There is a reason why Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot’s 1950s cat-eye stare and luscious pouting lips have transcended effortlessly through decades of come-and-go fashion, remaining the typical 21st century woman’s favourite look.
There is a reason why Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot’s 1950s cat-eye stare and luscious pouting lips have transcended effortlessly through decades of come-and-go fashion, remaining the typical 21st century woman’s favourite look.
The step-by-step process of lining the contours of one’s eyes with a classic black liner, sweeping the eye lashes with a defining mascara and colouring the lips red sent only one message to women the world over: A face doesn’t have to be layered with masses of make-up to highlight your natural beauty.
You just need three simple actions. Line. Sweep. Colour. I had hoped the worldwide ‘let’s go green and be hippies’ phenomenon would transfer to the get-ready routines of women.
However, the antics of multinational cosmetic companies of using over airbrushed Barbie-like models has made women resort to caking on the eye shadow and delving a little too deep into the bronzer.
I can honestly say that I have been one of those women standing in front of the mirror, frantically pulling out every beauty secret that hides in my make-up bag, magically trying to fix an insecurity that chains me to such unnecessary ways.
As I’ve got older, I have eased my clutches on the varying colours of the palette, leaving only a select few to correlate with the naturalness of me.
Last year was dominated by Nicki Minaj’s neon pink eye shadow and Jennifer Lopez’s overtly orange glow.
This year, I hope to see women avoiding the search for beauty in 20 different bottles.
Try this for one week: Black cat-eye liner, the sweep of the mascara and the colouring of the lips. That’s all.
You might just begin to notice how much less you need the other wands of magic in your make-up bag.
Even better, sticky summer afternoons become a little less sticky and winter mornings become easier to prepare for.
And best of all, your face will quite simply cease to look like that of your 14-year-old neighbour who's just discovered Revlon in her mother’s drawers.
