prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet

[balmofgilead]

Well-done makeup can be attractive, but the concept of makeup seems absurd and bizarre to me sometimes. I'm talking about the big guns - slathering the face with foundation and dots of concealer and using bunches of subtly different shades of powder to add contour to cheekbones and lining the inside of the eye.

I'm lazy. Lipstick is big deal to me.  I don't think I'm willing to take the time to do all of the above plus lipstick-blush-eyeshadow-mascara-body glitter-whatever is standard.  And it's taking so much time to craft a lie, really.  A pretty lie, but still a lie, and one that has to be re-crafted over and over again every day. Other things take time but in that time you're achieving something real: making bread, learning a new bit of information, chopping wood, communicating. I don't have a problem with people lying in this way (and I realize it's a stretch to call it lying), but I guess I'm amazed at the amount of time and effort people are willing to invest in it.

I guess some people don't see it this way (sort of like how some people don't see Orthodox Judaism as all about reward and punishment and rules).  They probably see it as "ooh, I can put this on my face and be pretty. Yay."  But then I guess you have the people who think "I have to put this shit on my face because I have to be pretty." That kinda sucks.

Comments

[lightfromlight.livejournal.com]

I feel like I have to put makeup on to be presentable.

[balmofgilead.livejournal.com]

I am bizarrely bold about how I present myself physically, warts and all (so to speak), but I think it's only because I've already spent so much time as a[n oblivious] quasi-adult wearing no makeup whatsoever. It's likely that I'm not terribly presentable most of the time.

[lucystrawberry.livejournal.com]

Do you really feel that you have to do that? where do you think that pressure is coming from?

I only wear a small bit of brown eyeliner and mascara. maybe some coverup when i get acne, but usually i just let it all hang out.

You don't have to be pretty.

[balmofgilead.livejournal.com]

Oh, I *don't* wear makeup (though I consider it from time to time for various reasons). I just marvel at the whole concept.