Althouse: An argument against wearing makeup.

October 26, 2010

An argument against wearing makeup.

Convincing!

55 comments:

Fred4Pres said...: A young red head who can get away without combing her hair or makeup.

Okay.

I do not see much of an argument. Lots of young women can get away with that.; 10/26/10, 9:52 AM
Anonymous said...: How about an argument against ... you know where I'm going with this.

Peter; 10/26/10, 9:53 AM
Clyde said...: Peter, as natural as she looks, she might be your type!

She should be in green, though. Natural redheads look great in green.; 10/26/10, 9:56 AM
Jana said...: I have a similar skin tone and freckled look as in the photos. I never wear makeup, and never really have (save for a short time in junior high) because I don't think it adds anything and covers up my freckles. People lately have hinted about the "five minute face" and other makeup routines I could adopt as a makeup averse kind of person. Maybe they're trying to tell me something!; 10/26/10, 9:59 AM
kathleen said...: of course young people shouldn't wear makeup. older people, OTOH....; 10/26/10, 10:08 AM
kjbe said...: Simplicity rules!; 10/26/10, 10:08 AM
tim maguire said...: Maybe my opinions are colored by the fact that I came of age in the 80's, when many women used make up as a mask to hide behind, but I've always been of the opinion that less is more. The courage to wear not a bit is very sexy.; 10/26/10, 10:13 AM
bagoh20 said...: Unfortunately, we have become accustomed to the look of makeup. Consequently, even attractive women can look unhealthy without it. I hate makeup, and most women I have been with don't use much, but you have to swim upstream to appreciate it. Culture, especially with media that is 100% makeup faces, is powerful, and it's hard to opt out.; 10/26/10, 10:23 AM
MayBee said...: I see an argument for great lighting.; 10/26/10, 10:31 AM
TWM said...: "An argument against wearing makeup."

For her, maybe, but it's not universal.; 10/26/10, 10:32 AM
Pastafarian said...: What MayBee said; but Jana's right too. I think it's the ginger/freckles factor. Such women look better with no make-up.

Prime example: Evangeline Lily. They actually use her to advertise make-up; and she looks horrible with it on, and great without it.; 10/26/10, 10:37 AM
traditionalguy said...: The youthful look is the pure look. My grand daughter at 3 1/2 looks identical, except for the eyebrow fulness. Young women are so beautiful that cosmetics only covers it up. But after age 30 or so a little paint helps out. The Jen Benet Ramsay style of painting innocent children is such a downer.; 10/26/10, 10:38 AM
Shanna said...: You know you've done a great job applying makeup when it's so subtle no one realizes you are wearing it.

Not that she has done that, necessarily, but still. You can get away with a lot at 18 that you can't at 50.; 10/26/10, 10:39 AM
Smilin' Jack said...: Au contraire, that's an argument FOR using makeup, for the 99% of women who don't look that good, but want to.; 10/26/10, 10:39 AM
Unknown said...: Simply because she doesn't look bad doesn't make it argument against a little lipstick and a comb through her hair. I hear a lot of, "she can get away with it", but very little, "she's perfection incarnate".

After all, some people can't stand freckles.; 10/26/10, 10:56 AM
Anonymous said...: Thanks edutcher, "... a comb through her hair" made me laugh.; 10/26/10, 11:09 AM
traditionalguy said...: The Dolly Parton look is always available to insecure ladies. Dolly says that she has to pay a lot of money make her up to look like a slut.; 10/26/10, 11:18 AM
themightypuck said...: A women wears makeup because it makes her look better to the imaginary mate she aspires to even as her present mate tells her he likes her better without it.; 10/26/10, 11:29 AM
Curtiss said...: O.K. I'm convinced...

that children shouldn't wear makeup.; 10/26/10, 11:30 AM
kentuckyliz said...: I'm 45, a redhead, and I don't wear makeup because it's expensive dirt. Besides, I don't have to look at me. :-) Y'all can suffer for all I care.

The outfit is fugly but I like the color of the coat. Don't mix red and orange. They don't automatically go together.

Her face is a flat palette. A light touch of brown mascara and a bit of warm matte lip tint would be good.

I mean, getting past her being a ginger and all.

I remain...
ginger and proud; 10/26/10, 11:48 AM
Anonymous said...: Earth-girl looks like she's headed to a Bob Dylan poetry reading.

Her getup cancels everything.; 10/26/10, 11:53 AM
Michael said...: The comments on The Sartorialist (at least on the posts that Althouse directs us to) are so universally consistent...

