05/03/2020
WHAT IS BEAUTY???
We like to express that beauty comes from within - you are beauty and beauty is you. You are a masterpiece - a work of art. There is only one you, made up of your genes and life experiences. And there will never be another.
The Oxford dictionary defines it as:
"A combination of qualities, such as shape, colour, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight".
Everything has beauty but not everyone sees it.
Popular phrases define beauty as:
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Beauty is pain
Beauty is only skin deep
So what is beauty? Is it defined by the symmetry of your face, is it your age, colour, race, bone structure, gender, body shape, weight or how flat your stomach is? Or maybe it's defined by what you see in the media or by popular culture and trends, for example big bums and big lips are in, simply because of certain trending celebrities.
Have you ever come out of a steamy hot shower and tried to look at your reflection in the mirror when it's completely steamed and fogged up?
I often think that is how we tend to view our beauty through fogged up mirrors. We are seeing ourselves but the picture isn't exactly clear and we have limited visibility! The mirrors have been fogged up through different life experiences and memories as we have grown up, and now blend together to form our own definition of our beauty.
The first mirror is formed as a young child and is often based on what was said about us from our parents and those around us. - As a child your parents starts your self-belief and confidence for your life.
The second mirror is the mirror of adolescence, those formative years where we are thrust into the big wild world and out of the safety and cocoon of home. As a teenager we all have struggled with “peer pressure”. The advice or judgement comments from our friends and school mates. As a teenager my mom would take me to the beauty salon once a week (Every Thursday) I remember being asked millions of questions about my hair, my clothes, shoes and where I was from because of my accent.
The final mirror comes from socially constructed ideas of beauty. We are often bombarded with images in the media, popular culture, society, peers and social media, which can create a false ideal of beauty in our eyes. We tend to compare ourselves to those ideals and use it as some sort of margin of measurement.
I believe that real beauty is acceptance of yourself, perceived flaws and all and to realise that they are a part of what makes you, you. It's a radiance of spirit, having character, kindness to ourselves and to others, it's strength and self-confidence to know that with or without makeup the real beauty is YOU!
Part of beauty also has to be about the things that make you feel beautiful. For me that's anything from Playing with my daughter(my heart beat), studying and practicing my makeup, Microblading and Eyelash techniques, to a compliment from a stranger when I'm not even trying, to wearing an amazing new outfit combined with a bright lipstick, to building confidence in women.
I think it's about starting to appreciate yourself as you would any other piece of art or nature.
If you look at a flower or sunset, you don't tend to judge it; you simply accept and appreciate it for what it is.
So maybe it's time to create a fourth mirror, a new mirror that is wiped clean and minus the fog of comparisons, accusations, judgement and expectations.
WHAT IS BEAUTY TO YOU???!
