Spring cleaning is a wonderful thing. It helps us DE-clutter, start anew, and perhaps also re-evaluate old things and let go of them.
When it comes to makeup, it seems that the frosty months are the seasons for sultry looks with rich red lips and, due to the Kardashian clan, contouring.
We’ve spent hours indoors staring at video’s on YouTube: “How To” contour your face like Kim, pack on colors and shimmer for the festive season, achieve dramatic looks for indoor parties, and, let’s not forget, the ubiquitous false eyelashes—once only meant for the stage—now women seem to have adopted them into their daytime looks.
All this adds up to too much of everything. Sure, it photographs well, that’s how those looks were created—they are editorial looks. But, more often than not, should you go outside with that much product on your face, you will end up looking like a very contoured and colorful vampire.
Those spearheading this craze for overdone looks are not found in the fashion or beauty industry. Ironically, makeup artists are far more restrained in their recommendations for stylish looks. And fashion designers have been even more diametrically opposed to it and sent models out on the runway with natural makeup that would barely register on an LA socialite’s blush-o-meter.
No, this trend is coming from everyday women with too much time on their hands, too much makeup in their drawers and a thirst for YouTube fame. Likes beget followers, followers beget big brands taking notice, that begets more products, and it all adds up to money in someone’s pocket and more products to layer than a Broadway diva’s stage kit.
OK, so it’s mesmerizing to watch these mini-makeovers that take a human face from bland to super-glam. The entertainment is in the doing. The face is the canvas that will be dramatically transformed into a heightened female, call her glamazon or pastiche of her usual self.
Perhaps putting on makeup is an extension of the role we take on as business women, because, makeup or not, when we don that ‘hat’ we do shift gears and become that role. But it’s a question of degrees. When ’the mask' becomes too mask-like, it defeats the purpose and we are in danger of making ourselves objects of silent ridicule.
So perhaps we should re-examine what the purpose of makeup is.
Well styled makeup should:
- cover minor flaws
- enhances one’s natural beauty
- complement one’s style of dress
For a simple demonstration about how to achieve a natural look, UK makeup artist Lisa Eldridge’s “No Make Up Look Tutorial” makes it very clear and she also explains how to optimize your products without going overboard.
An important point to consider is to make sure to apply your makeup under bright artificial light if daylight is not available to you. Otherwise your blush that looked subtle in mellow indoor lighting might just prove to be more like a bad case of rosacea.
It’s always better to be safe than sorry. The aim is to look like you, but healthier.
