The Power Of Makeup
“Beneath the makeup and behind the smile I am just a girl who wishes for the world.”
The one product used by many all over the world, for thousands of years is makeup. It has been used for different reasons including performing arts, self expression, highlighting parts of ourselves as well as covering up insecurities. I find that for me personally, there is a power makeup can hold over us in positive and negative light.
Makeup has always been fun for me in the sense of creating art. With being in dance and acting, makeup has been essential to create an outlandish character or to help tell the story. It is also a form of self expression giving us a an opportunity to paint our face for glam events or daily outings. I love to have my fair skin and blue eyes stand out with the help of makeup. Yet at the same time I feel that it can be a negative presence for myself and here is why.
I always believed or saw as a child that makeup was everything. Even though as children we never really cared what we looked like till a certain age. That by wearing it I would be liked or fit in with the popular crowd. I felt the societal pressure to feel as if you need to have some form of makeup on everyday. If we have freckles or a blemish we should cover it all up with concealer to have a perfect complexion. We see the commercial and influencrs’ promoting the expensive and highest quality makeup every where. There is the sense of you should have this or that to keep up with trends. For me I would get up so early to try get my face flawless and would get upset with myself when I messed up. I tried to hide moles and scars from surgeries with foundation so I would look like a model or not be made fun of for my “flaws”. It had taken a toll on me. The fun or enjoyment of creating art was gone as I became aware of the negativity I saw or felt.
It has taken me years to not care about wearing makeup everyday. This mainly happened during college when I was running around for classes and did not have time to get dolled up. To not wear it was freeing and gave me a little more confidence. I over all feel that there are so many sides to how make up affects us all. We have given an inanimate object power over us in different lights and extremes. I do not know if I am the only one who feels this way and I wonder what you think. Feel free to leave your opinion in the comments, I’d love to hear.
No matter what make up does not define us. We are beautiful if we have our faces painted or not. It is only a tool for us to create part of our story.