Introductory Entry

Cosmetics.


   Who doesn't love looking and feeling beautiful? With the right shade, powder, eyeliner or mascara you can even look like you have always wanted. Wait. Thats what they are telling us right? That there is something wrong with the way you look. Let's cover that up, put some color on it, there, see how pretty you are now!


   This project is dedicated to researching the cosmetics industry following the cosmetic lines that are affordable to the low to middle class population. My preliminary focus will be on the cosmetic products marketed to women. The brands I plan to focus on are found in your local shopping centers or by word of mouth sales.  I plan to use internet resources, television commercials and photograph/magazine ads to investigate this topic. I plan to focus on 10 brands commonly used by the greater majority of  women who live in the Greenville, TX area. These 10 brands are Avon, Mary Kay, Revlon, Maybelline, Cover Girl, L'Oreal, Rimmel, Almay, M.A.C. and Dove. These are brands that I have come in contact with and have personal experience with. It is my goal to open the eyes of women who like myself have grown up in our culture where makeup is used to hide ourselves, rather than enhance our personalities. I plan to show how makeup can be used to enhance the beauty of a woman and her personality rather than be a mask used to shield oneself and portray qualities that have been marketed to us.

   Makeup will not change who you are. It can improve how you feel about yourself or enhance your natural appearance. It can also improve how others see you, how society feels about you and how the world at large may treat you. But makeup cannot change you into the girl you see in the magazine ad or the commercial on your TV screen. The cosmetic industry is not here to make you feel better about yourself or make you what you have always wanted to be. They do not care about your insecurities or your vulnerabilities. The only thing they really care about is your money. They are a business and for them to survive they need you to give them your money. The best bet for their survival is to make themselves the most appealing to you, their customer and their consumer. They will do this by any means necessary, using whatever model, color, product or weakness they can find. However, just because this is their motivation it should not be your reason for buying or not buying their cosmetic products. I believe that cosmetics should be worn because the individual wants to. The motivation of the individual should not be a blind belief of what the advertisements or marketing is telling them. The assumed stupidity of the consumer from these marketing campaigns is frustrating and ridiculous. I plan to show the truth of this.