Day 9

The Facts...

Walking in a street, almost anywhere in the world, anyone would be able to tell that the majority of women wear makeup. Even if it just dash of mascara and a little shimmer in your sunblock. It is an irritating misconception to me, when people assume that one has to wear makeup to cover something up, or that one is not beautiful naturally. I am a prime example.

So why do I wear make up? Simple. I like it.

I was speaking to a friend today about my choice of going as natural as possible for 10 days and he put it better than I could find the words for. He called makeup an accessory. I have never thought of looking at it in that way before. I always called it a choice and said that I just liked it. But an accessory, what a perfect way to describe my personal experience with it. As I described in my very first post, I see my entire body as a blank canvas, and I use it to represent who I am, how I am feeling and what I want. My face is a part of that, my hair very much so too. If i need to be taken seriously, I'll pair a classic pair of jeans with a white shirt, some heels and go for a more natural and clean look with my makeup to complete the look. It's little things like that, that show that you put effort in, which in turn means you care. Although just because I wear my makeup and hair to express myself, like any other piece of my outfit, doesn't mean all women do.

Here are the stats from a survey of 3000 women :

• 71% of women believe they are much prettier with makeup
• 70% of women never leave the house without apply some form of makeup
• 1 out of 3 never leave the house without a full grooming kit
• 1 out of 5 have never been seen by their partner without makeup, even in bed
• 1 out of 5 admitted they wouldn't even bare it al to their girlfriends
• 68% of women said they feel more confident in full makeup
• 41% say they would be mortified if a colleague saw them without makeup
• 34% say they wear makeup all the time
• 16% wouldn't even show their face to their parents without makeup
• It takes the average woman 20 minutes a day perfecting their look
• The average woman will spend £9000 (almost R100 000) on makeup in her lifetime

Unfortunately some women don't just feel more beautiful when wearing makeup, but often only feel beautiful when doing so. Though with the negatives one must always look at the positives too. Makeup has empowered many, from those with plain low self esteem, to others who ready need it to cover up anything from a spot that has the ability to ruin their day, to a bruise, scar, or even a deformity.

Face value: How the average woman spends £9,000 on makeup in her lifetime on The Daily Mail Online 2010. Retrieved October 12, 2010 from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1256595/Face-value-How-average-woman-spend-9-000-make-lifetime.html

MAC Makeup [Image] 2010. Retrieved October 12, 2010
from http://buycheapmakeupandtips.com/MAC-Makeup.jpg

MAC Makeup Colors [Image] 2009. Retrieved October 12, 2010
from http://alceevents.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/mac-makeup-colors.jpg