I had to learn how to put on make-up because I performed in theatrical dance competitions and concerts. Before starting work, the only time I would wear any sort of make-up was for:
- dance performances;
- balls and dinner dances; and
- job interviews.
I now wear a little bit of make-up when I go to work. A style coach at university convinced me to wear make-up to work (we also had an etiquette coach, remember?).
One day, when I was going to do fieldwork all day, I decided to skip putting on that bit of eyeliner, eyeshadow and lipstick.
“Hi Joan,” Nuno said when I arrived at work. “Gee, you look tired.”
Whoops. I guess I set the standard for my appearance on my first day in the office.
The next Monday, I decided to do the full make-up thing: foundation, dark eyeliner, eyeshadow, shiny red lipstick.
I ran into Genevieve at the train station.
“Good morning, Joan. You look nice today.”
*Bing!*
Here are my conclusions, then.
- Wearing make-up helps you look prettier.
- But once you start, you can’t stop.
- If you decide not to wear make-up, you forgo the opportunity to look your best.
- However, you don’t run the risk of having an uglier-than-usual day.
I explained all this to Damjan. I’ve been thinking about whether or not I want to step onto the make-up treadmill when I go to Cambridge. New people = opportunity to decide such things.
Damo was not satisfied with the rigour of my study and therefore could not place any confidence in my conclusions. Being the statistician that he was, he proposed I do a blind test.
“Right, Joan. Wear make-up one day and don’t tell me. Ask me if you look pretty today and then write down my response. Then, on another day, don’t wear make-up and do the same thing. We can then compare the results because they’ll be meaningful!”
I wondered whether or not the integrity of the test would be compromised by the general practice amongst boyfriends of never saying to girlfriends that they looked anything less than optimal. Then again, I’ve known Damo to err on the side of honesty over diplomacy on some occasions.
Damo became even more animated: he had found a way to enhance his research proposal. “We can make it a double-blind test!” he said.
“What, both of us can close our eyes? And you can guess if I’m wearing make-up?”
“Perfect!” he crowed.
Figure 1: Scenario A, where woman who normally wears make-up stops doing so briefly
Figure 2: Scenario B, where woman who does not normally wear make-up does so briefly
You might want to consider that if you do wear full make-up everyday, your skin will probably never look the same again without makeup. I think in the long run, not wearing makeup is better for your skin…
MY (LONG) COMMENT WASN’T ACCEPTED!!
I was saying…. (grr)
I wear light makeup everyday, even to sch. started from a few years back and since then i couldn’t stop coz of the effects of the makeup that make me look so much better, more alert and attractive and stuff. it definitely boosts self esteem, and i wll feel bare without it.
it also serves as a moisturiser for me too, which is good.
oh and in case u do not know, i changed my bloglink. the link before was already taken up by this 40yr old male who is obviously NOT ME.
i don’t like blogger beta. =PPP
oh in case you do come to the city, give me a holla and we’ll go for coffee ok?
Sorry your long comment was lost, Serendipity. I like comments so I’m glad you at least summarised it. In the beta version of this blog, I did change your link but I forgot to do that when I changed it back.
Vera, I agree about the affect on skin. I wear foundation about eight times a year and six of those times would be for dance competitions. I don’t like the feeling very much. I also don’t wear nail polish for that reason (apparently, it makes you nails go a bit yellow from the lack of oxygen), although I do think nail polish looks nice.
You know those women who tattoo their make-up on to save the time they would spend on it in the mornings? That’s a little crazy. I understand the motivation, though. Luckily, my make-up takes about three minutes.
Argh I lost my comment too!!!!
I think I said something like –
we men have no hope…
although I hear the number of men who moisturise and exfoliate is increasing, so I guess it’s possible that in ten years there’ll be guys who regularly wear foundation or something…
I will not be one of them!
maybe…
Hmm, I wonder whether or not the unstableness in comment submission is anything to do with Blogger and the transition to Beta?
Shrapnel, I am pleased to see men moisturise. Such nice, soft skin 🙂 Less keen on the foundation, though.
A few points:
– I think that guys don’t register that girls are wearing makeup, if it is subtle enough. When I’m wearing mascara, I don’t look like i’m wearing makeup.
– If I wear less subtle makeup (like black eyeliner), almost everyone I run into ask what the occasion is.
– I have the same ‘I should put on makeup because otherwise I’ll look worse than normal’ feeling. Once you start wearing makeup, people notice if you stop wearing makeup
oh yeah, thanks for the reminder to get rid of the old nail polish on my nails 🙂
I’m in the latter camp! I have no time in the morning to actually put more than moisturiser on (lippy in the car, blush on the train if I’m feeling adventurous). Also, I think makeup should enhance your features… not as a mask 8-p So strictly something for special occasions. In the first situation, people get used to what you look like, so you can’t have off days, and you can’t have days where you look really really good either… 😎
Joanie once you start wearing make-up it’s very difficult to go back…
Re the nail polish…i’ve been wearing it for years and my nails are fine.
I think it all depends on what lighting you’ll be under. If its bright lights and stuff, you’ll want to put on heavier make up (so that in normal light, it looks like you’ve got too much) otherwise the light just washes out your features. Without makeup, your face is like a grey-lead sketch as opposed to a pen-drawing.
I, personally, don’t wear makeup very often. I once asked a friend on stage whether my foundation was still even (I had been sweating) and she said that it looked fine (I wasn’t wearing any). I’m quite a fan of eyeliner, but its very obvious when I’m wearing some…
For me, it isn’t about looking hot (I’m too far gone to ever have to worry about that), but I like it for the same reason that kids like painting things, not because it is necessarily look-enhancing, but more because it is just fun to experiment.
I agree about the experimenting thing, daniel. I very, very, very rarely wear full make-up, even on special occasions. But I’ve often just experimented with it at home, just to see what kind of odd effects you can get. I was on the make-up crew for my school musical back in high school — I always thought it was interesting how you had to exaggerate everything so much for it to look “normal” on stage.