The Green caldron - University Library

12 The Green Caldron
"socially" and smokes. She dresses exactly as is prescribed in her sacred
text, the fashion magazine; the greatest compliment that can be paid to her
is to imply that she is sophisticated. The image of the American beauty has
become stereotyped. Nearly every American girl strives to be like her.
Thousands of cosmetic manufacturers are ready to aid the American
girl in her quest of the stereotype. "Beauty laboratories" provide her with
a hair coloring to match each dress in her vi^ardrobe. Deodorants enable her
to "feel lovelier," Her make-up is "vi^onderfully good" for her skin; "magic
'formula-plus' diets" keep her pleasingly slim. The cosmetic manufacturer
has promised to make the American woman beautiful, and she sincerely
believes that he can.
The most avid users of cosmetics are probably the college coeds. To
avoid erroneous generalizations, though, I should concede that a small
minority of college women have remained unspoiled by the smudges and
smears of excessive amounts of cosmetics. These reactionaries either moan
that they don't have enough time for the cosmetic arts or state that they are
simply not interested in being "delicious and kissable."
However, the majority of coeds are almost unrecognizable individually.
The goal of their cosmetic practice seems to be to aim for the stereotype of
the fashion magazine and to erase any traces of personal uniqueness. One
face becomes tantamount to another.
How is this stereotyped make-up applied? The procedure is greatly in-
volved, and the result is far more outlandish than anything Picasso ever
created. First, liquid or cake make-up is smoothed on the skin. A coed
can and does alter her skin color to such shades as "Mystic Rose" or
"Champagne Beige." She reddens her cheeks alluringly with "Whisper of
Roses" or "Daydream Blush" and then begins to embellish her eyes. She
curls her eyelashes, applies eye-shadow to her eye lids, and finally "lines"
her eyes. The fashion magazine declares that the purpose of "lining" the
eyes is to call attention to them. Certainly anyone would notice "lined" eyes
they look like two holes burned in a blanket. The eyes are completed after
mascara, which tends to make the lashes appear porcelain, is brushed on.
The coed then adds lipstick and brushes her bouffant hair-do.
Why must a woman strive to resemble a machine? To me, women who
look as though they just stepped off an assembly line are not beautiful. Beauty
cannot come from the decanters of a nightmare, Huxley civilization. Beauty
is "a quality or aggregate of qualities in a thing which gives pleasure to the
senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit." But the qualities which give
pleasure cannot be acquired by applying more eye make-up. These qualities
are the indefinable but universally understood attributes of grace and charm.
Every woman would be beautiful if she sought to cultivate them. Why do
so many women hide behind a mask of make-up? The absence of the true
qualities which make a beautiful woman cannot be concealed.
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