Although specifically created for women, makeup has always had a bittersweet relationship with the gender people have always deemed suppressed. You will find a great deal of debate online regarding whether or not women should wear makeup as if it’s up to someone else to decide what you as a woman can and cannot do with your body. But if you are a woman, things will almost always be under a microscope, won’t they? Whether it is about you putting on red lipstick or the kinds of clothes you put on your body. Scrutiny will always follow where ever you go. You can choose how you live with it but you cannot deny the fact that it is a major social issue.
Source: THEPAKISTANIMARTHASTWEART
Red Lipstick and Husbands
Growing up as a Pakistani girl, you have a curious relationship with all the makeup you find on your mum’s dressing table. That is mostly because Pakistani mothers keep young girls away from makeup because of what it signifies for a woman.
Source: SaddaHaq
So what does it signify for a woman?
Let’s take red lipstick for instance. Even when you are allowed as a teenager to wear makeup, you are specifically told to stay away from the one and the only forbidden piece of makeup: red lipstick. It is considered a bold color to be put on one’s lips everywhere else in this world but in Pakistan, most women only ever put it on for their husbands after they are married.
Source: Beauty and Le Chic
The color red has strong ties with a marriage, as you can very well see that all the women wear red dresses on their weddings along with red lipstick. It signifies a girl becoming a woman. That is specifically how most girls in Pakistan are raised.
Source: Latest Asian Fashions
Until now.
How Men Feel About It
How would you feel if someone told you that how you cut your hair made them feel uncomfortable and that maybe next time you should go for a different hairstyle? It’s quite appalling to think of others before yourself when you are making a personal choice like a hairstyle, doesn’t it? Why should it be any different for makeup?
Source: Siasat.pk
For the sake of research, I came across a lot of posts that signified how men feel about women who are in favor of putting on makeup every day along with a bold red lip color. Some stated that it was a turn off while others stated that it was a bold move to distract the people from the abnormalities of a woman’s face and that it was simply just off-putting.
Women Do It for Their Own Selves, Not For You
While most people out there will assume that a woman puts on red lip color on herself to be more seductive and provocative, the reality is really quite different.
Ever heard of female empowerment?
Souce: ThandleKay
No woman has ever wanted to buy a Kylie Mary Jo K Lip Kit for 2,900 rupees simply to impress a guy, I can assure you. Let me just point out that makeup is really quite expensive, especially the long lasting red lip colors. No girl would ever go so far as to buy an entire collection just to look good for a guy. She would, though, for herself.
Source: DLT Beauty
If a woman has ever put on makeup, it has been to make herself feel good about herself. Makeup doesn’t only beautify a woman, it does much more than that. Makeup brings forth a confidence that our queens need to go about their days. It makes them feel like they are a force to be reckoned with and really, how they feel on the inside because of how they look on the outside is much more than how it affects a man.
Just take a look at all of these queens slaying their looks with bold lip colors.
Breaking the Stereotypes
It is true that as a woman you have a long way to go to learn to love all the things about yourself that the society taught you to hate. Growing up in a stereotypical world where everything is for someone else’s benefit, you forget to let yourself grow into the person that you are always meant to be.
It doesn’t matter where you have to go, whether it is a party, the grocery store or even a business meeting, your body is yours to do with as you please. Don’t let anyone tell you what you can and cannot do with it. Feeling good in your own skin is all that matters.
Source: Tyra Banks – House of Tara
If you want to highlight your face, glaze yourself up, baby girl. If you want to break out the intense liquid lip liners you saved up all month to buy, whether it is red, pink, blue or even green, you do what your heart desires.
Source: A Good Idea in Theory – Blog
Life is really too short to live how you want to, let alone by someone else’s standards of how your life should really be. In their world, they must be right where they stand with their argument. But in your world, yours is the only one that should hold any importance at all.
Read Also: 10 Struggles Only Women Who Love Wearing Lipstick Can Understand
