“Clothes don’t change your skin color or shape (unless they are shapers, I I guess). Makeup does alter color (lipstick) /size (mascara) of your features. To me, that’s the difference.”
But so what? What’s wrong with lightly enhancing my features with, let’s say, a little colored lipgloss? I’m not talking lip implants here. If I have chapped lips. I can grab for Burt’s Bees lip balm - but make it one of the tinted ones and suddenly the game changes?
“That phrase smacks of “we expected her to just throw in the towel since there’s no reproductive potential here, so why bother”.”
Actually the statement in this thread about not knowing anyone over 50 who looks at beauty / body care magazines is the throw-in-the-towel moment.
“Haha, using it as as a way to appear more attractive to the opposite gender (or the same gender) or to make oneself look more like the societal idea of beauty.”
This means you agree that all makeup for any purpose falls into “enhancing” category?
How would working out and going to the gym fit into all of this? Technically you are altering the shape of your natural body by running, lifting weights or doing pilates. For those who object to make-up as an alteration of your natural appearance, how do you feel about working out?
Cleopatra wore cosmetics.
Around 30BC?
I expect she wasn’t the first.
We’ve had people altering their appearance longer than we have had indoor plumbing & electricity.
I suppose you could say those aren’t natural either.
This is pretty interesting.
http://history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/ancient-egyptian-cosmetics1.htm
The way we chose to present ourselves, reinforces our place in the world and how we see ourselves.
For many women – myself included – wearing light, tasteful make-up helps me to look polished and well-groomed as opposed to faded and tired. That’s partly because I very pale skin and hair with blond eyebrows and eyelashes.
My daughter by contrast looks like Cara deLavigne (sp?) with light hair, dark prominent eyebrows and thick black eyelashes. She looks perfectly polished without make-up, but she definitely needs brow-grooming from time to time.
So it depends on the person. I’m practically hairless, so I’ve never shaved my legs. I just don’t have any visible leg hair. But it would be ridiculous for me yo start chastising others for engaging in the dumb artificial ritual blah blah blah.
By the way, I think women (including straight women) are more appreciative of other women’s looks than men are. So I don’t think women spend time on their looks just to please men.
I honestly don’t care who wears makeup and who doesn’t. I really try to not judge people based upon their looks or attractiveness. Last week I ran into a running buddy at the grocery and we both had to do a double take - we were so used to seeing each other at 5 am looking less than picture perfect it was a shock to see each other dressed for the real world, so to speak.
I used to really enjoy makeup. But as I’ve gotten older, my interests have changed and fashion is not as important to me as it once was. I’m a pretty simple dresser. Now I would like to get a manicure - I’ve never had one. I love all my little Kiehl’s containers and having good skin. I love my Burberry tote that holds everything imaginable. These are not things I need, but things I want and enjoy having. I suspect we all have our “indulgences”.
The Washington Post had an interesting article on Photoshop - how Photoshop has evolved and how it’s used in the media. I found it interesting.
My 22 yr old D wears makeup…tinted moisturizer, etc., but the only detectible thing I can see on her face is eyeliner. She has very dark brown hair, brows, and lashes with intense blue eyes - the liner is striking and while her eyes are very pretty without it, but it does give them an extra wow factor. The other makeup she wears is undetectable because it’s so deftly applied.
It takes considerable practice and a bit of talent to apply makeup well. Perhaps some of those who don’t wear makeup are not comfortable applying it and thus are not happy with the results? My mother did not wear makeup for this reason…but for a special event, I or someone else would apply natural makeup for her and she was always very happy with how she looked.
Too late for me to edit, but this quote from the article above really resonated with me:
Almost every app we use has a way of filtering/enhancing photos - even for the everyday user.
I find it odd that there are people who have a negative reaction to others wearing makeup. I wear it, have done so since I was 13 (I’m almost 58, you do the math). Some of my friends/coworkers/others I encounter wear makeup, some don’t. I have never really thought that much about it. Really, why would I care?
Why would we care what someone else chooses to do? If someone wants to wear makeup- fine. If not, fine too.
