Does Beauty Come In A Bottle????

[Deleted member 1860]

I'm in the hair dying camp! I've been dying it since I was a teenager. I just started to see a few grey roots though. :-( I am vain and I plucked them, LOL. I'm naturally blonde, but prefer it to be a shade more golden as it goes well with my warmer skin tone.

Skin color.....it seems like those of us who are Caucasian/have lighter skin want to be darker so we go to tanning booths and end up looking like Oompa Loompas! (From Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, the original movie. Remember that one? LOL) But those with darker skin tones desire to be lighter. (I had no idea this was even a thing until a few years ago to be honest. I guess you could say I grew up a little sheltered?) Of course this isn't universal across the board, but yes, we all seem to want to be different than what we are. I'm fine with my skin tone until it comes to the aging thing, and that's when I want darker skin.....BUT, its more of a desire to have naturally darker skin as I want to avoid the damaging effects of the sun, and fake color won't help me there. [I'm 1/2 Scandinavian and pretty light, and have had multiple people in my family who have had skin cancer, so that alone scares the crap out of me, hence my desire to not be so pale, lol.]

Stretch marks.....I have those too, sigh. I've had them since I was about 14 I'd say? I don't remember how I developed, but it must've been fairly quickly as I wasn't overweight when I got the stretch marks as a teenager, but they're there nonetheless. Mine are mainly on my torso area, so I can conceal them fairly easily as I don't wear revealing clothing. I can't say that I particularly like them, but at the same time I never really knew to NOT like them.....that is, until Palmer's Cocoa Butter started putting those commercials on TV stating how stretch marks are ugly and how you should use their product to avoid getting stretch marks during pregnancy! I guess my point in saying all of this is that I didn't know my body was flawed in this manner until advertising told me that stretch marks are ugly and problematic. (Gotta love advertising, sigh.)

@WildMermaid
I like to wear eye makeup, but it took me forever to find makeup that is "PTSD proof" as I like to call it! That is, mascara that I can have a full blown episode through and doesn't make me look like a raccoon and eye shadow that will stay put. I finally found a great liner that I like, but stopped wearing liner awhile ago as it became so tedious to put on.


I know this may be a bit of a tangent, but has anyone else felt invisible when they go to a makeup store? I have gone to the MAC store I feel totally invisible as I feel like they take one look at me and think I'm either not a big spender or I'm not girly enough for their products. I've had that happen to me in their store a few times now and I won't go back. Sad, because I probably own more MAC than any other brand of makeup. (I've gotten it all online or from the Cosmetics Company Store.....A makeup outlet store.......SOOOO dangerous as its only 5 minutes away. I keep my splurges to once a year on my birthday when I buy a few things for myself.)

 

[jaccat]

Just reading this thread now. I don't wear make up. I see some of the girls I work with struggling to conceal their looks with make up and just looking awful beacause of it (okay, part of it is they don't have a clue).

I have a prominent unusual facial feature that some people may decide makes me look ugly. It is a mole right inbetween my eyes, in the dip between my nose and my forehead. I've had it since I was two. Friends have asked me if I've never considered having it removed. They are nonplussed when I explain to them I wouldn't be me without it. It'd be like telling me to remove a finger. It doesn't make me ugly, and, as someone once pointed out, because I don't make a big deal of it other people don't either. Some don't even notice. The ones who do are almost always a**eholes. Maybe it is my personal a**ehole filter?

 

[J_trustno1]

@jaccat: Well done for not removing your mole. You're totally right about it because it won't be you.

I have a mole on right side below my bottom lip. It makes me unique and beautiful. I once tried removing it when I was 14 because kids at school picked on me because of it. It swell and it hurt me like hell. I am thankful that it was never removed from my lip. I was stupid to having tried it then and I regret it till day. It could've lead to infections and any playing around with such moles can be cancerous. I was a stupid teenager.

Now I love it because it makes me who I am. I had a dream once that my mole was removed and I was crying for not having it there. It's like having any other body part. For example losing a limb or a kidney and most painful losing breasts (some women who lose them due to cancer) is really sad. So it is part of me.

Same goes for you. Never change yourself just because some asshole has a problem with you.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

I say be proud of your moles! Remember back in the 90's when Cindy Crawford made moles the "IN" thing and so everyone started drawing them on their face with brown eyeliner? Crazy! And then that Robin Hood Men In Tights movie came out and made fun of the whole "mole fad" by giving the king a mole but in every scene it was in a different place on his face. Totally cracked me up, LOL.

 

[Britt.f7]

I have moles around my left eye. I can't imagine having them removed, they are such a part of me. Plus it is delicate eye skin. My aunt has a large one on her nose, that I think I would remove if I were her. But she is just fine with. I guess we get use to those so called imperfections.

 

[ihateusernames]

I know this may be a bit of a tangent, but has anyone else felt invisible when they go to a makeup store

Yes, ma'am. I always feel like a freak in "girlie" stores, but I'm completely invisible at makeup counters. The MAC counter, I could probably throw everything they've got in my purse and walk away and nobody would have noticed I was there. It's a weird environment there, though, in particular. Some overly made up person yapping loudly at another overly made up person while putting tiger striped eyeshadow on somebody. I say person because we have men and women working ours, which causes people to stop and gawk, backing up the walkway, creating even more of a spectacle. I guess that's what the store goes for. But even at Ulta I get glances, but nothing more usually. I don't know if I give a don't bother me vibe, I hope so, or the employees see my completely bare face and are confused as to why I'm there, more likely.

