Does Makeup Voyeurism Bother You?
By Alison Caporimo, Allure magazine
I found myself a bit disturbed while on the train last week when a grown man studied my in-transit makeup application as though his life depended on it. When I held up a mirror, he leaned closer to get a better look. I shifted in my seat to reach a tube of cheek stain and his eyes followed me.
The whole idea of it made me feel uncomfortable, as though I was on display-a one woman show tapping (and brushing) along to a musical called Bumpy, Subway Beauty: In One Act. I tried to return his blank stare (a gesture that would make most commuters uncomfortable), but he just looked on, more transfixed by my powder bronzer than the band of accordion players that had now joined our car.
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This awkward incident got me thinking about the intimacy of applying makeup.
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I have a friend who is determined to never let her boyfriend watch her apply makeup. "But doesn't he realize that you look different?" I asked her over coffee. "I mean, when you wake up sans makeup and then you return from the bathroom twenty minutes later with flushed cheeks and smokey eyes, doesn't he realize that something has changed?" She smiled and said that he did, but then went on to tell me that, for her, beauty is about the finished product, the "after", if you will. Watching someone put on makeup is like watching them get dressed.
Do you think that there is something intimate about makeup application? Or do you not mind showing your face from beauty start to finish?
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