Why We All Need to Wake Up to Make Up

Today I want to talk to you all about one of my favourite bug bears. Make up. I’m not out to wage war on the stuff, in fact sometimes it can be quite brilliant and I’d be a liar if I said 13-year-old me hadn’t chased her siblings with a make up brush in the hope of conducting a one of a kind makeover.

Make up isn’t a new thing in society either with first records of its existence dating back to around 3000 BC. The Eqyptians had cosmetics, the Romans had cosmetics, even Queen Elizabeth I went to extraordinary lengths to achieve looking a healthy pale. It’s no surprise then that in 2013 the UK cosmetics industry was worth over £8 million.

I own make up, although not a lot and certainly nothing of quality. Apart from my trademark eyeliner and red lipstick/red nail varnish, I probably wouldn’t own any. Except, the society we live in expects a woman to own make up. Now normally I’m not one to cave to societal expectation and you can fuck off if you think I’m wearing make up just to pop to Tesco, but this is one battle I can’t win. When I was unemployed, it struck me how frustrating it is that I don’t, as a woman, feel I can interview without wearing make up. In any job interview, it is important to demonstrate concern for your appearance and as a woman that means wearing a basic level of make up.

It goes further than that. I know people who struggle to leave the house without wearing the stuff. How completely awful is that?! To be made to feel that your face isn’t good enough as it is that you have to cover it and emphasise bits and hide others. Well ladies, let me tell you right now. You are beautiful as you are.

But you know what I love about make up? I love when it can make you feel confident. When it makes you feel glamorous and sexy. I think that’s fantastic. I also love creativity. I love seeing how people find the most incredible ways to express themselves. Be it simply painting your eyes in kohl to demonstrate your teenage angst or a plethora of colour to show your inner rainbow fairy. Whatever it is, it is utterly fascinating to see what people can do with it. Of course it would also be remiss of me to not mention it’s practical uses in film and on the stage. Even at a basic level, you wouldn’t see people’s faces without it. At a more advanced level, it can transform people completely and bring these fantasy creatures to life. I think that is terribly exciting.

So why, why, why do we insist on making this a female thing? Why is it somehow wrong or humiliating for a guy to wear make up?! I don’t think men should have to wear the stuff any more than I feel women should have to, but I do think the choice should be there. It also seems to be part of this greater issue where we insist on segregating things into gender that just simply do not need to be separated. To say make up is a women’s thing is just utter crazy.

Firstly… GUYLINER. I mean this is a very basic example and I shudder to use it because it’s yet another example of splitting things into gender but first reason, I’m sure we can all appreciate as to why we should be more ok with men wearing make up?

Johnny. Fucking. Depp. That guy took eye liner and made it 100 times sexier than Cleopatra herself.

Secondly, last I checked, having a penis doesn’t mean make up is just going to slide off a persons face and go “woah chuck, what you doing? This is a MAN.” It’s not like for every guy that wears make up, somewhere a cute puppy dies. If it can have the same effect, a feeling of confidence and empowerment, why on earth shouldn’t it be on a man’s face?

Why, as a society, do we insist on telling others what they can and can not do with their own bodies? It’s really not anyone’s jurisdiction other than the person whose body it is and it can be exceptionally damaging to others to be told that what feels natural to them is in any way wrong.

Do what feels right for you and love every second of it. That’s what I think.