Does the foundation they buy come with a free palette knife to put it on and a scraper to remove it? And why do a lot of them wear tinted (tinted?!) products that make their faces look like they've been to the Far East, but not the rest of their visible flesh? And there's a lot of bare skin around lately too, mostly on the wrong legs! And in this weather... brr!
Have you seen the gloss paint look? Slimy-look faces. Not nice.
Actually, it's just occurred to me that it's called foundation because it's supposed to be used as a base for other products... not to be the over-bearing the star of the show!
It's a look that requires a lot of time, effort and money... I bet the cosmetics industry is loving it.
Do men like it? Do they want to get close to all that gunk? Do they even notice?
Though I did overhear some schoolboys on a bus last week discussing their sisters' make-up habits and how they found it unattractive. They used words like 'stupid', 'muck', 'orange' and 'fake'.
I suspect if you ran your fingers down one of these rendered cheeks it would achieve the effect of a textured abstract painting, ploughed field or corrugations.
Here are some pics to illustrate the sort of thing I mean.
See more textures here.
And if you give them a kiss on the cheek, you'd get stuck for ever (I know people on these shores aren't supposed to kiss but some foreigners do. Four times where I come from). Somehow I can't say I noticed but maybe I simply ignore girls who paint themselves like a stolen truck (yes, that's one of the expressions you'd use in such a case across the Channel). Lovely pictures though but I really don't want to imagine that on a face. I think I'll wait for five minutes to have my lunch now.
ReplyDeleteAll the best,
Sebastien
Surely makeup is meant to enhance not overpower. OK, I'm a bit of an old fart now, but as an outsider looking in it seems to me that there are two problems, one is that they just don't know how to put the stuff on properly (not having any sisters, I don't know how it works. Is it something you learn from your Mum or do you just raid Boots and experiment?), the other is more serious and enters the complex area of "body image" issues.
ReplyDeleteAs a bloke, and in the unlikely event that the opportunity arose,I would lean towards enhance and away from excess....and even the social peck on the cheek shouldn't really leave a residue!
I have just discovered your blog and love it. It's the first time I have seen the positive in a blog in fact and will forward this particular posting to my 2 teenage daughters who couldn't agree more. I have yet to understand the wonders of foundation - for the young it seems perverse to obfuscate just that, youth, and for the more mature, it becomes a creviced thickness that morbidly deters one from taking the painted person seriously - I find myself counting the wrinkles one by one they are so beautifully highlighted.
ReplyDeleteOh my. My youngest, Sophie is 10 years old and as natural as could be. I can't imagine the day when she decides to go the makeup route. My wife uses make up sparingly ... I feel fortunate!
ReplyDeleteIf only these young ladies realized that the glow of youth they possess without even trying is the "look" that all others clamor for...
ReplyDeleteVery well put, Ken.
ReplyDeleteI was in Selfridges yesterday afternoon and witnessed hoards of young girls clamouring (for glamour?) around the cheaper make-up stands. They were mostly testing the foundations. When did this mask-fetish start?