When I was 12 years old, my idol was Demi Lovato. This was before she came out with her mental illnesses and it became cool to like her, I loved Sonny with a Chance and I thought Don't Forget was one of the best albums of all time, and for a long she remained my idol. More so, after she announced she was mentally ill, she became a beacon of hope for me in some sense, but over time my adoration decreased and after her tweets about makeup, whatever adoration I had for her is virtually gone. Her tweets actually came to my attention through Gabby from Velvetgh0st and I really agree with her opinions on the matter, you probably all know who she is already but I had to just note that it was through her that I picked up on this.
The thing I find most problematic with her attitude towards makeup is the fact that she has been an icon for empowerment for a long time, even more so after she announced to the world that she had been suffering with an eating disorder, and it honestly just upsets me more than anything that someone who I once looked up to would turn around and try to tell people, namely women in her tweets, not to express themselves or to make themselves feel more confident through the means of makeup.
Her underlying point being 'you don't need makeup to be beautiful' is a sound point, but the way she illustrated her point was poor. Many people, myself included, generally don't feel remotely attractive without make up and that sucks, it sucks a lot, but for her to make those people feel guilty for wearing makeup, whether in excess amounts of not, is quite heavy handed given that she claims to be all for people doing what they have to do to feel confident in their own skin. Plus, she is a celebrity who performs, does photo shoots, interviews.. the whole celeb shabam y'know, so the odds are that in fact she wears a hell of a lot of makeup. Yes, she probably has a make up artist to make sure everything's perfectly blended and she has the crème de la crème of cosmetics, but that means that she, in fact, wears probably the same amount of makeup as the people she's criticising.
Furthermore, makeup, at the end of the day, is an art form. As said by Dan Howell (here), it's 'art for your face' and I think in that 27 second video, Dan made a good point about how it is up to the person putting on the make up and whilst he has his preferences, it's primarily up to the person putting on the makeup. As long as what you're putting onto your face isn't hurting other people or yourself, and if it's making you happy, no one really should get a say in what you're doing. Plus, a lot of people use make up for the fun of the application and not to impress other people. The idea that women* only apply make up to please other people, mostly men, is one of the most aggravating opinions a person can hold. Men generally don't care about whether an eyeshadow is well blended or if your eyeliner is on fleek, so can we just disregard the idea that women only use makeup to impress men? Please?
I do really think that people don't need makeup to be beautiful, we are all inherently beautiful (y'know unless you're David Cameron, Nigel Farage or a Thatcherite, but I diverge..) but wearing makeup is a right you have and if you want to utilise that right, that is your prerogative and no one has the right to criticise you for that. If we start criticising a person's right to wear makeup how they want to wear it, whether it's for a confidence boost or for the sheer thrill of the application, where do we stop criticising the choices that people make**? If it's not hurting yourself or anyone else, the hell with it - do it. There's already enough judgement regarding what women wear clothes-wise, I couldn't even tell you the amount of times I've been criticised for wearing a short skirt or shorts because it makes me look like a hartlot or that I'm trying to impress men, so it would be nice if people, in this case Demi Lovato, could let people do what they want if it's making themselves happy and not hurting other people in the process. If celebrities start criticising people for living their life in a manner that makes them happy, they're simply making it harder for people to sympathise with them when the paparazzi criticise them for living their life in a manner that makes them happy.
Overall, let's stop judging each other for doing what we want to do. As long as what you're saying and doing isn't hurting other people and it's making you happy, just do it. You're welcome to your opinions of course, but just because you don't like bright blue eyeshadow doesn't mean you can criticise others for wearing it. Other people do not have the right to dictate how you live your life, you do you honey.
What are your reasons for wearing makeup?
*I've generalised this to women purely because I hear about this solely from female friends, I've tried very hard not to generalise this post to women so please forgive me on this one!
