A few days ago, I landed in Japan for the summer. One of the first things I noticed? The obscene amount of makeup all the women were wearing.
Admittedly, I don't wear that much makeup. While most girls start flirting with makeup at 12 or 13, my first experimentation began at 18 when my sister gifted me with a Sephora makeup box. That makeup box is long gone, and with it ended most of my experimental phase.
Sure, I'll pick up an offbeat eyeshadow shade now and then, but my entire makeup selection fits into a small, paperback-sized makeup bag. In contrast, my sister buys a new eyeliner every few weeks and has three times the size of my makeup collection. But even she can't hold a candle to many Japanese women.
This is a country where contacts cases and false eyelash cases are sold as sets. Where the (I think freakish) doll-eyed look originated.
Where there are several married women whose husbands are convinced they don't wear makeup. These same women wake up several hours before their husbands every day to keep these misconceptions.
In New York, I wear a slightly below average amount of makeup. In Tokyo, my normal amount of makeup is unacceptably low. In New York, I don't think twice about running out to my local bodega sans makeup. In Tokyo? I wouldn't dream of it. As a 21-year-old half-Japanese woman, that's just embarrassing. Seriously, I go through makeup twice as fast in Tokyo than I do in New York.
Which leads me to the question - how much makeup is too much?I think most guys say they prefer a 'natural' look. But magazine after magazine shows us that men and women have a different perception of what's natural. To me, that's a sad statement that women, as a whole, wear too much makeup. Don't get me wrong - I love makeup. I like playing with new colors and designs and ideas. I like giving myself new looks.
But that's just it. Sometimes, these new looks are too new. I know women who are unrecognizable without their normal amount of makeup. Frankly, that's a bit terrifying.
Men, who generally don't wear makeup, are hard-pressed to answer this question, so instead I'll direct it to the women in the cyberroom. How much makeup is too much makeup?Image Source
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Comments (14)
maybe because you were at the fashion district of japan where a majority are image conscious
as fun as makeup might be to experiment with, I think makeup kinda ruined the perception of beauty or some of us have just been brainwashed by the media, and some women look dead without makeup on, but men generally look fine or damn sexy without anything on, because we're used to seeing them without makeup on. men just fix their hair and then wear their outfit and that's it. but since humans are normally plain looking, then wearing makeup and different colored clothing is like a peacock showcasing his eyecatching feathers to attract attention
some people like to stand out in the crowd, but if a majority of them are wearing lots of makeup, then they'll just blend right in, and the plain people without makeup will stand out instead without trying
too much makeup depends on the person viewing it. if the person also wears a lot of makeup, then they won't notice others with too much makeup, but view it as the norm. if someone wears moderate, then it might be somewhat too much. if someone barely or doesn't wear makeup at all, then it seems way too much or caked on frosting with spider eyelashes
because the person is foreign to makeup and thinks it looks creepier than it actually is whereas the makeup addict thinks it looks fabulous. sometimes lots of makeup can look good depending on the person. some people just doesn't look good with makeup on because they don't know how to apply it to make it look nice or their skin is bad and too much foundation doesn't conceal the "flaws" but enhance them. my coworker looks very different without makeup on...like washed out and dried up rofl that's because I've seen her with makeup on. if I didn't have something to compare the before and after with, then I'd think she looked normal without makeup rather than the drastic difference of reaction. my male coworkers seem to look the same everyday and I can't tell if they changed their clothes to work because I just don't notice it due to them just looking nearly the same. they probably own one pair of work pants and 2 dress shirts for all know. I can't tell because they're so natural and they don't wear anything that grabs attention. then again business men in suits all look the same with the exception of the color of their tie or a striped shirt instead of white one. one day I noticed a male coworker wearing a dress shirt other than white and he got my attention
I think people should have fun with their make up and wear as little or as much as they want to wear.
Do you mean owning too much or putting on too much? Owning too much? I find that hard to believe, however, the expense can get out of hand based on how much money I actually make. But putting on too much, that is totally possible--but it is up to the wearer to decide how much is enough. Personally, I do not own as much makeup as the picture above, but I have way more than you can fit into a tiny paperback book-sized bag, that's for sure. I suppose going broke buying makeup, or using an unreasonable amount of space to store said makeup (a whole room?), would be too much makeup. But you're right, the definition of "natural makeup" varies from person to person--I was actually quite surprised to see how many products I've used on my face when I do my "natural makeup look." Ugh, all this talk about makeup is making me want to shop online at Urban Decay for lipstick, $8 each marked down from $22.
