Based on the photograph she provides, I think she looks far better with no makeup...
... but it's not really such an all-or-nothing thing — heavy makeup or no makeup at all. And yet, for publicity purposes, going bare is a good move.
September 12, 2021
"A Ms Great Britain contestant who was bullied at school over her appearance is to enter the competition make-up-free to 'empower young women.'"
"Elle Seline, 31, said she used make-up as a mask when she was a teen and was ridiculed for having more body hair due to her mixed Greek/English heritage. She wants her entry in the national pageant to inspire the next generation. 'There may be a young girl at school who sees it and feels that, actually, I'm good enough as I am,' she said."
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42 comments:
All women look better without makeup. And you can tell them apart.
She is not bad looking at all, but I would have guessed she was more like mid-40s, so that may not help her cause.
"I'm good enough as I am"
She is, but others aren't. This is just beauty-shaming.
As with make-up, going bare is about women competing with women.
Too damn difficult.
She looks better in the photograph without makeup because the focus is so much softer.
I've been watching a lot of Poirot episodes, which are set in 1936. This requires actresses to be made up in that era's styles. The gowns and accessories are beautiful, but their makeup appears so unnatural to my eyes. Except for maybe a little powder to even the skin tone, they all look so much better without it.
"... I would have guessed she was more like mid-40s..."
The makeup makes her look really old, but I'd say it's a bad makeup job, so it doesn't prove what makeup does. The caked on foundation makes the skin look unyouthful and the gunked up black on the eyes is just unpleasant. What's really sad is that so many women think they need to cover themselves up. Talk about masks. That's what this is: a mask of makeup. That's not the only kind of makeup, and I think most good makeup artists would say it's bad. For some kinds of photographs — and stage shows — heavy makeup can be right, but it still needs to be done well. The average woman doing heavy makeup on herself is going to end up looking like she's trying too hard and has a self-esteem problem.
Harsh lighting for the heavy makeup shot. Soft lighting for the no makeup shot. Makes a difference.
I suspected rhhardin was going to have the last word on this, even if it’s also the first.
The first photo has harsh lighting and ugly shadows. The second photo has soft, even lighting, and possibly uses a filter. Of course she looks better in that one.
When I was in high school, many of the girls were experimenting with makeup, but didn't do a great job. So the makeup-free girls still looked better. (Of course, as a straight teenage boy, I thought they nearly all were incredibly attractive.) Today, you can find a million beauty lessons on YouTube and social media, and young people are much more savvy about how they look under lighting and lenses. They're probably as good at using beauty products today as Cindy Crawford was in the 1980s.
I am in the rhhardin camp on this one.
The caked on foundation
This is a problem with news people in the age of HDTV. That and the lighting. Rather than hide wrinkles, the foundation ends up accentuating them, and the fact that the person is wearing foundation make-up is all the more obvious.
But even in real life, more than just a little is too much. Most women would be better off without any cover-up at all. Perhaps a little bit of mascara and lip coloring and you're good to go. But I've known plenty of women around the office who wore nothing at all and looked great.
As a society we’ve come to the point where all potential victors must proclaim themselves a victim of bullying. I seriously can not remember a time where someone stated they had a good childhood and people were nice to them. Sorry but if you declare yourself a victim without evidence to back it up I consider you to be less than truthful
Make-up is used to enhance certain facial features. Some women already have those features and need little to no make-up. She has those features.
There is also the "ugly duckling" thing with certain people. They are the awkward ugly teens that blossom into attractive adults.
'There may be a young girl at school who sees it and feels that, actually, I'm good enough as I am,' she said."
There may be an attractive young girl at school who sees it and feels that, actually, I'm good enough as I am,' she said.
Casting yourself as a victim in order to make a virtue of your privilege and profit thereby. Or something.
I can’t begin to keep up…
She does look a lot better with no makeup. But I'd be surprised to learn she's really wearing no makeup. My money is on the 'no-makeup makeup' look. She probably came to realize she looks better this way and decided to turn it into a brave and stunning publicity move.
Smart and smart.
I'd add that the first photo is harshly lit and crisply focused, while the second is softly lit and softly focused or filtered.
That's not happenstance.
Am I pretty enough for you to like me? Or am I worthless as a human being? So much neurosis in the world. Ultimately a failure of parenting.
'The makeup makes her look really old...'
Even the shot without makeup...I would not have said she was in her early thirties.
"Based on the photograph she provides, I think she looks far better with no makeup..."
Based on my 60+ years of experience, most women do
I can appreciate the idea that she's entering a beauty pageant to cause a redefinition of what constitutes beauty but she's still putting herself in a position to be judged by others, just as she says she was while growing up.
I think we have the Kardashian / Jenner clan to thank for all the heavy makeup routines so many younger women go for these days.
