The Makup controversy

The Makeup Controversy
Schoen


Paula Koeven, a 19-year-old sophomore at Utah State, says she’s not even alive until she puts on her makeup in the morning.
“I wear mascara to keep from looking dead,” said Koeven, a business major.
Koeven’s five roommatesagreed: They won’t even open their front door unless they have a little eyeliner on.
These women definitely are not alone since they say the majority of the women they know, including sisters and friends, spend around 15 minutes every morning applying their makeup.
The process of primping is not specific to just every-day women, considering Hollywood stars and even the more recently publicized political figures also invest in makeup. It is probably safe to say Sarah Palin’s makeup artist spends more than just a quarter-hour primping the Republican vice presidential candidate every day.
In fact, Washington Post reports that Amy Strozzi, Palin’s make-up artist, was paid more than $13,000 over the past month for her “communications consulting” work.
The daily makeover doesn’t seem to be helping the Alaskan “hockey mom” governor, however. Recent polls show that, for the first time since Palin joined the GOP ticket, the majority of voters have negative opinions about her.
“I can’t imagine spending that much on makeup throughout the rest of my life!” said Rachel Schroeder, a sophomore dietetics major, although she said she does use makeup regularly.
Schroeder says her main goal in wearing makeup is to enhance her natural features, not to hide anything or create something new.
“My older brother use to call me and my sister clowns if our lipstick or eye-shadow was too bright,” she said. “He always said he didn’t like painted women.”
Several guys at USU hold similar opinions.
Kevin Diehl, a sophomore musical education major, said he thinks it is “totally hot” when a girl he already thinks is attractive tells him she is not wearing makeup.
“I hate seeing that caked-on look, when you can see that nasty line of base or whatever it’s called around a girl’s neck,” Diehl said.
On the other hand, Blaze Bullock, a sophomore print journalism major, said he thinks all girls should wear makeup.
“Makeup makes the pretty girls prettier and the ugliest of girls at least somewhat attractive,” Bullock said.
Sarah Kimball, another JCOM major, is a Mary Kay consultant. She says a lot of college girls abuse their makeup by wearing more than they should.
“Makeup makes women feel better about themselves,” Kimball said, “but girls need to just enhance their natural features and not apply too much.”
Kimball says skin care is most important, so all women should wear foundation, because it is the best thing for the skin.
Besides makeup, there are other ways that Utah women go about enhancing themselves.
A recent Forbes magazine study found that Salt Lake City ranked higher than New York, Miami and Los Angeles among “which cities have most embraced market demand for taut faces, lush lips and flat abs.”
In Fact, Salt Lake was ranked the nation’s “vainest” city by this 2007 Forbes report because there are more plastic surgeons per person in Utah’s capital than in any other metropolitan area across the nation.
About 66 percent of all plastic surgeries are cosmetic and not medically necessary or reconstructive.
This is one irrefutable sign that women are going to keep fighting against the aging process and try to keep, or even re-create, a youthful, attractive appearance.
On the other hand, some girls feel completely comfortable without makeup and were raised to believe they did not need makeup to be beautiful.
Jami Dixon, 20-year-old sophomore in human resource management, says every girl is going to have to be seen without makeup eventually.
“What about when your husband sees you for the first time without a full face of makeup?” Dixon asked. “You don’t want to have so much makeup that you can’t be recognized.”