Is makeup a burden or a boon for today's women? The New York Times recently asked the floor: do cosmetics "ultimately damage a woman’s self-esteem, or elevate it?" It certainly makes us look more competent.
According to an article in Slate, the question is pretty much irrelevant. But I'm not so sure. Makeup can make women feel more attractive and, therefore, more confident. And girls are starting to wear it earlier and earlier. Yet, when a woman feels she can't leave the house without it—when makeup (yes, even the "natural look" we strive so hard to achieve) becomes obligatory—it can only enslave us.
Isn't the pressure to look as though we aren't wearing any makeup, when we are, just as bad as slapping on the war paint? "After all," argues Slate, "we all wake up in the morning with dewy perfect skin and naturally dramatic eyes, just like Zooey Deschanel (who wears fake eyelashes to get that natural look) or Kate Winslet (who I've never seen without mascara or her eyebrows drawn on)."
Would you be caught dead without makeup in public? How much do you spend on it a year? Could you live without it?
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