#makeup culture

[sunnysart]

Calling women who don't wear makeup 'pick me's means you admit that you only wear makeup for the male gaze

[radish-lesbian]

Women who don’t conform to oppressive beauty standards hold up my world

[niiwa-angel]

Gyns omg. I work as a waitress and we had a new girl training today. She's my age but holy shit, the makeup she wore made her look scary. Both too old and too young, just a really plastic, fake look.

She had these really long fake eyelashes, just very unnatural looking and very think, drawn on eyebrows. She had a very round face but her eyebrows were drawn on huge, so they made the rest of her face look horribly disproportional. She had also way over lined her lips, I imagine to try to make them look fuller, and then when she drank some water later (because it's hot working in restaurants and all the walking makes you sweat so you have to drink) the lipstick ran and smeared. She looked like she had a rash around her mouth.

She also had on so much fucking bronzer, it was insane. Like, her arms and her face were two completely different colours. She'd contoured her nose to look super small as well and combined with the big eyebrows, just looked very weird, she looked like one of those crazy Snapchat filters.

It came as a total shock to me, since most people in my area don't wear makeup, since our area is mostly physical labourers or trades people, and those that do wear very minimal makeup. Just some tinted chapstick, maybe some mascara. Actually highlighting your features, not just covering everything up.

And the sad thing is, she's a really funny, smart girl! We had great conversations while we worked, she's really well spoken. I imagine without the makeup, she's really beautiful! But the amount she had plastered on was scary to look at and very counterproductive to working in a restaurant. I hope she sticks around and we can become kind of friends, because I wanted to tell her she'd look so amazing without all that crap but that isn't really something you say to someone when you first meet them.

[catgirlapologist]

makeup can absolutely be used as an art form. no one is arguing that for example someone painting colorful, elaborate compositions on their face isn't doing art. what we're saying is that every day makeup, the one people use to "fix" their features so they look more conventionally attractive, and to adhere more to society's beauty standards, should not be written off as art. makeup culture can do immense damage to people's self-esteem, and it can seriously alter how you view yourself. you shouldn't need foundation, eyeliner, etc etc to find yourself pretty, but because of how ingrained using makeup is in our society, a lot of people genuinely feel like they need these things to be beautiful and that's a dangerous mindset. it's okay not to use makeup in your day to day life. it doesn't make you ugly, it doesn't make you lazy, it doesn't mean you don't care about how you look. makeup should not be the norm, it should genuinely be something you use to express yourself, but we need to acknowledge that right now, on a wider scale, that's not what makeup is

[i-used-to-be-an-anti-feminist]

This is going to sound so dumb, but I went to a convention last weekend and met some people in famous media that I really admire and that inspire me, and I didn't wear makeup, and I'm honestly really proud of myself because that would have been impossible for me a year ago.

[marzipanandminutiae]

Thank you so much for putting all my concerns about Beauty standards and cosmetic surgery into words! I'm still a teenager and the only girl my age that I know that doesn't wear makeup. This year my parents who are usually lovely and supportive gave me concealer and some wrinkle-preventing cream for Christmas and I really don't know how to feel about that lol. I'm sorry if this is a confusing mess. I guess what I'm here to ask is: How do I resist the urge to confirm? How do I fight this?

Oh dear. That is indeed rather a predicament, especially if (as it sounds) you don't have a group of like-minded friends to support you.

Also, to be clear, no woman or girl is better than her peers for not wearing makeup, not using anti-aging products, not getting plastic surgery, etc. My judgment lies solely on the pressure for us to do such things even if we don't want to, and on those who actively encourage that pressure.

(That being said...who the HELL gives a TEENAGER anti-aging products?! The only even tangentially anti-aging things one needs to use at that point in life- or any point, really! -are sunscreen and moisturizer, both of which have other primary functions. Namely, preventing skin cancer and uncomfortable dryness/itching/flaking/etc.)

Since you say your parents are normally supportive, I'd start by sitting down and having a calm talk with them. Say that you know they had good intentions, but that you'd prefer to avoid makeup and anti-aging products for now. Tell them that, while again you are sure this wasn't the intent, their gifts made you feel pushed to do something you don't want to. Hopefully this will open a dialogue about aforementioned intentions, beauty standards, and what makes you feel comfortable in your skin.

Beyond that, though, really all you can do is stick to your guns. I'm also a lifelong makeup-avoider, and unfortunately that pressure I mentioned never really goes away. But you can tune it out, in my experience, by finding forms of self-expression that speak to you and surrounding yourself with people who support your decision (even if it's not their own).

Beware, however, of T*RFS bearing ostensibly sensible messages about beauty standards, makeup culture, etc. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day, but that clock is full of transphobia and harshly prescriptive ideas about Correct Womanhood(TM).

[totallytubularific]

I don't know how to say this exactly, but I see so many people choose to wear/not wear makeup due to not just outside societal pressures but also the concept of sin and morality.

