Did you know there's such a thing as breast contouring? As if push-up bras aren't intense enough, people seriously highlight and contour their chests to appear "sexier." And yet upon my discovery, I tried it, and you will too if only out of curiosity. People are inherently fascinated by being able to change their appearance and achieve the look they desire with the help of things like makeup. Whether you see it as good or bad (or possibly both), it's truly fascinating the lengths we will go to to appear the way we want.
I think makeup is amazing and fun; it truly can be an art. Makeup artists can create some of the most amazing things out of the human face with a little makeup. Special effects makeup is what makes so many haunted houses and movies so realistic and cool! It's an art form that can be expressed so many different ways and always looks different on every individual!
Though it can be amazing there are some side effects to its use. The problem is not with makeup itself but with the way it is presented. Ads like "bring out your natural beauty" imply that even your natural beauty needs some touching up. Or the famous "10 beauty tricks for lazy girls." Lazy girls. To say that a girl who doesn't want to put on a full face of makeup every morning is just lazy? We as a society do not on a large scale promote make up for fun, we promote it as a step in becoming a woman. At a certain age, a woman is expected to wear makeup or she's "lazy" or "plain." This is simply unfair. When women do try and have fun with their makeup and experiment with colors, they are told they're wearing too much makeup. So which is it? What are we doing to these women by telling them that they are required to wear makeup to be treated well but also scolding them since we've decided they've put on too much?
Several studies have found that women who wear a moderate amount of makeup are more often promoted and given raises than women who don't wear it. It seems to be a common excuse that women who wear makeup look more "put together" or it "shows that they care." In the average workplace, a bare-faced woman is no match for a makeup wearing woman with the same skills. How completely unfair it can be to people who can't, or simply do not want to, put on a full face of makeup each day. A man in the same job doesn't get passed over for his male co-worker who decided to wear mascara that day. It is simply unfair to expect that because you are a woman you must take an extra thirty minutes every morning to "put your face on."
Makeup is a fun tool and something that can be awesome to experiment with. Want bigger eyes? Put on some mascara and white eyeliner. If a slimmer face is what you're after, just contour those cheekbones! And who doesn't want those Kylie Jenner lips? All you really need is a little lip liner and some patience and you're ready for your selfie. It's a great way to be able to change your appearance in a non-permanent way. It should never feel like a duty and should not be on the checklist of things a woman needs to be beautiful or even presentable. It's a personal choice you make, and nobody should tell you differently.
