A+ post.
I would like to add, as well, that this sudden emergence of make up being cool and empowering for women comes directly from make up companies and Sephora, in particular. When I worked at Sephora they told us, in a hundred different and equally veiled ways, that the trick to getting people to buy something is to make them want it. When you need something you become restricted by the thing, but when you want something you’re exercising your free will. We were told we were “celebrating beauty” and making people comfortable in their own skin but in reality we were slinging $30 concealers at 15 year old girls who don’t understand that the skin around their eyes is thinner and therefore always darker. We were pushing eyeliner and mascara in “fun” colors to get young girls into make up under the guise of self expression. And the women who worked with me would go on and on about how their make up ritual was for them and how it was their “war paint” but then they would confess they felt uncomfortable leaving the house without a full face on.
Most annoying to me was the short lived emergence of the naturally flawless skin trend. When I started at Sephora the trend was matte everything, full coverage foundation and strong controuring. It was a lot of make up to wear everyday and when summer came there was the biggest swing I’ve ever seen in trends where girls wanted BB creams and sheer foundations, no contouring, just the bare bones. From that we noticed a lot of people coming in for skincare. There were girls walking through the store with huge water bottles asking for sunscreen and face washes and Sephora was having NONE of that. It felt like a step in the right direction, taking care of your skin, protecting it from the sun, drinking water, and most importantly, it felt like the trends we’re moving away from “cover your flaws” to more of a self-care aspect (I’m very aware that the same motivations were behind the skincare trend but it wasn’t as sinister feeling).
Sephora soon came out with the Celebrating Beauty focus where we were supposed to push the empowering effects of make up to people who weren’t in the store for make up. “Oh I see you’re buying a face wash for dry skin; let me show you this foundation that hydrates and gives a natural glow.” The goal was to get people buy make up in large quantities, not skin care. Sephora actively quashed teen girls’ attempts to take a step in the right direction by telling them make up is empowering. They are financially invested in the belief that make up is empowering.
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