The Beauty Mantra
As a self-confessed, albeit somewhat embarrassed Girly-Girl/Product Junkie/Fashonista-Wannabe, I am truly passionate about the change of seasons—and the dubious need for the new beauty products that accompany each solstice. Spring is the very best of all: the sun feels warm on our faces, kissing them with an optimistic glow—thus requiring a bronzing sunscreen! The gloomy darks of winter have surrendered to the glorious pastels of the flora, and the gods of fashion have officially declared pink the new black! Even beauty neutrals take on a shine, as our inner light emerges from beneath layers of all that is dreary about the dark months. For some of us, this emergence is marked by a subtle, peachy cosmetic flush, designed, oddly, to look as though one’s face is utterly unadorned. Oh, it is heaven for me, this reconnaissance with spring: the light palette of floating fabrics, shimmering lotions, potions, mystery cosmetics, untested on animals and delivered in dazzling recyclable packaging. The sweetness of flower-based fragrance can-and does- instantly transport me to the garden of my choice.
On some level (one clearly not connected to rational thought) I truly believe that if I could only find the right hair product, all would be well in my world. In fact, on a good hair day, if I am wearing the right shoes, I am sometimes prone to the dreamy fantasy that if given the opportunity I could reorganize the world, providing a lifestyle of wellness, grace, world peace, and luxury products for all. And I probably could, because, for the moment, I believe it to be so.
Beauty and belief are pals, no doubt about that. Haven’t we all encountered a passerby who has wowed us with their saunter, implying a confidence which makes them impossible to ignore? Who has not had the experience of inexplicably feeling like they “look good today” and therefore seem to emit a subtle yet attractive magnetic pull? Standards of beauty are reliably ever-shifting, thus requiring new and quasi-necessary products (yay!). Well-thumbed glossy magazines continue to inform us of what is beautiful now. And therein lies a genuine, terrible conflict for my inner Product Junkie, because what is beautiful now is… Anti-Aging.
Anti-Aging? Are they kidding? Have the Ambassadors of Beauty considered the alternative? A Beauty Mantra which requires the elimination of a natural, developmental process is, well, plainly weird. “Anti-Aging” seems a lot like “Anti-Living” if you ask me—and why purchase any product that makes you feel like you have already lost it?
Is aging really a beauty crime?
No! Emphatically no! The crime is in having a Beauty Mantra (“Anti-Aging, Anti-Aging, Anti-Aging”) which does not allow for anyone to enjoy what is unique and lovely about their appearance in whatever stage of life they are experiencing. However old you are today, if the heavens cooperate, tomorrow you will be older. Embrace it! Even babies are aging at an alarming rate, and look how cute they are!
I would be lying through my Crest-whitened teeth if I said I am unwilling to try the newest magic potion that portends to preserve my relatively youthful looks. Anti-aging products are not the culprit; it is the mantra that offends. The beauty gods should help us enhance and enjoy the signs of our age: facial lines which imply years of love in one’s life and the many adventures which have accompanied same. Lines born of laughter, lessons learned, and experiences we can call uniquely our own. Marks on our bodies that represent years of families growing and children raised, years of friends so dear that in their eyes, you are always looking fabulous.
“Anti-Aging” must go! We need a new, more powerful mantra which celebrates our true outer—and inner—fabulousness. I am partial to “Uniquely Moi.” Try that one out, and see how nicely it rolls off your tongue.
Uniquely Moi! Now that’s a product line I would embrace! A product line with skin preserving properties—because I am Uniquely Moi! A clever lip gloss which plumps and freshens—Uniquely Moi again! Exfoliate my dusty skin, smoothe me, seal in my moisture, why not? I’m not Anti-Aging, I’m Uniquely Moi!
I may be on a first name basis with the cosmetic gurus at the MAC counter, and I may be (read: am) an easy mark where beauty products are concerned, but embracing the implication that one must be cleverly preserved in order to look—and feel—beautiful is not for me. As much as I enjoy a perfect mascara application, sans under-eye racooning, I can’t say I think about it much throughout the day. Once I’ve used my products, I’ve used them, and they don’t cross my mind again unless someone comments on my radiance or it’s time to wash my face. And I sure don’t spend much time thinking about aging. I am far too busy, being Uniquely Moi!
