minute by minute

Mainly because makeup itself, the generic concept, is an integral part of human identity. People have always done it (even Neanderthals used makeup) and we’re always going to keep doing it. The concept of decorating our faces/bodies with colored pigments is practically hardwired and on a deep level just plain FUN (look at how much kids love to get their faces painted at fairs and carnivals and so on). The concept is also totally gender neutral. In some societies, men traditionally do it more than women, for example. Using your own body as a canvas for art taps into a mystical, childlike sense of wonder. First you look one way, then… another! Like magic. 

But mainstream commercial makeup culture as it exists today is incredibly exploitative, misogynist, colonialist, colorist, and hurts women, especially poorer women and women who don’t fit the racial ideal as expressed by the mainstream corporate beauty industry. And a big part of that is pushing “natural” looks. All women are supposed to look “naturally” poreless, for example (which isn’t realistic or healthy) and are punished socially and often financially if we aren’t. Another example: contouring is supposed to accentuate the “natural” lines of your face but for me and a lot of other Asian women with moonfaces, it’s the furthest thing from natural! The further you are from the rich thin young lightskinned bigeyed straightsmallnosed highcheekboned look, the more weirdly artificial the word “natural” becomes. We’re supposed to sink all this time and money and resources into achieving this bullshit “natural” look until it all feels a bit like Sisyphus rolling the stone up the hill. 

LYKKE TIL ISAK Søndag 2.10.16 kl 1.05

So anyway this post is dedicated to anybody who went through any transitional period during the pandemic. Whether you graduated, lost somebody, moved, or anything else where you will never truly be able to get the last months/year of [whatever] back. It’s so easy to feel like you should be over it by now and just be grateful whenever you can eat in a restaurant and go into stores again but you lost more than that.

Do you find yourself following them on all forms of social media? Do you follow their friends and family, who might not even make content themselves? Do you research their lives? Step back. Just because they are famous doesn’t mean it’s okay to engage in stalking behavior.

[EDIT: I feel I should not have used the word “stalking here” as stalking is unwanted surveillance and it’s unfair to say this behavior is definitely stalking. But the message stays that researching every aspect of a stranger’s life and digitally following them everywhere is, even if it’s not intrusive to them, a little much, no?]

Do you find yourself getting anxious if you miss a video, or they upload off schedule? Step back. I know they can help you through dark times but you can’t rely on them all the time.

Would you be devastated if they turned out to be a not-so-nice person? Step back. You can only trust them as much as you trust any stranger. Don’t see yourself up to be shattered if they fall off that pedestal you put them on.