Make-Up as a Lie

A friend of mine commented recently that women who put on make-up are liars. It was in response to a photo I had sent with a warning that I didn't have even blush on. I didn't say anything in response at the time, but it started to work on me later. I'd never thought of cosmetics in that way. To me, make-up is just like jewelry. It's ornamentation. It's the oldest form, perhaps, of human art. When aboriginal people put on colored daubs of clay, or tattooed their faces, or even ritually scarred them (something that has always given me the heebee jeebies), they are exhibiting a most personal form of art. I would imagine that personal art preceded even the cave paintings of France or Australia. 

My favorite example of this art comes from the Wodaabe people of Niger. Interestingly, it is the men who wear the elaborate make-up in order to impress the women. They take great care in applying it and smile as widely as they can to show their teeth. Healthy teeth, healthy man. They also jump into the air as high as they can. They remind me of beautiful male birds trying to impress their mates. Good call. These guys probably imitated the behavior they saw thousands of years ago. If it works for birds....

If you look at a woman's magazine these days, a great number of the ads are for cosmetics and perfume. The models wearing the make-up, unless they are of a certain age (I hate that term. What does it mean really?), are wildly colored, but the colors are artfully done, for the most part. I can hear one friend of mine howling at this now. She mostly likely thinks they look like clowns, but I like the face as canvas (someone else's, not mine. I'm of that certain age). 

Cosmetics serve a dual purpose, of course. It's also meant as a seduction tool, just like the Wodaabe men. All good students of anthropology know that primates are attracted to the color red. Red lips. Red butts in the case of some species. Which is where I draw the line when it comes to human lips. It seems these days that women think that the plumper the lips, the better. Men love plump lips. Or is it that they have that primitive response to something big and red, like butts. Just a thought. 

I'll continue to add the small bit of rouge, eye make-up and lipstick occasionally, mostly because I love a bit of color on my now pale (no sun for me!) canvas.