Makeup is like a pair of shoes to me; I can’t leave a store without buying some and I never leave the house without my favorite ones. I rarely step out without a dab of foundation or a swipe of mascara. But is makeup ruining the idea of true beauty? Beauty and makeup trends have been around for ages and occasionally makes us think that the way look isn’t attractive to the public.
For instance, in the roaring twenties women wore thick pale foundation to make their skin appear lighter and by the Marilyn Monroe period, women were applying fake beauty marks to their cheeks. Now we see possibly my now least favorite word, *contour* (fireworks explode and confetti pops).
Contouring requires maximum effort for an effortless look. The original idea was reserved for the runway and professional photo-shoots but thanks to YouTube amateurs, contouring your face, chest, stomach, even legs is the new trend. The objective of contouring is to create and enhance the natural shape of your face. Highlights and shades are strategically blended to create subtle definition. Subtlety is key, it’s all about the illusion of great bone structure. But is this new trend hurting women’s sense of self confidence?
I started noticing the trend a few months back but didn’t think anything of it. I thought, who would spend tons of money and even more time making their face look ever so slightly better than it did before. Applying different tones of makeup to specific areas made girls' noses appear thinner, and defined statuesque cheekbones. Makeup artists of all levels of expertise were now applying the highlight and shade technique as part of their daily routine and the trend evolved into something much more. I decided to go to Sephora one day to see what all the hype was about. Now, I rarely go to Sephora, my go-to makeup store is Ulta because it's casual and easy to maneuver. So I bypass the over-glam sales associates and pretend to know what I'm looking for which lasted all of 10 minutes. There were so many options and I truly didn't know what I was looking for. I gave in and asked around to see which contour product was the best for my skin. Fifty dollars later and I walked out with Kat Von D's contour kit that I was told was the best. I had a good idea on how to apply the different shades but I watched a few YouTube videos to make sure I was doing it correctly. After a few months of making contouring part of my everyday routine, I can now master shading my face in 5-10 minutes.
But here's where the problem lies... On days that I do not sweep the magical powder across my nose and cheeks, I see that subtle difference and don't like how I look as much as I do when there's 6 different hues on my face. So now I think, could this enhancement be slightly changing the view I have of myself? The slimming characteristics that appear are now moving across the body and people are contouring their chests, abs, legs, even FEET. Who needs to spend two hours at the gym when you can spend two hours painting abs on your body?? It's incredible that people will go to lengths with makeup in order to make themselves look completely different. Is this trend ruining our self-esteem when it comes to our natural beauty if we can barely leave the house without having defining our abs and accentuating our cheekbones? So next time you run to the grocery store or to class, forget about changing the shape of your nose and change the shape of your thoughts and be positive about your natural beauty.
