you have wonky fingers, brushes are your friends," she noted. Sometimes she even puts them in her mouth to hold on to them.

Her humor and pop-culture understanding also come out through the video. "Thanks to Broad City, I'm embracing the fact that my eyebrows are sisters, not twins. They'll never be identical," she noted with a shrug. We love her eyebrow hack, too; she mixed bronze and black pigment and applied it to her arches with an angled brush.

The message here is that you can overcome a traumatic injury and still regain skills, acceptance, and confidence (Meag exuded positive self-esteem throughout her tutorial!).

"After my spinal cord injury 10 years ago, it wasn't easy learning to do makeup again, but I figured it out," she concluded. "If I can do it with my Barbie paws, you can, too. Never lose faith in your makeup abilities."

She ends the video with a shot of her in her wheelchair looking fierce and beautifully made up.