“A man’s face is his autobiography. A woman’s face is her work of fiction.”
We’ve all heard this one before… or some other catchy quote along those lines. We all know the delicious dichotomy of the man who loves women who look ‘natural’… yet finds that you look ill or ugly when he sees you sans makeup.
When the world seems to worship women like Kylie Jenner and Beyonce, who are rarely ever seen bare-faced, it can be hard to resist the temptation to slather on a cosmetic second skin and hope for the best. But does that make you a liar?
This humble Caribbean blogger and makeup lover could argue that this statement is a COMPLETE FALLACY, but its ubiquitousness leads me to dig a bit deeper…
If a lie is defined as ‘an intentionally false statement’, then it could be argued that the response to this question is actually ‘yes’.
But wait, let’s go one level deeper… Ironically, a light coat of makeup (which would conceal small imperfections and highlight strategic areas like the eyes or the mouth) is more misleading than heavy-handed splashes of colour and shine. After all, the intention of light makeup is to make the observer believe that the wearer has radiant skin and eye-catching features. Vivid blue eye shadow and purple lipstick, however, cannot be considered lies. Unless, of course, we assume that the wearer truly intends for observers to believe that she naturally has blue eyelids and purple lips…
This would mean that from the moment you put on your BB cream and tinted lip balm, you’ve lied.
Don’t want to be a liar? Well, the only way to avoid dishonesty is to never wear a single speck of makeup, ever… OR to cake it on so much that nobody could possibly believe you aren’t wearing any makeup.
But hey, why don’t we take it even further? What about hair dye? Nail polish? Should we burn our waist cinchers and spanx? Come to think of it, deodorant is a lie too! When I really assess this, I have to question the honesty of taking a shower and brushing my teeth. That minty breath sure ain’t natural!
For various reasons, I hesitate to call myself a feminist, but I must say this: Wake up ladies! Society is playing a tug of war with us. On one hand we are asked to live up to unrealistic physical standards then on the other hand we are torn apart for buying into these standards… But it’s a well-known fact of womanhood; there’s always much more to us than meets the eye!
When it comes to makeup and when it comes to life in general, as the lovely Jaclyn Hill says in her YouTube makeup tutorials; “You do you, boo.” Forget what the world says and forget what the men say or what they do. They aren’t you.
That’s my philosophy, anyway.
So do I agree that a woman’s face is not her autobiography?
I would say that it is! A woman’s face is just harder to read than a man’s.
It’s a different type of book. One with big words and no pictures.
The story is still there… it just requires that the prospective reader work a bit harder to access it!
xo
J