Culturally Aesthestic

Here's a topic I rarely touch on: aesthetics. I was holiday shopping with my mom at Sephora, a cosmetics store similar to ULTA. She was looking for a particular brand of perfume. I wasn't looking around for anything since I rarely wear makeup or care to search for any beauty products for myself. Naturally, this left me to observe the handful of young and old women employees. They were all in the same uniform: black dress pants and blouse, most with very high heels. Their hair was either straightened or curled, nothing was natural. Most lips were glamoured with various shades of red lipstick and their eyes heavily brushed with shadow and mascara.

Don't get me wrong- they all looked pretty. But that is the point of makeup, right? Makeup for women is supposed to lift self-esteem and enhance the face. But sometimes I wonder what those women actually look like. They signed up to doll themselves up everyday, which would be a fun job, but I wonder if they ever get tired of having to put on all that makeup and dress like that everyday? I wish I could ask them how they feel when they wake up in the morning and look in the mirror. Is putting on makeup a way of hiding oneself from others? Is it a way to hide from oneself?

To what extent does modern culture affect the way young women choose to dress themselves? At beauty product stores like Sephora, most young women enter seaching for a product that will help them look better. Of course the employees need to display their products by putting it on themselves, but how much does it affect their customers? Do teenagers feel pressured to look like these women?

I also wonder how much this drives sales. My guess is that the women employees in the store who flaunt their products on their own bodies, convince their customers enough to buy those products and more. What I find most interesting however is that one look at a person can unconsciously have an effect on your own personal ways and habits.