As I’ve ventured to different places in the world, something I’ve noticed is the amount of make-up women wear - and there doesn’t seem to be a particular age to it. I can’t help but wonder why.
I remember on my 13th birthday - becoming a teenager and getting make-up was a huge deal - I was growing up. I wore it - probably had the thick chin line at times when the foundation didn’t match properly (great look….) and I also went through a bit of a punk phase with eye-make up that went up to my hair line! It was all about self expression, not about covering my face up. I’m sure I didn’t wear it every day and at some stage it got less and less. When I was 28 I went to work ball and had my make up done ‘professionally’ - I got home and took half of it off, I felt like a man in drag!
When/what was the turning point for me of not wearing it at all? I don’t know, I guess I just didn’t feel the need for it at. It was also in part rebellion against a media driven world that seems to insist that women wear make up - therefore I wasn't going to!.
Nowadays the media flaunts pictures of naked faced stars, oh then there was the Facebook ‘campaign’ - dare you post your face with no make-up - such bullshit...
Why do some women feel the need to wear it all the time and in such thick layers - is it self-confidence, not believing they are beautiful without it, hiding bad skin (and adding the problem of bad skin), or because they feel it’s what women are meant to do?
I was researching the how and when make-up started and came across this article - great writing
http://the-artifice.com/the-feminist-makeup-culture-reconsidering-cosmetics/
and the video is brilliant so please take 10 mins to watch it...
I have nothing against make-up - not like I used to, and I love how Eva DeVirgilis talks about it and if you don’t click on the link here’s a great quote:
Mykie, a self-taught, LA-based makeup artist,
“Makeup is supposed to be fun, positive, and you should want to do it for yourself. No one needs makeup, you don’t need it to impress someone, you don’t need it to feel beautiful, and you don’t need it to fit in. You should want it to have fun. You should want it to be expressive. You should want it to play around with or to enhance your already, perfectly, wonderful features sitting on your face… You may wear makeup and feel more confident and therefore attribute your confidence to makeup. But real, true, lasting confidence comes from inside and will be there even when you wash your makeup off.”
She sums up my feelings towards make up perfectly and even inspires me to get more and play to express myself!!
Ladies out there reading this - love your faces without and with make up.
Eva is right - we are all beautiful.