THE most beautiful makeup of a woman is passion, which is hard to find and never sold. Makeup simply defies the degradations of time and not the marks of life’s prime…it doesn’t cover up an empty brain but merely holds perception temporarily.
Beauty is only skin deep. In the truest sense of the idiom, beauty is purely associated to just carnal attractiveness and external attributes sans relation to the righteousness, decency, and essential qualities of an individual. Makeup, then, is just a rebranding of the human face.
With the current advent of cosmetics and medical enhancement procedures being born far from the standard or norms of beauty isn’t a problem any longer. One just needs the aid of beauty experts and voila, a magical transformation instantly happens for the right price.
The history of cosmetics dates back at least 6000 years of human history and cosmetic body art was considered the earliest form of ritual in human culture. Archaeological evidence of the existence of cosmetics could be traced from ancient Egypt and Greece with the use of protective balms and skin creams made of beeswax. In ancient Rome various substances such as lead-based formulae to whiten skin and kohl to line the eyes were already used.
Kohl, a black powder used to darken the edges of the eyelids similar to eyeliners today, and henna, a substance used to draw and tattoo, originated from Africa and Egypt.
From the copper and lead ore used by the ancient Egyptians who were the first to wear facial beauty enhancers, over the centuries, women used burnt matches to darken their eyes, berries to stain their lips, and even young boy’s urine to fade their freckles. They even swallowed ox blood in some misguided attempts to improve their complexions.
Meanwhile, ancient Chinese performers stained their fingernails with gum Arabic, gelatin, beeswax, and egg whites while in Japan, geisha wore lipstick made of crushed safflower petals and sticks of bintsuke wax as a makeup base.
Although it was considered sinful and immoral by church leaders during the Middle Ages to wear makeup, still many women insisted in adopting the fad of lightening their skin with the use of white powder to look more aristocratic. Queen Elizabeth I of England was a well-known user of the white lead substance that illustrated her influential style which was evident in all paintings of her.
Pale faces were a trend during the European Middle Ages so much so that around the 16th century women would bleed themselves just to achieve pale skin. While Spanish prostitutes wore pink makeup to contrast their pale skin, the 13th century Italian women wore red lipstick to show that they were upperclass.
Various makeup applications were used in many countries during ceremonial events and battles in the early times especially among aborigines, natives, and tribes. Facial makeup was more of status symbol than a way of life.
The recent turn of the century gave rise to the mass production and general public application of makeup. During the early years of the 20th century, makeup became fashionable in America and Europe owing to the influence of ballet and theater stars with the most influence from the booming movie industry.
Thus, the opportunity for a lucrative makeup business was first conceptualized by Max Factor, Elizabeth Arden, and Helena Rubinstein while modern synthetic hair dye was first invented in 1907 and the sunscreen in 1936 by Eugene Schueller, founder of L’Oreal.
Flapper style had a great influence in the manufacture of cosmetics in the 1920s where dark eyes, red lipsticks, red nail polish and suntan invented as a fashion statement by Coco Chanel.
The first patent for a nail polish was granted in 1919 in a very faint pink and throughout the early 1910s, nail polish became available in many shades of pink and when a woman wore dark pink nail polish she would risk being gossiped as someone who was “fast.”
In the 1970s, at least 5 companies, Astarte, Afram, Libra, Flori Roberts, and Fashion Fair initiated producing makeup shades for African-American women that complimented their richer skin tones. Then later modern technology developed High-shear mixer which facilitated the production of cosmetics that were more natural looking and with greater staying power.
Then an unknown inventor from Philadelphia developed a cosmetic deodorant in 1888 trademarked under the name, Mum. A roll-on version was launched in 1952 while its aerosol counterpart was introduced to the market in 1965.
Due to human’s innate nature to constantly strive to attain perfection and discover new ways to enhance and improve their looks, cosmetic laboratories had astonishingly increased in number and manufacturers found a gold mine in this thriving industry.
Although modern makeup has been mainly used by women, gradually an unprecedented percentage of the male populace started using beauty enhancers topped by concealer to cover pockmarks, skin blemishes, and dark shades around the eyes.
Unlike during the days of yore when makeup were thick and pasty, modern technology has introduced light makeup ingredients with natural finish and wide variety of skin tones to match multi-racial consumers’ needs.
Permanent makeup or cosmetic tattooing is now a growing part of the health and beauty industry. Lips can now attain permanent lip line definition, eyes can bid eye pencils goodbye, and perfect eyebrow contour are achievable, too.
