COVID-19 Masks Eliminate Makeup

The beauty industry and make-up in particular, does not look at spreadsheets anymore, because the arrow continues to dip. Zero sales, let alone profits.

Lupita Nyong'o, Black Panther star.

Photo: Instyle Magazine

Masks. That is what we are wearing now, not make-up. The virus is the main reason for wearing medical masks and other protective gear, whereas reasons for wearing make-up have disappeared.

We don’t go out period: to work, visiting friends and lovers, shopping, church, partying or applying make-up to blushing brides. Small kids in their wisdom feel it. They stared at their mothers beginning of March, when most workplaces hanged the ‘temporarily closed’ sign.

‘Mum, you look different’.
‘No make-up,’ says the hubby.

We’ll deal with insensitive husbands later. The issue right now is the hyperlink between make-up and masks. We put them on, and remove them at night.

We wear make-up to mask the real us, but sometimes it doesn’t work. Abused women try to conceal half-closed eyes the shade of green to blue, with all kinds of ‘concealers’ but marks made by a fist or boots, are hard to hide.

We wear make-up to correct certain features God made, but we think he/she did not do a good job. We botox things, elongate eyelashes, cheeks, apply mascara, make lips bigger with pencils and finish off with lipstick the industry calls lip color. What I find funny is torching your eyebrows completely (Miss Bald Eyebrows), and using a black pen to replace them. It was not meant to be like that.

Your eyelashes have an area just above the eye where the hair is uneven, patchy. That is where you use a tweezer or have it professionally done (procedure looks very painful). The result is that the eyebrow looks like a nice curve, where you can apply a little bit of eye shadow. Look at various magazines or online pics, you’ll get the idea.

Reigning Miss Universe, Zozibini Ntunzi 

Photo: online pic

We wear make-up to be presentable, pleasing to the eye. There’s no harm in that I suppose but it becomes a problem if you criticize God. For example, some black women wear foundation which makes the face white and the neck black, they wear eye shadow that makes them look like masquerades and top it up with blond hair extensions they keep brushing away from their face during the whole television interview.

They are not white and it is nature’s plan. They are beautiful, like Lupita Nyong’o and Zozibini Ntunzi, the current Miss Universe. The sooner they get used to it the better. Make-up is designed to enhance what nature gave you, not exterminate it.

Are you going out?
Yes I am.
Why are you putting on make-up, especially that red lipstick?
I can’t leave the house without make-up.
Are you going to wear the mask?
Yes. I have too. This COVID-19 thing is still here.
I see!   

This does not apply to people who work in front of cameras. Lights are harsh so they need make-up to neutralize the glare on their faces. Having said that, my favourite Yoruba actress, Mide FM Abiodun needs to correct the damage to her eyebrows. They are cut in half. It’s either she becomes a complete Miss Bald Eyebrows or let them grow again.

Masks and make-up have one thing in common: you take them off. If you torched your eyebrows, what do you look like in the morning? Neither nor.

Make-up Tip: Make an inventory of what you have and you have a lot. For example, if you have full lips with that natural line, you don’t need a lip pen. You have natural eyelashes that close like a curtain. Good. You don’t need false eyelashes, and you don’t have to worry that one might fall off without you noticing. Hey! Your eyebrows might even have that natural curve. Make-up is a temporary remedy for what you reasonably think is a flaw. Whatever happens, don’t shave your eyebrows. They are not a beard.

Remember, actresses and beauty queens are not more beautiful than you. They are ‘made up.’

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.