Wearing make-up in today's world.

            As I was considering what brands I buy for this blog I could come up with quite a few, but there are few that really caught my interest. One of them was make-up and the different brands that I buy and use. I tend to buy different brands for different things. CoverGirl for eye-shadow and blush, Almay for foundation, Maybelline for lip stick and cover-up, and various brands for mascara depending on what type I want.  So I guess you could say that I am not really committed to one single brand, but I am however committed to the make-up itself. I like to wear make-up and experiment with new looks, more dramatic eyes, or a more natural look, depending on the day.  So I guess that each different brand could speak to a different part of my desires to look my best.

             Take CoverGirl for instance their motto is “Easy, breezy, beautiful, CoverGirl,” that speaks to my want for my make-up routine to be quick, easy, and also how I want to look nice like in this Smokey Shadow Blast commercial. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxM7oRoREnM&feature=related&safe=active).  Almay has a product that color matches to your skin, which makes foundation shopping so much easier, which speaks to my human-ness and my want to make life easier.  The commercial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCM8BrM_fz0&safe=active) also talks about “what if your foundation picks you?” which speaks to a girl’s desire to be wanted and to fit in.  Maybelline’s lines of lip wear shows how lipstick doesn’t have to be a gross, sticky, uncomfortable mess anymore, that it can actually soften your lips. This speaks to your desires to be beautiful, and also to the desire to be desirable to a man.  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9rxqG7r-Vo&safe=active).

            One thing that I am very glad about in my life is that my mom did not allow me to wear make-up until I was in 7^th grade, and even then I was only allowed to wear a very little amount.  As I got older and started to be able to make more decisions about what I wanted to wear and how I wanted to do my make-up I was able to wear more make-up as long as it was tasteful.  Today I feel like parents have been more lax in what they allow their daughters to wear. Today I see more and more young girls wearing make-up at such a young age, it makes me sick. I see little 4^th and 5^th graders wearing thick black eye liner and way too much eye-shadow or blush.  Their parents either can’t or won’t tell them that they are wearing too much make-up and that they are too young to be doing so. In our culture today many young girls are getting the idea that becoming sexual beings at an early age is a good thing. Young girls see on television, in movies, in music, and all over the internet, that wearing make-up and dating at a young age is a good thing. You could say that make-up companies are feeding on young girls desires to be beautiful and their desire to be desired.

            And it isn’t just young girls, it women of all ages that fall trap to make-up companies add campaigns. They target our fears and our desires of wanting to be beautiful, and entice us with showing how beautiful movie stars and singers wear the make-up and how much they love it. We are shown an unattainable image of perfection. That if we just wear this brand, or use that eye shadow and lip-gloss that our faces will be flawless, that our pores will be non-existent, and that we can reduce the look of aging just by buying and using their products.

          

           The Bible mentions how women should conduct themselves and how they should adorn themselves.  Song of Solomon 4:7 says “You are altogether beautiful, my love, there is no flaw in you” (ESV).  1 Peter 3:3-4 also says “Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious” (ESV). We need to remember this as we apply our make-up in the mornings and before we buy make-up. And perhaps most importantly before we let young girls wear it. Those verses should be something that is always in our minds.