How much should I spend on makeup?
Previously I discussed the pros and cons of makeup versus plastic surgery. I also brought to you makeup tips from Bobbi Brown that can give you the same look for a wedding or a party as you will get through plastic surgery. Let me now discuss a new report from YWCA regarding beauty among women.
I have a lot of respect for YWCA but I think that their “Beauty at any Cost” report is just crap. According to the report, American women spent some $7 billion a year, or an average of about $100 each month, on cosmetics and beauty products, which apparently, comes out to be $100 a month for each woman. The report argues that if saved and invested for five years, it would pay for a full year of tuition and fees at a public college.
Americans consume about 13 billions liters of bottled water a year making it a $60 billion a year industry. It seems that we also burn half a billion bucks a year on video rental alone in addition to paying for cable television that has literally hundreds of movie choices every day. In other words, a hundred bucks a month is nothing compared to what we spend each month and this expense on makeup makes us all feel and look beautiful all day long raising our confidence.
I can agree that spending even a penny to look like a Hollywood star is a bad idea and developing an eating disorder to look like Victoria Beckham is not to be done, but spending a hundred bucks a month on your favorite moisturizer or lipstick or peptide cream or foundations or nail polish is definitely worth it.
My advice is still that you should do what you can afford, including cosmetic surgery as long as you understand the risks and have reasonable expectations.
I also think that smoking to lose weight is not the right way to become slim and body image and self esteem is unlikely to improve through plastic surgery if you do not deal with your personality issues.
How to retouch your photo?
If you have not, please watch the video of how models look good on television. I think what I am trying to say is that models and celebrities are not much different than the rest of us. Yes, they are beautiful to start with and then have the money to take better care of themselves and even have plastic surgery, but like all other human beings, they also get old, fat, and yes, get cellulite and varicose veins.
So why do they still look so good in pictures and in movies?
Thanks to Adobe, a company that makes a software called Photoshop. People who have studied the software (these days many picture editing softwares allow you to make many imperfections go away) can take years off someone’s face, reshape the body, and make their skin look flawless. Watch the slideshow below to see the real stars and after they have been retouched for magazine covers or movie posters or for advertisements.
Some of the stars featured are Beyonce, Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Hudson, Kate Hudson, Mischa Barton, Milla Jovovich, Blake Lively, Vanessa Anne Hudgens, Miley Cyrus, and Tyra Banks.
Most celebs do not protest because it helps them but if you remember that in the movie Fool’s Gold, they enlarged Kate Hudson’s flat chest and then in the movie The Duchess they also wanted to enhance Keira Knightley’s chest.
So I thin it is OK to retouch your photo for posting in your personal ad, for example.
Teenager body esteem
Lacy, a 15-year old writes about how her small breasts have lowered her self esteem, “I have become quite depressed over my body image issues. My first concern: breasts. I have nothing, like absolutely no breast tissue, I can’t fit into any bras at all. All the boys at school have more moobs than me. From looking around this site I have realised there is nothing I can do, but I hate it so much. I don’t want big breasts. I just desperately want to fit into an A cup. I just want to look normal. I know I’m not going to get any larger because my mum is as flat as a board. Second concern: butt. I have basically no ass; it’s so flat I can’t look good in any pants and to top it off, I also have uneven butt cheeks, one is like twice the size of the other. My mother tells me that it is unnoticeable but everyone I know points it out. Third reason: I am extremely skinny, I have chicken legs but really really bad; they are so thin that if you feel my legs all you feel is bone. I have more meat on my feet than my legs. I basically have toothpicks for legs. My thighs are the same size of my skinny 8 year old brothers. I weigh 39 kg (just less than 90 lbs), I should also add in that I’m half Japanese, which would explain why I am smaller, but when I went to Japan even girls there were much larger than me. Fourth reason: my eyes, I like my left eye, but hate my right eye. It has a really droopy eyelid that covers like half my eye; it looks so uneven and bad and I’m terrified of taking photos and I find it hard to use makeup. To hide this, I use Japanese eyelid glue but even that is starting to not work anymore. So I have no boobs, no butt and no legs. Oh and I have one normal looking eye and a tiny looking eye. I am not a normal girl, they usually have at least one of the above. I wouldn’t mind being flat chested if I had a butt and legs or vise versa, at least I would have something. I have tried eating heaps and I do yoga. The doctor says I’m in the healthy weight percentile. My family doesn’t have too much money so I can’t afford plastic surgery. How unlucky am I! No matter how much I eat, I don’t gain weight and I have a really healthy diet as well. I am getting so desperate and I’m thinking of giving up on everything completely. I hate my body. I can only pray that you can help me in some way. I know there isn’t much you or anyone else can do but I can only try.”
- First of all, you are only 15 and that means that you have at least 3-4 years to fully grow up.
- You did not indicate your height but I am sure that you can put on plenty of weight and still be OK for your height (the right way to gain weight is to increase your sugar and fat intake and continue to exercise regularly, so eat fast food and desserts for a while and you should gain some weight for sure; everyone does). You can do the BMI calculation here to see how much more weight you can put on and still be healthy.
- Ever heard of Keira Knightley? She has a body like yours and guess what? She is one of the hottest celebrities right now. In other words, your body or your breast/butt size is not everything. You can still get the job you want and the guy you want with the body you have. A woman is more than her breasts and butt. Also read this inspirational story of another teenager who is not bothered by her small breasts and is going ahead in life.
- I think as you put on some weight you will see your breasts growing a bit and your butt will look more even too.
- I couldn’t tell you much about your eyes but it could simply be that because you have so little fat on your face, it looks awkward. As your face fills up, it will look more natural.
Now for God’s sake, do not even consider this stupid idea of giving up. Have you ever seen people that are born blind or without legs or they can’t hear or talk or have all the other sad things happen to them later, like their legs getting chopped off in Iraq or in an accident? They don’t give up. They learn to do the best with what they have and that is what I would like you do to.