Are You Gaga for Beauty Marks?
By Sarah Wexler,Allure magazine
Lady Gaga may be a strange choice for a mentor on American Idol this week (Go, Durbin!), but the faux beauty mark she wore on the show last night was even stranger. Instead of penciling on a standard dot the size of a pencil eraser, hers was the size of a silver dollar, making it look more like a giant polka dot. It makes sense why she'd want a beauty mark: some of the most gorgeous women in history-Marilyn Monroe, Cindy Crawford-have had them. (My best friend has one on her cheek that makes her look just like Natalie Portman or a younger Geena Davis).
And Gaga certainly isn't alone in wanting a beauty mark badly enough to fake it: the faux-mark tradition actually dates back to the days of Marie Antoinette and, more recently, Dita Von Teese and Madonna have worn them. There's even a company called Hottie Dots that makes beauty mark stickers-though they remind me of the red zit stick-ons you had to wear as a penalty in the game Girl Talk.
Real beauty marks add distinction and uniqueness to a face, those hallmarks of beauty. Are the faux ones only acceptable for celebs, or can everyone pull them off?
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Photo Credit: Courtesy of FOX
