Beauty impacts everyone in its orbit; its standards are always intrinsically caught up with culture, even politics. In an ever-evolving industry, we now have makeup and skincare that are truly, and thankfully, for all. Here, we explore our long-term relationship with beauty and how we’ve come this far.
The irony of beauty is its ephemerality. That even though we are fully aware that beauty fades, we still embark on that Sisyphean journey to freeze time to when our skin bounced back fastest.
At the core of beauty ideology, the idea of preservation remains prevalent. It is as if everlasting youthfulness can be achieved once we can afford the expensive patented elixir, a la Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn in Death Becomes Her. Yet, just as our existential ruminations about our beauty are not fixed, so, too, do standards fluctuate with time. They waver with the tides of culture, politics, and technology. Of course, I say this as I squint my eyes at the bathroom mirror, stretching the skin at the sides of my eyes to check how wrinkled they’ve become when I smile. They do wrinkle. I’ve accepted it.
Beauty is malleable, and it only holds shape for such short periods. It remains upheld for so long as society agrees before they tire and decide, “Time’s up!” Players like the media help to dictate these norms. I can only count the times I’ve bought, thrown away, and then bought again a pair of elephant pants (or “elephants” as my brother likes to joke). Or how many types of eyebrows we’ve plucked into various shapes over the years. I’ve come to realize that the pursuit of relevance is always followed by the denouement of the loss of luster. The very nature of trends, after all, is the need to update every season to delineate the border between those who can keep up and those who cannot. It is rooted in the spirit of creativity, the dynamism of expression, the nature of self-expression, and the churning of capitalism.
But the democratizing power of technology has allowed a new generation to speak back to an insular industry that, for so long, has called all the shots. Girls now flock to Reddit forums to talk dirty about the mean girls of Big Beauty. I remember being in high school and running to the local drugstore to experiment with makeup, only to find three shades of foundation: light, medium, and dark. But just last week, I was flustered trying on 10 different shades during a personal pilgrimage to switch brands. Did I have light skin with golden undertones or light-medium skin with neutral undertones? The options came in every shade of Pantone nude as if the industry was finally in agreement that they needed to make space for women of all shapes, colors, skin types, and needs. Girls who wake up at 6 a.m. to do their makeup before a big presentation at work don’t want to see beauty tips done on models who look nothing like them or live lives so detached from reality.
Public conversations around beauty have broadened to include key societal issues. After all, girls who wake up at 6 a.m. to do their makeup before a big presentation at work don’t want to see beauty tips done on models who look nothing like them or live lives so detached from reality. The beauty industry was forced to recognize its role in setting unrealistic standards. To rectify this, brands finally used models who looked like real people, laced campaigns with feminist sentiment, or expanded their products to address unheard concerns. In this new playing field, we have welcomed a more robust market of players where development serves better products fit for the modern lifestyle, or to fill more specialized needs.
Today, makeup is about aesthetics as much as it is about function. We want our foundation not just to hide our imperfections, but also to deal with the melting point of heightened temperatures brought about by climate change. Or, who wants to head to the club wearing lipstick that rubs off after the first sip of Negroni…spagliato…with prosecco? We want a beauty regime that includes vitamins and antioxidants. Or ones that draw from nature—whether extracted from fruit, plant, or snail.
Accountability is a big thing. There is a hesitancy to associate with brands that are full of BS. Users are more cognizant about the things in their products and are doubtful of claims. Women who are buying skincare or makeup do so like they do at the grocery—scanning through the ingredients list to spot something that might not be good for their diet or was questionably sourced. A new regard for transparency requires that beauty companies appeal to consumers as friends. In these relationships, goals, visions, and beliefs must align, lest the online gossip Estee Laundry throw serious shade. People have wedged themselves into the process of construction, and the results are cries for innovation, inclusivity, sustainability, and ethical processes. Gone are the days of trend reports only decided by a few luckily employed in the fashion magazine. Decision-making powers are now done in collaboration over platforms like TikTok and Instagram. I grew up in an all-girls Catholic school where makeup was seen as oppositional to the virtue of simplicity, only to realize later on that even my morality teacher made the effort to put on red lipstick.
This newfound culture of beauty comes as a pleasant surprise for me. I grew up in an all-girls Catholic school where makeup was seen as oppositional to the virtue of simplicity, only to realize later on that even my morality teacher made the effort to put on red lipstick. The debate over beauty is arduous and exhausting. What is undeniable is that the moment we step outside of our homes, we decide how we want to present ourselves to the world, whether our eyebrows are unkempt, or we’ve taken the time to highlight our cheekbones.
At the tail-end of my 33rd year, my beauty routine has become both more simplified and complex, appeasing less but more specific needs. I’m like my grandma Ruth who swears by one potent ampoule to keep glowing. I am also, however, coming to realize that while we feel attached to our beauty routines, we cannot objectify our allure to the things that can be found in our vanity cabinets. One day, just like elephant pants, our youth becomes a moment we can only look back on with sentimentality, our looks just a phase we archive in the past. And so, perhaps, it is not so surprising that in talking about beauty today, we demand more meaningfulness. We ask that beauty accept us for who we are, imperfections and all. We want to radiate no matter the color of our skin. We want reliability, on delivering when promised. We want consciousness and care for the people and the world we live in. We want acceptance that one day, when our youth slips away, we will still be considered beautiful.