Today, natural-looking beauty is almost realizable through body sculpturing and facial contouring, collagen injection, glutathione use, skin peeling, rapid repair eye serum, anti-wrinkle care, nose lifting, and even hair transplant.
For most people, wearing makeup is an essential duty that they cannot live without, especially among career-oriented women, for they feel great about themselves knowing that they look better and presentable.
Modern society openly accepts the irresistible dictates of the pressing demands for fashion cosmetics and related beauty products which became more saleable with the hiring of influential celebrity product endorsers.
Makeup, when perfectly applied, could defy age, conceal flaws, enhance physical appearance, and boost confidence and morale.
And just when you thought makeup and related beauty enhancing products and techniques can only be applied exclusively on the living, think again! If the living has beauty salons to walk into, the deceased have the funeral parlor to pamper them for the last time .
A special two-year beauty course, Mortuary Makeup Degree or Mortuary Cosmetology, is offered in specialty schools which trains and prepares one to be a professional funeral makeup artist to proficiently and cosmetically make the dead look as it did in life especially for open casket viewing.
Then there’s still prosthetic makeup training, a special creative skill and technique that applies special effects (FX) for film television, and Halloween. From the ancient Greek word, prosthesis (which means additional application or attachment), artificial makeup or device replaces a missing body part or make one appears to be in a completely different form.
Hollywood has hired the services of the best prosthetic artists for the movies with Rick Baker, Rob Bottin, Lon Chaney, Ray Harryhausen, and Phil Leakey topping the list. The convincing cinematic transformations on screen were but products of these talented creative artists and their colleagues that undoubtedly contributed to the success of the movies.
The growing number of professional makeup artists with magical hands continually reinvented the fabulous world of sophistication, glamour, and fantasy especially in the movies and the modeling industry. These creative artists are gifted with the capacity to transform plain faces and live mannequins into almost perfected images required for the film roles, ramps, photo shoots, and public appearances.
In Manila, freelance marketing writer Holly Bissonnette personally enumerated 10 outstanding makeup artists which services and expertise are most sought-after especially for photo shoots: Bambi Fuentes, Lala Flores, Juan Sarte, Albert Kurniawan, Gela Laurel-Stehmeier, Robbie Piñera, RB Chanco, Micky Lee, Jake Galvez, and Krist Bansuelo.
But that doesn’t leave behind some of the more popular names who are in the business for decades with numerous regular clients among celebrities and socialites: Fanny Serrano, Ricky Reyes, Jinky Ilusorio, Jesi Mendez, Monet Chang, and those closely involved in television and movie productions.
Incidentally, here in the east coast, particularly in the tri-state area, the most visible Filipinos dominating the demands in makeup services are Danny Yvanoff Julian and Irene Zapanta of the renowned Danica-Irene tandem, Milette Marienski, Verush Benitez, Victor Palmos, Jessy Daing, and Gloria Cabrera.
In the west coast, Los Angeles in particular, the name Monet Lu has been consistently synonymous to meticulously applied classy touch-up with the addition of Jun Encarnacion International Beauty Salon.
The mushrooming existence of makeup artists could be motivated by the glamorous status of the profession aside from the good pay attached to it. Amazingly, makeup artists are compensated quite well…actually, very well!
In fact in 2012 Forbes, in a published article, called makeup artists as “America’s Most Surprising Six-Figure Jobs.” Most in-demand and well-experienced beauty experts have earned the reputation as being lucrative beauty professionals that could earn as much as $3,500 a day before travel allowance and overtime pay.
In a much broader perspective, here are the world’s top 5 makeup artists who were dubbed as the artists of superior excellence… the finest authorities behind big named cosmetic brands : Sam Fine – an African-American who has broken through the color barrier having been hired as the first black spokesperson for Revlon; Charlie Green – considered the Betsey Johnson of the makeup artists’ world; Pat McGrath – considered by Vogue Magazine as the most influential makeup artist in the world today; Tom Pecheux – Estee Lauder’s Creative Director and former L’Oreal and Shisheido’s makeup image creator; and Gucci Westman – Revlon’s Global Artistic Director and known for creating that exuding sensuality in makeup.
But makeup users, sometimes, have a price to pay for beauty. Excessive usage, inappropriate application or inadequate cleansing could lead to clogged pores and skin breakouts… and even allergies.
Having almost everything about makeup being covered, it is easier to conclude that one cannot always judge a person based on his or her “enhanced” looks alone for after the face has been cleared of concealer and makeup, the reality surfaces… candidly revealing the very individuality of the person and the actual look she or he was born with.
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