She's beautiful!
What a beauty!
Beautiful!

...it makes me think I'm missing some Onion-esque joke.; 10/26/10, 12:15 PM
traditionalguy said...: Interesting factoid: In a world where phony wins all for female contestants, the sight of the real female body and soul un-marred and in person has a big effect on viewers that are not familiar with that sight.; 10/26/10, 12:38 PM
Sigivald said...: Fred: Lots of non-young women can get away with it, too.

It just involves not pretending they're still "young".; 10/26/10, 12:55 PM
Penny said...: "The comments on The Sartorialist (at least on the posts that Althouse directs us to) are so universally consistent..."

To be fair, Michael, some s t r e t c h to find synonyms for "beautiful" over there, yet not a one has come up with a suitable substitute for the totally remarkable exclamation point!!!; 10/26/10, 1:06 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: If men wore make-up - and women had to taste that crap whenever they kissed them - the entire business would die overnight.

"We make her paint her face and dance"?

Bullshit - John could be such a tool - the bitches do (and have done) it to themselves and, of course, then blame any man within reach for their insecurities.

It's all bullshit.; 10/26/10, 1:08 PM
Salamandyr said...: I am fortunate to be married to a woman with a wonderful complexion, who generally wears no makeup, and needs none.

That being said, I've seen the effect that a good makeup job can do on even her skin...it's more a case of, enhancing wonderfulness.; 10/26/10, 1:19 PM
BJM said...: Ha! another Dylan reference.

Older women look better with less makeup, a natural glow and a little eye definition is all one needs.

I sat across the aisle from Joan Collins on a flight in the mid-90's and nothing is scarier than an older woman with five pounds of gunk on her face.; 10/26/10, 1:33 PM
ricpic said...: Did anyone catch the picture of Hillary at 63 on Drudge? Think makeup could save that?; 10/26/10, 1:37 PM
ricpic said...: That young redhead doesn't need makeup, she needs a smile.; 10/26/10, 1:40 PM
Methadras said...: Hey, whatever works to make you (women) look hot is what I'm in favor of. Thank you.; 10/26/10, 2:13 PM
Ralph L said...: "I would just like to say that it is my conviction
That longer hair and other flamboyant affectations
Of appearance are nothing more
Than the male's emergence from his drab camouflage
Into the gaudy plumage
Which is the birthright of his sex
(eat your little hearts out, ladies)

There is a peculiar notion that elegant plumage
And fine feathers are not proper for the male
When actually
That is the way things are
In most species"; 10/26/10, 2:18 PM
blake said...: Hate makeup.

Crack Emcee is right on this: It tastes horrible.

Also, when women wear it? That's what I see. Makeup. I can see the little grains of it quite clearly.; 10/26/10, 2:32 PM
Joaquin said...: Attractive, yeah if you're 14!; 10/26/10, 3:00 PM
Shanna said...: If men wore make-up - and women had to taste that crap whenever they kissed them - the entire business would die overnight.

Guyliner! Although I guess you don't have to taste that. So what is your position on peppermint lip gloss?; 10/26/10, 3:07 PM
jamboree said...: Young people look better in make up and out of it. You don't want to give up your best eye makeup years either. Do both. Have fun.; 10/26/10, 4:35 PM
dbp said...: Helen Thomas is a great argument against makeup too.; 10/26/10, 4:40 PM
jamboree said...: Also young ppl are often trying to look their best amid a sea of other young ppl. Older ppl tend to forget that because all they see is someone that looks great with no makeup compared to them. IOW, this look is often more appreciated by older ppl and taken for granted by young. It's usually the unusually good-looking and poised that can pull it off as a look.; 10/26/10, 4:45 PM
ndspinelli said...: Tammy Faye Baker was the best argument against wearing makeup.; 10/26/10, 4:55 PM
Retriever said...: As others have said, the young outshine us middle aged types. But I hardly ever wear wear makeup and don't look any better with it, just painted and smoother. Real people have freckles, pores, wrinkles and eyebrows that don't look like lines. Beyond a bit of blush in the dead of winter and mascara if one's lashes are light, can't see why bother with any.

Of course I am blessed by a chivalrous spouse who claims to see no difference in me in the last 23 years (love or eyesight getting worse?).

To everything there is a season: whenI was young and lovely, my life was pretty fraught. Happier at home with my family now.

