20 December 2010
Looking Back on 2010: Makeup
Posted by Roland under: Personal .
I had always thought (and I’m sure a lot of us also) that no, I wasn’t that shallow. I wasn’t that affected by appearances. It’s all about personality in the end. Looks come and go.
Yeah well, that was kind of a shock during the year.
Probably one of the big revelations I had this year was how much makeup can change a person’s appearance and even in some cases, hide their other flaws. Of course I knew that makeup was used to improve your appearance, but it wasn’t until this year I actually was able to see “before” and “after” of the transformation. Ignorance maybe? I didn’t know what a change it could make and well, now I do.
All YouTube makeup videos and scary “day after” photos aside, I was surprised how much that a person’s appearance and correspondingly, my own perception of them was affected. Coupled with the right fashion (previous readers may remember my similar revelation on girls wearing boots as well), let’s face, I’ll be quite the sucker for the girl.
As first impressions are all about looks, how many got the unfair advantage just with the application of the right makeup? And maybe how many lost out because they didn’t use any? Natural beauty is something to be admired, but with the popularity of makeup videos as a sign, it’ll be harder and harder to find. It’s a vicious game out there and I guess girls will have to use whatever they can to their advantage. I’m not discounting that.
There was one girl that I thought was ridiculously cute, but after the initial shock and awe wore off, I did quickly realize that there was makeup in full effect. We even had a long discussion about her “natural” look and how rarely it actually came to light. Everyday, she would take the time, to do herself up, unless the situation made makeup unnecessary (a rarity). And sure, she looked cute, but I had never really seen her without makeup. Eventually, at one point, I would see her again and I just realized, she wasn’t that cute. At some point, I was able to break through the heavy makeup she had on and realized, there wasn’t enough makeup for this girl to cover up all her issues. Her real self was peeking through the mask of makeup.
I guess I just have to be more aware, going into the next year, to avoid getting sucked in by the appeal of makeup and break through to the real person beneath it all. I’m all for girls using makeup, I’ll just have to be less of a sucker about it.