Prathima's Miles & Milestones

This post means no offence to the girls who use their daily makeup 🙂

I belong to a middle class family where we have been taught money is an essential commodity to make a decent living in society.

I haven’t been taught to wear makeup since childhood. All I used was Nivea or Fair and lovely cream and Ponds face powder with a shringar liquid bindi, be it going to school or attending a wedding.

When my college friends forced and applied makeup I felt like a face painting competition going on with the commands like close you eyes, open your eyes, move your lips, do not move and so on!

I hate lipsticks because the very idea of it will make me the one stand out in a crowd.

I feel beauty lies in the minimal and in keeping it simple. Beauty is also something which stands in spite of the breeze, rain and untouched by the sun, and yet you stay natural.

As fashion changes, our idea of what is beautiful also changes. Of course, it also depends from person to person.

The beauty industry also creates career opportunities for various designers, makeup artists, stylists, and fashion people to seek to respond to.

In a society that is increasingly obsessed with beauty brands and looking “happy”, “satisfied” and “groomed”, but also a society that is increasingly interacting and presenting itself through technology — say, via Photoshop or Instagram or Snapchat, what is the best way to stand out in a crowd?

For that is why we talk of makeup or beauty — we want to be noticed and we want to be different. And thanks to the internet now, we are bombarded with tons of images every single day, every single moment, how can we create an image of ourselves which is worth noticing?

I admire those girls who step out in track pants and without being conscious about their hair or makeup. I am glad my thickest friends and roommates believe in being minimalistic because our room has the least cosmetics compared to any other room in the PG accommodation:)

I think we all should experiment with defining beauty for ourselves and our contexts, just because it is such a personal thing.

I would love the compliments from someone who likes me without makeup. But hey, that’s why I no longer wear makeup. 😉