The redhead is quite beautiful, tho. I love that site.; 10/26/10, 4:59 PM
Simon Kenton said...: "And were I not, as a man may say, cautious
How I trench, more than needs, on the nauseous,
I could favour you with sundry touches
Of the paint-smutches with which the Duchess
Heightened the mellowness of her cheek's yellowness
(To get on faster) until at last her
Cheek grew to be one master-plaster
Of mucus and fucus from mere use of ceruse: 830
In short, she grew from scalp to udder
Just the object to make you shudder."
-- Browning; 10/26/10, 5:51 PM
Jamie said...: I went to my middle-schooler's cross country meet today, arriving in time to catch the end of the girls' race. I was literally moved to tears by how beautiful they were, even though sweaty, stringy-haired, and (in one case) retching as she ran through the gates. My friends and I often talk about how we completely missed out on enjoying how effortlessly beautiful we were when we were 14, 15, 16...

The model girl's lovely, but I ain't got her bones. I dye my hair back to its original color (I'm only 44 but graying in a very mousy and gross fashion) and wear some kind of tinted lip gloss to work, actual lipstick and mascara if going out, but no amount of "help" could ever make me as beautiful as I was in the years when I obsessed over whether I was ugly.; 10/26/10, 6:53 PM
Anonymous said...: ... Then again ...

http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/2010/10/on-streetplace-vendome-paris.html; 10/26/10, 7:16 PM
Anonymous said...: "People lately have hinted about the "five minute face" and other makeup routines I could adopt as a makeup averse kind of person. Maybe they're trying to tell me something!"

Bah!

Jana, don't change a thing. You're totally hot ... as in Cat on Hot Tin Roof hot.; 10/26/10, 7:19 PM
Anonymous said...: "Helen Thomas is a great argument against makeup too."

Helen Thomas is a great argument for paper bags.; 10/26/10, 7:20 PM
Hoosier Daddy said...: Chick looks like she just woke up. Also looks like she should scarf down a couple of cheeseburgers and a milkshake. I thought the heroin waif look died in the 90s; 10/26/10, 9:53 PM
traditionalguy said...: Hoosier...How did you get a waif on heroin look out of a pure innocence of a healthy mentally and physically young girl's look? You are being cynical, not that there is any thing wrong with a cynical comment. They outnumber positive comments 100 to 1 these days, I cynically observe.; 10/26/10, 10:06 PM
Titus said...: I received my lorazepam today, yum.

Quick Ques fellow repubicans: Tom Brady's new long hair-hot or not.

I say def hot.; 10/26/10, 10:19 PM
Titus said...: Plans for Halloween festivities?

Corn Maize's perhaps?

Pumpkin Carving?

Special Pumpkin bread or "loafs"?

Haunted Houses?

Gords?

Hot Apple Cider with a dash of Rum, a hint of cinny, a dollop of cream and a smidge of something around the cup with a special Witch stir stick?

Speaking of Halloween my neighbor is crazy. I have been here a month and the paddy wagon has been here three times, she stole my mail and has a sign on her door which says, "The Witch is...in-get it she is there and out-she is not there. I haven't met her yet but I knocked on her door a couple of times and heard her in there but she doesn't answer to door. The property manager told me she is crazy and has multiple personality disorder-thanks, great to know.; 10/26/10, 10:29 PM
jungatheart said...: Paint
Must never hope to reproduce the faint
Half flush that dies along her throat
-Browning; 10/26/10, 10:31 PM
traditionalguy said...: Titus...Tom Brady needs to get a cut and a perm and try a new shade of lipstick too. Why settle for looking half like a woman in the National Female League.; 10/26/10, 10:55 PM
Fred4Pres said...: Hmmm, I see a business opportunity. Edible makeup!

Women who taste like say...jerky! Or doughnuts. Or pretzels.

That would be heaven.; 10/26/10, 11:39 PM
Methadras said...: traditionalguy said...

Titus...Tom Brady needs to get a cut and a perm and try a new shade of lipstick too. Why settle for looking half like a woman in the National Female League.

All Princess Brady did is cement his faggotronics with that hair of his...; 10/27/10, 3:14 AM
Hoosier Daddy said...: Hoosier...How did you get a waif on heroin look out of a pure innocence of a healthy mentally and physically young girl's look? You are being cynical,

I guess its all in the eye of the beholder.; 10/27/10, 5:37 AM
dick said...: Titus,

Just say Tom Brady - doesn't need to mention anything else. Hot!!; 10/27/10, 9:51 PM