let lemons be angry

Three muses for this season.

I've been feeling a little dissatisfied with the way I look. I know, I know, what am I talking about, I'm ungrateful and unthankful. But a lot of girls feel that way when they're trapped by makeup.

Some brave college students in Texas have launched a No-Makeup Tuesday to "Redefine Beautiful". Their argument being that our highly airbrushed, made-up society has tweaked the standards of beauty to unrealistic standards, and we need to bring those standards down to earth. By not wearing makeup.

I wouldn't take part in No-Makeup Tuesday, though if I looked as naturally powdered as they did, I would. Neither am I upset about having to wear makeup, because to me makeup is a fun ritual, a little magical for the way it transforms a face.

But I do feel trapped by the rising standards of beauty these days. All these twenty-one-year-olds in lookbook-inspired outfits, faces so enviable with their lash extensions, Benetint-ed cheeks, MAC concealer, Kiehls lipbalm, Paul and Joe lipsticks, and OPI nails. Beauty has become what we buy.

And so while I am hardly brave enough to do No-Makeup Tuesdays, I will ban myself from buying anything beauty-related for.. three months.

That's a big deal for someone who bought 10 items in the last two weeks--a myriad of lipstick, nail polishes, masks, essence, mattifyers, and too many potions for any of them to have effect, piled up on each other and suffocating my skin.

No more stepping into watson's just to buy a toothbrush, because that will inadvertently lead to me testing colors and creams on the back of my hands, and walking out with two new Japanese products. If I have to wait for someone to arrive, I will not wait around the following places: MAC, Face Shop, SkinFood, Sephora, Watson's, or any beauty department.

When I surf the net in my idle daze, I will not stumble upon my favourite youtube-gurus for product reviews, or be influenced anymore to try new lightweight foundations, $35 eyeliners, or be led to thinking that lipsticks should be collected like country erasers.

It's all really fun, to collect and try and be excited about the New Product's effect. But in order for me to stop feeling trapped by Worldwide Beauty Improvement, I need to get storebought beauty out of my brain. The muses above demonstrate an attractiveness that cannot be store-bought, the same kind that makes me turn to watch a woman and want to be her. It's not a flawless, pretty look--it's a raw attitude, a lived-in sort of recklessness.

Three months, here I come!