Being a forty-something woman, I am fortunate enough to be more than a
little comfortable in my own skin. After all, I’ve been staring back at my mush
in the mirror since the days of glam rock… I’ve pretty much got used to it by
now. What I do find baffling, however, is the current trend for young women to
layer on so much slap, they become almost unrecognisable from the flawless
canvas that lay beneath. A lack of confidence, unrealistic portrayal of
celebrities in the media or just having a pretty best mate can all push a girl
into cosmetic addiction.
Contouring is big business, with everyone
from teenagers to middle-aged women spending a small fortune on not just one
foundation but three separate bottles of polyfilla; all in a bid to create the
illusion of bones that don’t actually exist. And it doesn’t stop there.
We have brow kits that create monstrous
Brooke Shield-esque arches of chestnut and ebony, which allegedly ‘frame the
face’. Lip maximizers that plump the flesh to near bursting point. False
eyelashes so long, so black, so menacing, I often mistake them for house
spiders and either scream when I spot one lying on the bathroom floor or worse,
try to beat it to death with a slipper. Next up, layer upon layer of
concealers, bronzer, highlighters, blusher, shimmer sticks and eyeshadows,
creating an alluring effect of having fallen head first into a rainbow.
And let’s not forget the mouth – lips
outlined so far outside the actual lipline, it’s hard to decipher whether you
are looking at a girl or a pufferfish.
What worries me most is what happens when
said young woman falls in love? It’s a bit like the chicken-fillet dilemma of
the 1990s… when the illusion of a perfect pair of breasts ended in utter dismay
after removal of hot pink Wonderbra with added fillets revealed a couple of
fried eggs…
Most of us, if we’re honest, fall in love
with a face. Everything else is an added bonus. So what happens when said young
woman eventually has to remove the mask, exposing her canvas and she looks nothing
like the goddess she resembled ten minutes before scrubbing commenced?
I’m all in favour of enhancing your
features and making the most of what you’ve got and personally, I wouldn’t be
seen dead without my Double Wear. But I think its time girls started to embrace
their natural beauty and realise that less really is more. Hiding behind a mask
is for villains and we all know women are the true heroines of this story.
