Mary O’Donnell
A RECENT survey found that men prefer women to look natural than a make-up look. Lads, this is a myth, most ladies who look effortless have in fact worked very hard to achieve this.
I recently did a lady’s make up for a poster, the look was to be natural and it took me 45 minutes to achieve this look.
So I asked the ladies on the Mary O’Donnell Facebook page (click here) – why do you wear make-up?
The results were 99% said I wear it for me.
I normally agree with my ladies but on this occasion, if I am to be completely honest my answer to wear make-up is not for me. If I did not have to leave the house and knew nobody would call, would I wear make-up and my answer is quite categorically is no.
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Taking into account that make-up is part of my job and working in the industry requires full make-up everyday could be a reason to enjoy fresh skin.
Many beauty therapists cite being make-up free to be high on the list for holidays, it is a break from something that they have to do everyday.
When I was training, I shared a house with a model and when we got home make-up removal was first on the list. She hated the feel of heaviness on her face and just wanted her skin to breathe again. Most find that foundation covers flaws of the skin, whether it being redness or breakouts.
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Personally, after four children like most parents, I have dark circles under my eyes. Without foundation I look like I need a blood transfusion, I am fine with the Morticia Addams look but I don’t want to scare the small children at the school gates.
Saying this, I applied foundation to many males and females for the last election for the posters to even out skin tone and while looking natural – it made a huge difference to both genders.
Sixth century ladies found pale skin the height of fashion, so they got the help of leeches. Renaissance ladies used toxic chemicals like arsenic, lead and mercury. Today many people go under the knife in search of perfection.
So apparently in the animal kingdom, animals have their own tricks to make themselves more attractive. As for us females, our eyes are darker and lips are redder than males.
So research shows we emphasise this to make us different to males. Eyes go darker, cheeks go pinker and lips go redder.
The cosmetic industry is worth billions and even with taglines such as – ‘because you are worth it’, I don’t buy it. I believe the industry is not about empowering people but preying on insecurities.
As a mother of two girls, I am very aware from an early age they are subject to images of females that are not real, airbrushed to an inch of their lives and gives false expectations of what beauty should be.
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To be in search of perfection which is not a reaslistic is putting unnecessary pressure on the next generation.I would love to see real women as role models and skin that is real and not perfect.
Dreams Dots, an Irish company which sells little patches for breakouts, recently highlighted a young blogger. This beautiful young girl recorded her skin from breakout to getting better.
She became a YOUTUBE sensation because she was a real teenage girl and people could relate to her. We all have insecurities and instead of exploiting this I would like to see the beauty industry show us real people and offer real solutions to enhance us, not perfect us.
