I can't even...

The other day I was scrolling through my news feed on Facebook with the sound muted as is often the case, and I ran across an ad of some sort with a young woman selling an as yet to be determined something. Her appearance made me stop, think carefully, and wonder.  It was her startling makeup. I cannot remember what she was talking about if I even knew.  I may not have even figured it out because … #1 I was trying to read her lips, and #2 I was mesmerized by her face.  She was a lovely young woman, but her make-up was so thick I had to fight the tendency to try to wipe/scrape some it off through the monitor screen. I found myself reaching for a Kleenex and wishing I had longer finger nails. Her skin must have been suffocating under the weight of it all.  But – it went beyond that.

Are you familiar?  Totally blemish free and perfectly highlighted with bronzer, lips lined with a darker shade than that of the actual lipstick color ....  All that is fine, I guess – if you like that sort of unnatural and too perfect look, but… it was the eyebrows that gave me pause.  I simply could not get my eyes off the eyebrows.  They were a wide gray smudge on top of her heavily tweezed actual brows (you could easily see her real ones underneath the shaded area).  It was like she was going for the Brook Shields’ heavy brow look, but tying to create “the look” with a faded, wide tipped magic marker. Each brow was perfectly shaped as if a stencil was employed.  I can’t even…. 

Call me whatever, but it made me think of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Emperor’s New Clothes in some distorted way. Whoever convinced this darling young woman that those brows would look natural or even good? Doesn’t she realize that the extreme can detract from the message she wants to deliver? It also made me think of women today, who wear stupid shoes and have no idea that they look ridiculous.  I am talking about those women you see on TV who must have people help them walk in their stylish footwear. It is not just that some shoes are not to my personal taste; it is more. It is in the same category of icky as are some nose rings that, from the side, look like there is a large booger hanging from the "piercee's" nose. Oh - I have to stop now.  It is nuts.   

 #old fart again