Like there are so many posts that are like, wearing makeup is a sin and a moral failing because God made us perfect, and you shouldn't cover it up. But like, I don't believe in a god, and I don't believe that human beings are perfect. But I also don't believe that you should have to wear makeup. The choice to wear or not wear makeup should be based solely on whether it beings you joy as a person, it should not be to conform (though it can never truly be unattached from societal pressure because simply that is how is has been attached for so so long) it should not be because wearing makeup is a moral failing (which is a line of thinking that often leads to thinking of people that do wear makeup as sinners) simply not wearing makeup should be based on whether or not you get joy out of it or not. There are many reasons to not wear makeup,

I like to touch my face, and be able to eat without fucking lipstick, I like to cry, to laugh, to do many things that makeup often makes difficult, so I don't always wear it.

But I also sometimes do wear makeup, I like wearing black lipstick, because it is jarring and silly, and that experience should not be marred by the thought that it is immoral to wear this or that I am doing something wrong.

Your inherent existence as a human being, should not be considered immoral, and yes, I acknowledge that the societal pressure to wear makeup is bad, it is harmful to the self-image of women and girls, but we cannot stray too far in the wrong direction of telling them that they are immoral and wrong for doing something. Makeup itself is a neutral concept, it is simply pigments for your face, the items and wearing them cannot have a moral weight to them, the culture and consumerization and all of that surrounding the makeup can be negative, but we cannot stray into thinking that simply wearing makeup is a moral failing because if we do we will divide people instead of accomplishing a goal that is the deconsumerization and decommodification of beauty.

[emily84]

new art style trend where every single facial or body attribute that doesn't fit this new version of the cutesy eurocentric beauty pixie girl: fucking die already

[uchidachi]

Makeup ads are exhausting. I just saw one that was all “you can style your brows a different way every day!” like that’s a selling point instead of yet another incremental capitalist torture.

[bigballer1137]

(Choose based on your personal opinion instead of your habits, such as enjoying makeup but not wearing it yourself)

[aman1taverna]

op made this unrebloggable but this is so funny to me. what do you think terfs believe

[manichewitz]

the phrase “rockstar girlfriend aesthetic” makes me break out in hives. why is it perpetually trendy for women to have to define themselves as some guy’s girlfriend and why are people pretending that this is somehow new and subversive bc ur wearing meticulously blended black eyeshadow

[gingerswagfreckles]

I fucking hate 3rd wave feminism lol

[lordmushroomkat]

I think we, as a culture, should switch from makeup as an expectation to makeup as a fun little thing you can do sometimes.

Makeup brands, stop marketing as "to look beautiful/good/handsome/etc you have to-" and start marketing as "wouldn't it be cool if you painted a dragon on your face?" and maybe everyone would stop being quite so mad at you.

C'mon people, let's switch our collective mindset here, no more makeup to "look good" or "look presentable" only makeup as high quality face paint. It's time to get funky.

[lilyliveredlittlerichboy]

i remember getting glasses at 10 years old and being one of a fair handful of kids in my class to wear glasses. but over time, all the other kids (even the boys) ended up trading their glasses for contact lenses.

i also remember watching this documentary about eye sight and these new experimental contact lenses that you could wear overnight and then you wouldn't need your glasses during the day.

the woman they were following in their case study said something along the lines of, glasses just feel like a mask, like im hiding my face, so this is perfect cus I can see without them :)

I remember her also wearing a full face of makeup. So did the girls in my class once they traded in their glasses for contacts.

It doesn't make any sense to me at all. I tried glasses and contacts and makeup and in the end just opted for my glasses. it takes 2 seconds to put them on or take them off, and i can choose a cool frame that vibes with my vibes. I felt naked with contacts! They're also a full on annoying bother, it definitely takes at least a minute to put them in (which might be less if you're practiced at putting them in every day, but still will never beat my 2 second total for glasses), putting them in and taking them out is awkward cus you have to touch your literal eyeball, which like, doesn't feel like something you should be doing, really. some variants are reusable, but you have to wash them; the others just go right into the bin, which is wasteful.

and the makeup. the makeup!!! i have never understood it. I've managed to do nice makeup on myself with and without glasses and really I would rather just not do any at all. It is an even more bothersome annoyance than contact lenses. even if you're just doing the basic stuff, it takes far far longer than 2 seconds. And then you'll be leaving makeup marks on your clothes, your friends clothes, your pillow, your face mask and etc etc etc

All im saying is all the people who are using contacts and makeup are really stealing their own time and for what. to look prettier? to have other people's approval? im plenty pretty with glasses and no makeup and actually that means on the (EXCEEDINGLY RARE) occasions that I'll wear makeup, perhaps even contacts, it'll really pop and be a big difference and surprise to people. please be more confident in your bodies. show your acne scars and imperfections and your moles and dimples and unevenness of your skin. we see enough perfectly smooth models and actors which have been photoshopped into oblivion. please just show your real face i promise it'll be fine you will not die and in fact you might give someone else the confidence to show their bare skin. it's so fucking rare these days especially amongst cis women (who are also weirdly the ones most loudly complaining about society's pressures of femininity???? pick one lmao)

anyway being pretty isnt all there is to life. all that time spent putting in contacts and applying makeup. u could have scrolled tumblr instead like a true weirdo. or done literally anything else. i mostly use my extra time in the morning for sleeping a bit longer (which is good for ur skin, unlike the vastvastvast majority of foundations u can put on ur face)

[soshiinon]

I think having older women in my life who rarely wear makeup really helped show me that you don’t need it to feel or be beautiful.

Then again I’m also very vain so I wouldn’t need the shit anyways 💀