 

[ihateusernames]

I have been debating whether or not to share this story here because it truly is offensive. My ethnic background is primarily scottish and italian. I have dark hair and olive skin that's yellow in the winter and what my husband calls "caramel" the rest of the year. I also have what they call a "roman" nose. And it's quite prominent. And large, round, hazel eyes. I think those are good characteristics. They give me a bit of an exotic look. Prior to realizing that I wasn't any form of ugly, I figured even if I wasn't pretty I could be "handsome" or "exotic" or "interesting", at least.

Well, living amongst various groups of dumb rednecks growing up I was called "Middle Eastern" "Arabian" and "Puerto Rican" as insults. (This was well pre-9/11 otherwise they probably would have gone more specific.) Seriously, wtf? I mean, SERIOUSLY?? Beauty standards vary widely, but you also can't even take things people say seriously. You think middle eastern women are beautiful @J_trustno1, they thought that was a horrible thing to be. And that they could latch onto that to hurt me. They didn't succeed. I knew even then how stupid that was and kind of integrated it as a badge of honor. At least I wasn't like them, right?

People are f*cking ridiculous. I say decide for yourself what you are and that's it. And if you are dark then praise God, dark is beautiful, in the US, light skinned people spend absurd amounts of money trying to get dark, and you have built-in sun protection. If you're light, praise God for that. Fair is also beautiful and ethereal.

And etc., etc., etc.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

True, MAC is one of those over the top makeup companies. I never go for the over the top colors though as that's just not my style. I own quite a few pigments and they're all natural browns/nudes/golds/etc. I don't think that in my wildest dreams I could pull off fuchsia or aquamarine! Although it would be funny if you literally could walk out of the store with half of their products simply because they're ignoring you.

Its quite sad when a store ignores a customer based on looks alone. Many places lose sales that way. I remember Oprah (of all people, right!?!) telling a story about how she went into some high end designer store (outside of the USA, but not sure exactly which country) and because of racism, the sales clerk took one look at her and said something along the lines of "this bag is not for you"....indicating that the bag was out of her price range. Whoa. That sales clerk blew a HUGE commission most likely! Of course Oprah being who she is didn't say anything along the lines of "do you know who I am!?!" rather she walked out of the store without saying a word.

 

[WildMermaid]

I hear you all on the Mac people! I love one of their lip glosses and was with a friend for a makeover, and as small as I am down in my wheelchair I may as well have been invisible to them. My tan, blonde, adorable friend got terrific service. Me pale as death, auburn, and on wheels nada. Never again will they have a chance to sell to me. Sephora on the other hand in every city treats me like I'm a human being. My beauty dollars go there and happily. :)

An aside @Solara sometimes a line slightly winged is fun to do in a bright color :). You an keep the rest neutral, but that pop of color is great for sassy days or unusual events. When I'm really tired a couple of days in to a comic con and we've been up most of the night, I'll shower quick, then apply a bright eyeliner just to wake me up up a bit.

 

[garden]

I was called "Middle Eastern" "Arabian" and "Puerto Rican" as insults. (This was well pre-9/11 otherwise they probably would have gone more specific.) Seriously, wtf?

This never ceases to amaze me, how people 'see' things. I'm an asian and pacific islander mix, and I've been called a ni**er, wet back, sand ni**er, and a chink (to name a few). That started in the neighborhood before I began school, it was at it's worst during 4th/5th grades, happens rarely as an adult. In the first few weeks after 911 I experienced racially motivated insults from total strangers in public, telling me to "Go Home" and to "go back to IRAQ", and the silly part is, I was born on an island where the natives DO NOT day dream about ruling the world, they could care less. This goes both ways though, for example, I've also had very positive mistaken identities, where people talk to me in their language (Sicilian, Ethiopian, Egyptian, French, Brazilian (Portuguese) (to name a few), and then tell me how lovely I am (in their opinion, not implying that I'm lovely) and that I look like I'm from their country.

Those experiences make me feel like we're all connected...for a fleeting moment.

No one ever guesses me right, but they have very specific ideas. We are all seeing things so differently it seems. I guess makeup is an attempt to influence what others see.

Either way, it fascinates me how people 'see' what they see, and how unique every perspective is.

 

[notsurewheretoturn]

I don't wear make up, I not only hate the way it feels on my skin, I hate the way it makes me feel. I've been told I don't look my age, but then neither did my parents so that could be genetic.

Yes, I do have wrinkles, but not that many. I will wear a moisturiser if I'm working outside, especially as I live near the coast, but that doesnt happen that often now.

But does beauty come from a bottle, unless you use it to cover blemishes, scars etc, then I would have to say no. The number of people I have seen who have worn so much make up in the past that they now need to wear it to cover the damage the layers of make up have done is incredible.

Your skin is natural, it needs to breath - let it!

 

[ihateusernames]

I'm an asian and pacific islander mix, and I've been called a ni**er,

.....

You know what, this is exactly the experience my stepdad had as a kid and through high school. He's a pacific islander and in my opinion very obviously so, but he was in school during segregation and all of the kids decided that he was the "enemy" and for quite a few years they chased him home throwing things at him and calling him a n*****.

In the first few weeks after 911 I experienced racially motivated insults from total strangers in public, telling me to "Go Home" and to "go back to IRAQ"

And this same thing happened to this poor Indian guy I worked for at that time. He couldn't get anything done. He was harassed so badly at the post office I had to go ship his stuff for him. Perfectly mild mannered, non terrorist guy. He was just sending things back to his family.


*sigh*

But you're right what this really means is that we're all basically the same. We could each easily have been part of any community in the world.