Back in 6,000 B.C., Cleopatra helped establish makeup as a signal of wealth. In the 1920s, cosmetics brands used advertisements to encourage women to deem makeup a necessity. But a hundred years later, wearing as little makeup as possible has become a status symbol.The idea behind this trend is to wear just enough makeup to look like the naturally best version of yourselfand create the look in just a few minutes. There are almost 100 million views of TikTok makeup tutorials tagged with variations of Five-Minute Face, each one touting minor spins on the same message: You dont need a lengthy makeup routine or dozens of productsall you need is a handful to look this fresh-faced!Cosmetic companies like the new-ish makeup brand Merit have responded to this demand with a Five-Minute Morning collection. The kit includes seven core products, the same ones that can be found in most Five-Minute Face kits by other brands, including a concealer, brow gel, mascara and a lip tint. The products were created to emphasize your assets, not hide who you are. Get compliments on your skin, not your makeup, reads the marketing copy.Although mastering the look may seem effortless, its anything but: Most of the women on social media boasting about wearing only a few makeup products dont reveal the full picturespecifically, the considerable time and resources theyve poured into the treatments to achieve it.Todays five-minute faceas modelled by beauty influencers, editors and entrepreneursis predicated on the behind-the-scenes beauty work of skin care products, cosmetic procedures and plastic surgeries, argued journalist Jessica DeFino in How the 5-Minute Face Became the $5,000 Face, which she published on Substack last May. These days, even injectable procedures like Botox and Juvderm are marketed as self-care. Minimal makeup, then, is maximal everything else. Its more masquerading as less.Pricey dermatologist visits make the Five-Minute Face possible: Laser treatments lighten dark spots, so only a touch of concealer is needed to achieve a clear complexion. Botox lifts the brows, so theyre perfectly shaped long before an eyebrow pencil even approaches them. Lip filler plumps the pout before the lightest swipe of tinted lip oil completes the look. Like Instagram photos that have been doctored by skin-smoothing filters, this sleight-of-hand can be damaging to anyones self-confidence.It doesnt do society any good when people arent accurately portraying everything that has gone into getting a look, says Catherine Sabiston, a professor at the University of Toronto who specializes in body image, mental health and physical activity. Plus, she says, most of the people displayed are already perpetuating the idealized standards of attractiveness, meaning theyre youthful, they have symmetrical features and theyre predominantly white.Case in point: This fall, Melisa Raouf, a 20-year-old contestant in the 2022 Miss England beauty pageant, made headlines for being the first makeup-free participant in the competitions 94 years. She told the Washington Post she wanted to challenge unrealistic beauty standards. That’s admirable, but Raouf already has the advantages of youth and seemingly flawless skin, so how much is she really pushing back?Sabiston is passionate about freeing us from the pressure to have a specific face, so we can genuinely appreciate our differences. If we can challenge those stereotypes, she says, well see little shifts in what is considered to be attractive.Of course, that doesn’t mean you should feel obligated to stop wearing makeup if you don’t want to. But instead of aiming for the Five-Minute Face, a more attainable option is to use a light hand with makeup to embrace your uniqueness. Its really nice to see actual features, says Simone Otis, a Toronto-based makeup artist. You could play up the features you have by providing a little extra glow and a little extra definitionno dermatological procedures required. This look “is very democratic, she says. Everyone could do it.Otis likes starting with a tinted moisturizer or serum, as it offers sheer coverage that can help you look a bit groomed and polished and feel your best, she says. I love the idea of a product that has a bit of colour and that will give you warmth, plus has all those good ingredients that can help skin.Look for tinted moisturizers or serums with beneficial ingredients, says Otis, such as sunscreen, hyaluronic acid (which can boost skins hydration), and vitamin C (which can help brighten skin tone over time). These products will give you some coverage without fully concealing spots or blemishes. And then if you’d like, add whatever else you’d likebrush, brow pencil, tinted lip balm.Otis believes were headed in a promising direction. Companies like 19/99 Beauty, for which Otis works as a makeup artist, feature models with real skin, meaning fine lines and wrinkles. What’s more, there are influencers who call themselves acne-positive and share photos of their unfiltered, uncovered blemished skin. And, at the Khaite show during New York Fashion Week in September, models were sent down the runway with their dark circles intentionally unconcealed. Its as if the brand is saying theres nothing wrong with dark circles and, actually, theres almost a mysterious beauty to them, says Otis.Does that mean you should stop concealing your dark circles? Not if you dont want to. But its certainly nice to see this shift in the beauty world.
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