Beauty and Culture

Beauty Archetypes: Witches

What is it about Witches? We can't get enough of them. For women they speak to our fantasies of glamour and power, even as...

Beauty and Culture

Mirrors – A Short History

"Man wishes to see himself because he is vain, and he's afraid to see himself since, being vain, he cannot tolerate the sight of...

Beauty and Culture

Makeup as Ritual: Man as Art

We in the beauty business like to think of ourselves as modern - we try the newest products, seek the latest tricks, and read...

Beauty and Culture

Could Wearing Makeup Make You Better at Everything?

When I tell a "serious-minded" person about my business, there's an automatic assumption - often stated - that my job involves making stupid people...

Beauty and Culture

Is Photoshop an Enemy of Feminism?

There's been a lot of press coverage of Seventeen Magazine's "body peace treaty" lately, and I've been getting questions about it myself. What do...

Beautiful People

Makeup as Performance: Cindy Sherman

Do we create our own identities, or are they created for us? In the age of seemingly infinite aesthetic choices (including surgery), are our...

Beauty and Culture

Who’s Afraid of Wrinkles?

Recently I met a Celebrity Dermatologist who gave me quite a lecture on exfoliation, and how I should do more of it. This isn't...

Beauty and Culture

Inside Beauty: 7 Reasons Why Models are so Skinny

As a makeup artist, I get a lot of questions about models from my non-industry friends. And most of these have to do with...

Beautiful People

Makeup as Ritual: The Sadhus of Nepal

Living in the Western world, it's easy to take our participation with cosmetics for granted. Whether we use makeup to smooth and conceal, or...

Beauty and Culture

Medieval Mean Girls: Vanity as Morality (or Lack Thereof)

Vanity gets a bad rap in popular folklore: from Cinderella to The Devil Wears Prada, the bad girls are usually the vain, superficial, and...

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Beauty and Culture