The New Natural
It's Friday night. There's a party getting started with that the one guy. The perfect outfit is picked out, hair done; now just loading on the makeup that to look beautiful -- the smoky-brown eye shadow, super-chic cheek blush and the luscious pink lip color.Wait a minute, why makeup?
For many college students, achieving the natural look is not as "easy, breezy beautiful" as it seems. Some students go above and beyond that carefree, simple, natural look to shoot for more of an ideal and accepted one.
"There are such societal pressures for absolute perfection, people always wanting more," said Brittany Milove, a pre-journalism sophomore. Young people are buying into the market of cosmetics and purchasing their natural looks from beauty supply shops.
Procter & Gamble, the company that owns CoverGirl, Clairol Hair Color Products and Olay, cited beauty and health products as 44 percent of its net income in 2007, or $23 billion.
"Because of the media, there is a much more accessible standard," said Marian Binder, director of the UA's Counseling and Psychological Services. "I think there definitely is pressure on women, and men as well, to change their appearance. However, I believe makeup is a simple way of enhancing beauty that is already there."
Sarah Volk, an undeclared freshman, thinks there's a limit to how much makeup someone can put on before she's not herself anymore.
"I don't understand why girls spend so much money on makeup when they don't need to," Volk said. "Just be yourself. Who cares?"
Volk, who doesn't mind going without makeup on a daily basis, disagreed with Binder's view of makeup as a simple enhancement.
"I think makeup is very similar to a mask," Volk said. "It's not your face everyone else sees. If I wore makeup, people wouldn't really see me for me."
Volk said she thinks of makeup as a way of creating a temporary new personality, giving the wearer the ability to control what's visible to others.
But that may not be such a bad thing.
"Personally, I do feel a lot better when I go out," Milove said. "It helps me take a step out of my box and maybe build my own securities."
Ehab Tamimi, a civil engineering junior, thinks women put too much time and energy into trying to change the way they look.
"The way people look in general merely represents 10 percent of who they really are," Tamimi said. "The physical features, obviously, are the leading factors, the attention grabber, in first impressions."
Tamimi said there is much more to a woman than her physical features and added that young people put too much money into the beauty industry.
While some may not like it, students contribute to the beauty industry's $23 billion in sales.
"Lets face it," Milove said. "Unless you were blessed with this God-given beauty, the real natural seems like it just isn't going to cut it anymore."