HERE I want to talk about make-up and answer anyone who considers it trivial or vain!
A common objection against make-up is that, as Shakespeare put it, though women have been given one face by God/ Nature, they use make-up to create another. The answer here is simple! It is not Shakespeare who said this, but Hamlet (in the eponymous play) while pretending to be mad. I repeat: while pretending to be mad.
Shakespeare's thoughts on the matter we don't really know.
Another objection goes that the use of make-up shows women's vanity. The answer here is more than simple! Women live in a society which wants them to look good, so they try to do so. What's wrong with looking good? As famous Victorian beauty writer Mary Haweis has said, if so-called "vanity" is a desire to look your best, then it is another name for self-respect.
Finally, the beauty critics say that a woman who uses lots of make-up, nail varnish &c is no more than a silly doll. The answer again is more than simple! Using make-up and nail varnish is not at all silly -- it actually takes time and needs practice, taste and skill. The dichotomy between woman the pretty and woman the clever is nonsensical and false.
I side with the poet Charles Baudelaire, who commended make-up, saying that it improves on nature, and is thus an important part of civilization.
Make-up can be a joy, so long as we keep in mind that there is no perfect beauty and that age and beauty can fit together very well.
Love your mirror, love yourself!
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