To me what’s interesting is the resistance to doing something to enhance one’s looks. Which I don’t buy at all. The people who don’t wear makeup (which is fine) aren’t wearing the striped pants with the polka dot shirt just because both cover the body. Or they don’t just go into a paint store, close their eyes and pick a paint chip at random to paint the house with. We make aesthetic choices about ourselves and our environment all the time within our specific tastes and budget.
In the scheme of things, makeup is pretty low on the scale of “altering”. If you wanted to make this case for breast enlargement or derrière-boosting there might be more of a case. But “paint and spackle” for everyday makeup?
For those of us with daughters, we all know when we started letting them wear a little makeup, there was that inevitable moment where they applied way too much, made themselves look much older and we had to tell them - go wash it off and let me show you how to wear it in a way that enhances your own look. That middle-school-painted-face is what I think of when I hear paint and spackle. Inexperience.
I would like to point out that even in nature…enhancement of the species was meant to attract the opposite sex. However, unlike humans, it’s typically the male that is more beautiful…think of male birds that are more brilliantly colored.
Well, in our species it’s the female. So yes, we artifically decorate ourselves to look more desirable. It’s just nature I guess. You can fight it, or have fun with it at the cosmetics counter.
There are a few cases where, IMO, the overdoing it with the eyeliner/shadow looks too severe, especially on a late teen or young adult. But that is their choice, and they will probably tone it down a bit in time.
@sabaray Run to get yourself a manicure. I only do it about 4 times year, but can’t keep stop looking at my hands after it’s done! It really is pretty and feels so good! When going on vacation, I splurge and have the shellac nails done in a french manicure so I don’t have to worry about nicks in the polish.
acollegestudent, you are making simplistic assumptions. Do you want to know why I wear (a modest amount of) makeup? Well, it’s the same reason I don’t want all white walls in my house. I love color and dislike things that are bland and monochromatic. I color my hair. I wear lipstick. I put on a single coat of mascara. I do these things for ME, just as I decorate my house for me.
As an aside, I don’t quite understand why you are arguing this in the Parents’ Forum. Someday this could be your issue, too–but right now, aren’t you more interested in topics that concern you and your peers directly?
I wasn’t going to post today as the conversation has gotten a little prickly, but acollegestudent wasn’t the one to make assumptions so please don’t pick on her. I was the original one to ask why people wear makeup when (to me) it seems to be a tacit admission that our bare faces are not perceived as beautiful enough without enhancement.Why, I wondered? I will ask, I thought. Of course, others have different opinions. I appreciate the thoughtful remarks.
acollege and I didn’t (I thought) make any value judgements, sanctimonious comments, or otherwise throw shade on those who choose – for whatever reason – to apply cosmetics. Honest to goodness, I just wondered what perspective that person has, so I asked. I get it! Some of us like it as an aesthetic choice! It’s just like jewelery (which I also don’t wear, full disclosure) or tattoos (I would love one!) or any other kind of personal aesthetic adornment or recreational choice. Not an argument. Fact-finding. Ruminating. Passing the time. Sitting around talking with virtual friends 
Waiting for the STUPID SNOW TO STOP!!!
But people do lots of things to look nice: their clothes, jewelry, shoes. And this is true for men and women. If it makes a person feel better, there is nothing wrong with that. Its not a value judgement on their doing it to please someone else.
Yes, that’s what I’m saying. No value judgment implied at all. I was simply curious. Literally.
This IS getting a little prickly! I wonder where anyone can find a statement, either by me or greenbutton or anyone else saying we condemn others wearing make up. As I said in almost every post, the reasons I give are the reasons I don’t like make up and don’t wear it. I also don’t like it when women feel the pressure to wear make up, when if that pressure didn’t exist they wouldn’t - very different situation from someone loving make up and wearing it.
@sally305, while I got my username while in school, I have long been out of college. I thought your reply was a bit rude. Even if I were college-age, which I am not, why try to put someone in a box - nothing wrong with wanting to talk to people who are not your age. This isn’t high school.
All that being said, whether you love it or hate it or just don’t care, I personally feel that make up does alter appearance in a way that clothes or hats or hair doesn’t. That’s why I (emphasis on I) don’t like it and don’t wear it.