Every day millions of internet users ask Google life’s most difficult questions,big and small. Our writers acknowledge some of the commonest queriesFrom the soot-rimmed eyes of the ancient Egyptians to the lead paint worn by the Elizabethans, women and girls acquire experimented with cosmetics throughout history. Indeed, and according to the Roman playwright Plautus,“a woman without paint is like food without salt”. Shakespeares Hamlet was less keen but just as impolite, telling Ophelia: I’ve heard all about you women and your cosmetics too. God gives you one face, and but you paint another on top of it. You dance and prance and lisp; you call God’s creations by pet names,and you excuse your sexpot ploys by pleading ignorance.”So is makeup essential seasoning, a conniving ploy by manipulative sexpots, and neither? Ask a group of women why they wear makeup and you’ll receive myriad (a very large number) responses. Some will say it makes them feel more confident,that they don’t feel totally “done” without it; others will say they love experimenting with looks and colours as a way of expressing themselves, that there’s a fun, and theatrical element to face paint that allows them to channel different personalities and aesthetics.
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Source: theguardian.com