When I was growing up my grandmother had a makeup collection that she let her grandkids use. I loved it, but my cousin was less enthusiastic. One day, when I tried to convince her to let me give her a makeover, she exclaimed, “No! Ew! Did you know that lipstick is made from bat poop?”
I didn’t know that and I didn’t believe her, and I have never found out for sure if her claim is true. And I don’t really want to know. I feel pretty certain that most mainstream lipsticks are NOT made from bat poop (seems logical, right? That’s what I tell myself). And I know that all-natural makeup products exist out there like Burts Bees products, which I assume are made of organic oat fibers, natural colors, and sunshine.
I don’t wear makeup often but I like to for some occasions. I enjoy emphasizing certain parts of my face, or adding color and sparkle for dressy outings. It’s fun to look a little different. I don’t know if as a working professional I might start wearing makeup regularly, but for now I’m content with my sporadic use. I don’t know what my makeup is made out of but I hope it’s fine and I try to make it look nice when I put it on my face.
Over the summer Jezebel posted this video of a year’s worth of make-up on a model’s face. It’s quite a different experience of makeup from what I’m used to – putting a little bit on some nights. Seeing a year’s worth of makeup applied at once changes my sense of the actual stuff that I am applying to my skin. But would a year’s worth of lotion look different? Or sunscreen?
According to the Jezebel post the “whole thing took nine hours, three lipsticks, seven bottles of foundation, and two bottles each of cream blush and eyeshadow to achieve. (That’s 228 mL, or 7.7 fl. oz. of face-spackle altogether.).”
What do you think? Does this change your perception of makeup? Do you think you’ll change how much makeup you wear after seeing this video? What about the money you spend on it?
Unruly Bodies 
To be honest, the video did not change my view of makeup by much, but it did make me more disgusted at the thought of applying foundation every day. The foundation caked over the model’s face in the video reconstructs her face into a glutinous, misshapen mass. That’s the type of image that is hard not to remember when thinking about foundation whatsoever.
However, although some of the rest of the forms of makeup do look odd on the model, they don’t have nearly the “scary”, deforming effect that the foundation does on the face. In addition, looking at a year’s worth of makeup put on at once delineates what the quantity of makeup applied can bring about – not something about makeup itself.
Considering that the video didn’t affect me by much and that I don’t wear foundation, I don’t think that I’ll change how much makeup I put on or how much I spend on it because of the video. However, I don’t think I wear much and rarely buy any, anyways.
i put make up almost every day. this video did not change my view of makeup also.
Do you want to know? Too bad, I’m going to tell you.
I’m pretty sure your cousin was referring to guanine, which is fairly common in makeup, and was originally derived from guano. I think it’s now more commonly derived from fish, but don’t quote me. Lots of makeup advertised as natural (including Burt’s Bees) contains carmine, which is produced by boiling insects, sometimes in nice things like ammonia. It’s also in a lot of food products as a red dye (red #40), such as m&ms and other surprising things.
Sorry, I had to do it.
But I think there are a lot of things that could be discussed in relation to makeup and the body. Makeup is one of those areas where I feel a bit of dissonance when I wear it. I know that giving in to beauty standards isn’t going to eradicate them any time soon, but there’s also a limit to how much social pressure I can stand. I feel more comfortable when I wear it.
I didn’t have much of a reaction to the video either. I don’t wear cream makeup, and I usually order my makeup in bulk, so I know what a year’s worth looks like. It does, however, bring up the paradox of wearing too much makeup. The preference, I think, has always been for natural beauty, but enhanced. When women used to go to bed with their makeup on so as not to be seen without it (which is not to say that some women don’t still do this), they wore a fair amount of makeup, but since they wore it constantly, it created the illusion that this was how they always looked. Now, I’ve heard men say that they prefer girls who are “self-confident” and don’t wear “too much” makeup, without realizing how much money and effort actually goes into that natural look.
I really enjoyed your post, it brought up a topic I haven’t sat and thought about in awhile. When I first became interested in feminism in high school I went all out and stopped wearing makeup and stopped shaving, I thought I was liberating myself against the oppressive beauty standards that had previously weighed me down. But, I realized that they were still all around me. By purchasing jeans that are cut to emphasize my butt or low cut v-neck tee-shirts that show a glimpse of cleavage, I was still playing into what society wanted to see from me. I had thought that in order to be a feminist I was not allowed to give into these socially constructed standards. I later began to realize that feminism is about having the choice to do to your body what you please. It is important to understand the reasons why some women feel more confident when wearing makeup. Also, I agree with the previous comment, it is important to know wear one’s beauty products, and food, come from.
I saw this video a long time ago, and honestly, it didn’t change my perception of makeup. I feel that this video is unrealistic, and tries to change the viewer’s perception of makeup by taking it to the extreme. In reality, no one puts on 365 layers of makeup. [I would like to believe that] Anyone who wears makeup also has a routine of washing it off every night.
However, what did influence my perception of makeup was how my skin reacted to it, and any other skincare products I use. For me, using any lotion/cream facial moisturizer, clogs my skin just as badly as makeup does. By focusing on clearing up my skin with natural products (tea tree oil and jojoba oil), I felt less of a need to wear makeup. Why cover up your natural beauty when you can focus on improving it?