I don't think there's such a thing as too much makeup - just poorly done makeup. If you choose the wrong colors, it's harder to get away with applying it heavily than it is if you choose the right ones.
I think it's problematic when people believe they MUST wear a certain amount of makeup to be pretty or attractive, but I don't think preferring to wear several layers regularly or trying to maintain a certain type of personal expression is problematic in the slightest
Shouldn't this post be on lovelyish? (actually, wasn't something similar already on lovelyish??)
"Where there are several married women whose husbands are convinced they don't wear makeup. These same women wake up several hours before their husbands every day to keep these misconceptions."Where did you get those stats? Are they from personal observations of just one or two salient cases or are there really a good number of women who do this? (Really, I'm very curious to know if there're people like that.)
As for your question, "how much makeup is too much?" I guess it's "too much" when you can barely recognize the person under the makeup (like this). Cosmetic is meant to enhance features, not warp them beyond recognition. It's also not a question of quantity but more of quality; I wear full face makeup everyday but still look pretty natural whereas I know some girls who wear very little and look totally different.
i feel like those smokey eyeshadow is a bit much, but too much would be smokey eyeshadow with false lashes and colored lipstick. but that's just me, i like natural, and by natural i mean tightline and mascara. my everyday makeup is bb cream, fill in brows, brown eyeshadow, tightline, mascara and i use eyeliner only to use it up before it goes bad. after i use all my eyeliner up i think i'll stop buying them.... but this is just all of my personal opinion.
and like you, sometimes i do play with my colors too since i have a couple of palettes that i dont want to go to a waste. but i dont think i'll wear it out in public if it's wicked poppy.
In my opinion, too much makeup is anything more than eyeliner and mascara. Even eyeliner to me becomes a bit too much. I'm pretty biased, though, because I rarely wear makeup! But if a woman feels comfortable going out with her natural face completely covered, then that's her prerogative. Maybe that makes her feel better about herself -- I'm all for women being more confident about themselves, and if makeup does the trick, go for it.
Well there's a trending style in Japan called being ''Gyaru''. Where women make themselves look like big eyed dollies. This trend includes wearing a lot of makeup to achieve that look,seems most Japanese women usually have small eyes. So therefore to make them look bigger and doll like,they wear circle lenses,wear white eyeliner on waterline,lots of false eyelashes etc..
I'm not even sure why I'm commenting. I never wear makeup, lol.
This looks pretty bad though! http://ru-crazy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/too-much-makeup.jpg
@Edeline_Wrigh@xanga - That's a good way of looking at it. Poorly applied makeup can be viewed as "too much makeup." I'd have to agree with you on matters of MUST wearing makeup. I've known girls who can't do anything without "putting on their face" first when there is nothing wrong with their look.
I think the idea of "too much makeup" is misunderstood. One can wear many, many natural-looking products (foundation, concealer, bronzer, highlighter, lip color, eyeliner, eyeshadow, mascara etc.) and look natural and even claim to be wearing none, while others can use only 2 products (red lipstick and blue eyeshadow) and look like a clown. It has nothing to do with amount of makeup. It's all about what the makeup is.
Guys who think a photo of Jessica Simpson in a magazine is "natural" are just plain ignorant. They have no idea of how much makeup it takes to look "natural", and how much photoshopping goes on top of that.
i love to wear makeup but i usually don't over do it w/my makeup. i want that natural look so i go really simple on my makeup. it's really up to the person to say how much is too much. though, i've dated a lot of men who don't like too much makeup and they will def tell you when you have too much on.
I dont wear make up, my pores like to breathe.. but i used to live in a house with 4 other girls and 2 of them wore WAY too much makeup. Ever watch the Drew Carry Show? The chick Mimi? Thats how one of them had her makeup done (i swear i am not kidding) the night she was supposed to be set up with the guy i ended up married to.
He took one look at her and had to try hard not to laugh....
I don't even know what most makeup is or how to use it. my definition of "natural" is no makeup... which is what I do every day. I do own mascara though (bought my first!) but I never wear it bc I accidentally bought it in dark brown. who the fuck knew they came in different colors?