Gilding the lily?

Make-up tips for brides and everyday beauty.                         

It has been said, by more than just a few, that beauty is only skin deep. It has been said, that women today are way too focused on their appearance, perhaps excessively so. It has even been said by some of my readers that, ‘Nothing is sexier than natural unadulterated skin.’ And, wait for it…..I completely agree.

The truth of that matter is that beauty is unique and indefinable. Not only across today’s vast and varied cultures, but dating back many centuries. It is true, that as far back as we can document, women, and men I may add, have been so-called ‘gilding the lily’.

In a perfect world we would walk around completely ‘bare’. We would take each other as ‘we’ came. We would be honest and loving to all those around us. And our beauty would be exclusively and completely measured on the capacity and depth of our individual personalities. 

As a make-up artist I feel that I am in a prime position to comment on today’s beauty standards and the pressure we feel to look a certain way. I have worked with high-fashion models, celebrities, and well, ‘real women’, and it continues to fascinate me that the women who we would expect to be the most happy with themselves, the women with supposedly ‘perfect’ figures and faces, tend to be the most insecure. (I would also like to add that celebrities and fashion models are ‘real women’ too. I have checked every single one for robotic parts and on/off switches and have yet to find one).

I have had many a discussion, mainly with men, about women’s need for make-up and various beauty treatments. Here’s the thing boys (and girls), I can’t speak for everyone, but from where I stand, MOST of us do it for ourselves, that is if the desire for external beauty is coming from the right place. This is the key to the division between beauty enhancements that are coming from a place of excess and insecurity, and beauty that comes from a place of self-love and the desire to reflect externally our wishes for ourselves. 

My wish, for myself, is to be happy and healthy. And unfortunately, like many women, I do not always look that way. Life can be stressful, people are overworked, and some days we just look like #%&! And in steps a little help: make-up. Hands down, the greatest pleasure I get from my work is showing a woman her potential for beauty. I have yet to meet a woman who is incapable of looking fantastic with the help of a little bit of this and that, and a fresh new perception of herself. What looks good is still open to interpretation, as with everything. Is it the whole answer to a fulfilled life and a healthy self-esteem? No, absolutely not. But it sure helps.