THE NATURAL LOOK

Alright, I confess.  Yes, I was watching daytime TV. And yes, it is every bit as awful as reputed to be. And yes, it serves me right for being such a couch potato. 

In my defence, I was woman down with bronchitis, eventually giving up the fight and climbing into bed.

Eyes streaming, nose glowing, too achy and miserable to sleep & unable to read, I reached for the remote and had an out of  planet experience, watching a piece of Hollywood’s best celluloid.

An entire programme devoted to showing the world how to mimic their favourite movie stars make up.

The winning look of the day— a natural one, sported by Nicole Kidman.

How would you define natural?  Completely without make up?  A quick brush of mascara & a slick of lipstick before rushing out of the door perhaps?

Or possibly, using completely organic ingredients, such as rubbing rose petals over cheeks and lips, for a pink blush as practised by the Victorians.

Well, you’d be wrong.  Even my bacteria addled brain took on board, and began counting, the layers of potions used to give the skin a “natural” look

After the cleansing, toning and application of 2 different moisturisers, came the serum, under eye concealer, blemish concealer and base, before applying 4 shades of eye shadow, several layers of mascara, eyeliner, lip pencil and gloss, some blush and a light dusting of powder.

Given that ‘green’ is the buzzword du jour, together with his cousins ‘natural, organic & wholesome’ and that this family of words is  used—alongside images of waterfalls, forests, tranquil lakes and ponds, the foaming sea, and masses of greenery - to sell everything from a myriad of bath, body and hair products,  to food, water, holidays, air conditioners, household cleansers, even cars (!) - I do believe that ‘natural’ and his ilk need to be redefined in the OED. In 2012,  they don’t appear to resemble anything close to organic and of the earth!

Still, as much as the chemical laden gloop ladled onto that model’s face being referred to as ‘natural’ should send shivers down our spines,at least some effort is made nowadays to ensure that the really ‘out there’ poisons are not included in the potions produced and sold by the trillion US $ cosmetic industry.

In times gone by, false eyebrows were made of mouse fur.   Women rinsed their eyes out with Belladonna, orange or lemon juice, to make them bright and shiny.  Or drank arsenic to get the same effect!  The forerunner of today’s whitening toothpaste was a good scrub with a pumice stone.  Chalk and iodine were ingested for a whiter complexion.  Or you were bled, to get that pale, translucent look! Mercury was rubbed onto blemishes to hide them, and white lead used liberally to attain that desirable white skin.

Small wonder, then, that the life expectancy of yesteryear was pretty low with those natural, yet toxic, cosmetics!

The natural look, indeed.

(first published in Live Lightly Times  Oct 2012)