So many of these decisions are announced to "help other young girls". It would be refreshing to hear one woman announce that she is doing it for herself "because I think I look better this way".
At college in the early '70s, I did a whole speech in French conversation class about how much I detested le maquillage. Of course, this being Berkeley, there was much more leg and underarm hair than there was makeup, but complaining about that would've been fatal, even then.
She looks good natured and sincere in the second photo. In the first photo with the heavy make up, she's got a vampire vibe. I wouldn't trust her with Dalmatian puppies or let a pretty girl take an apple from her hands. She looks like she's responding to standards and practices of beauty that that are not western or modern standards and practices. However, in neither photo does she look like a beauty contest winner. Is it sexist to look for beauty in beauty contest winners?.....That girl who won the tennis tournament is quite attractive. She could star in a Disney young adult series, plus, for the moment, she's the best female tennis player in the world. It's reassuring when beautiful women turn up in unexpected places and unsettling when they're not where you expect to find them.
Btw...of all the beautiful women I've known, the absolutely most stunning woman was at her best with zero makeup. Why mess with perfection?
Some women look better without makeup, but IMO most look better with a little bit of enhancement.
The young lady is attractive enough without the heavy paint, but would probably look better with a light touch.
Big thick eyebrows are a turn-off to me, but seem to be the ideal now.
I know women who wear makeup so heavy you wonder what on earth they are thinking. The mask idea makes sense. They are trying to hide behind it. Tammy Faye Baker is probably the most famous that comes to mind, but I know one or two in my community who I am not close enough to ask about it or to get a sense of why?!
With the same lighting as the non makeup photo in my opinion she would look better with the makeup. Makeup exists for a reason.
Somehow when the comparison shots are shown the comparison shots are never otherwise identical except for the makeup.
Comparing these photos is a lot like lying with statistics.
Complete garbage agenda pushing crap.
That's a bad makeup unless she's playing a demon in Brand New Cherry Flavor.
It's not about the makeup, it's about the facial hair.
Maybe it's not the makeup at all...maybe it's the Tom Selleck mustache?
I am not a fan of women wearing make-up and I also think many put on way too much perfume as well. I applaud Elle Seline for being make-up free. Being bullied as a teenager must have been rough. I remember a number of girls at my high school who were “mean girls” who thought they were “hot” but when I saw them at a reunion many years later, no amount of make-up could help them reclaim their youthful looks. Karma was a bitch for them. The last time that I remember Mrs. Scott wearing make-up was on our wedding day 27 years ago and even rarely before that when we were dating. I think she looks great without make-up and I love her for herself, not some artificial look.
Could this be strategy to influence the judges.
Voting for me isn’t just a win for me!
Kind of similar to a humble brag when paired with an announcement and mission statement.
Imagine a young Salma Hayek entering a beauty pageant declaring she was teased about being flat chested as a girl but refuses to get a boob job "to empower women".
My better half wasn’t wearing makeup when we met. Hasn’t worn any since we met. Has never dyed her hair. Hers is still brown, mine gray though a younger female friend refers to my shade of gray as “distinguished silver “.
When I compare her to our female Facebook friends our ag, I have to wonder who all those old people are. My children, who are brutally honest, say the same of our male Facebook friends comparing them to me. But then, even though gray, I have all my hair.
Sort of curious why you would spend hours on foundation and contouring when it makes you look worse. She looks older and haggard in the make up picture. I thought the purpose of make up was to make you look younger and healthier to counteract natural aging. Is there a fashion to look older now?
walter says, "imagine a young Salma Hayek."
OK, I am. Is she flat-chested? I never noticed!
Leora asks, "is there a fashion to look older now?"
Haven't you seen the fall line of powdered wigs?
My wife, who has always looked years younger than she is and much younger than me (though the diff is only 15 months), is letting her hair go grey. Mine has been gray for decades already, but it's still there, mostly.
Both of us look better than our friends. Still.
There's a reason women use makeup, and it's not b/c it makes them look worse.
At the BBC article is a more flattering picture in the same black and silver strapped dress, presumably with the same makeup.
But her teeth are too straight to ever represent the British.
Mikey NTH said...
So many of these decisions are announced to "help other young girls". It would be refreshing to hear one woman announce that she is doing it for herself "because I think I look better this way".
This is a key insight.
Who does the female genital mutilation ceremony? The older women that had it done to them.
Men don't treat women as poorly as other women do on aggregate.
Make-up works for older women, judging from its use by older women, who usually wear it tastefully. Make-up certainly helps the drag/trans community, so there's that. Anyway, make-up ain't harmful, so if it makes you feel better about yourself, wear it. Or don't.
I'll take 'First World Problems' for $500 please, Alex.
I wonder if she'll be skipping the labia makeup during the competition as well.
https://www.phillymag.com/shoppist/2014/03/06/wtf-labia-makeup-nether-region-beauty-treatments/
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