I watched my first few episodes of "Millionaire Matchmaker" last night. Enjoyed it enough, just couldn't help thinking "really? aren't millionaires in NYC sort of a dime a dozen? Do they really need a "special" dating guru????"
Apparently they do.
The Millionaire in question for this episode was the woman above named Andrea Correale who owned a catering company and spent so much of her time making sure the glitterati of greater Manhattan dined in style at their big schwanky parties that she completely "forgot" to settle down and find herself a man. Until she hit 40. Then she remembered and panicked. There was a giant, 25 year-old list she carted around with herself that detailed all of the qualities required of her Mister Perfect, an eye-roller in its own right.
At one point while we were watching the show, my own Mister Wonderful's mother commented that Ms Correale would look much better if she would "scrape most of that makeup off of her face."
I realized at that point that such a thought had never, ever, occurred to me before. Or, it dawned on me that I been brought up in such a "makeup friendly" household that the idea of looking at someone and thinking, "Get out the putty knife!" had never crossed my mind. Which let me to philosophize about beauty - more specifically, cosmetics -- off and on for the rest of the evening.
Here's my Treatise on Makeup, if you will:
If wearing a face full of lovely, sparkly cosmetics makes a woman feel good about herself, more power to makeup. If wearing some foundation, some bronzer, some eyeliner, some mascara, some finishing powder, some primer, some lipstick, some cheek stain, some eye shadow, highlighter, or WHATEVER gives her confidence a boost, everything else gets a boost, too. When we feel good about ourselves, life is better. If we use makeup to give us that extra infusion, so what?
But let's take this back to a dating example, since this woman had "put her face on" to snag herself a man. Same principle applies, I think. If she feels more attractive, feels like she looks pretty, feels confident in her loveliness, won't this just translate into a better date? Won't a self-confident woman have a better dating experience REGARDLESS of whether that confidence comes from eyeliner, a push-up bra or a completely internal, inalienable, organic, innate understanding that she's beautiful and desirable? What's the difference?
Sure - psychologically speaking, I understand that we could dissect this to high heaven, and that really loving yourself should come from WITHIN and not from Lancome, but when it comes to putting your best foot forward on a date -- a TELEVISED date on Bravo, no less -- who cares whether your eyelashes are real, or courtesy of Dior? When you feel good, you're going to be a better date.
Now sure, this is coming from a girl who LOVES all the trappings of being a girl. I love high heels and lingerie and cosmetics and curling irons and perfume and jewelry and, admittedly, see nothing wrong with using all of these to our feminine advantage. Also, admittedly, every female isn't walking around in high heels and mascara with too many bracelets, declaring their love for impractical panties and the perfect shade of bronze eyeshadow - and I'm certainly not attempting to drag anyone over to my beauty dark side - I'm just making the argument for pro-makeup girls everywhere. That is, if it makes you feel beautiful, do it. And don't expect those in practical shoes who don't value the mood-boosting properties of conditioning their hair or wearing eyeshadow primer to understand.
Because feeling beautiful is different for all of us. And a man who's attracted to a lady with plenty of face paint won't be turned off or put off by the regimen, he'll like the final result.
All of which is to say - more power to whatever makes a girl feel sexy.
And compared to some of the rather heinous lip collagen and face lifts and cheek implants making the rounds out there, eyeliner seems like a pretty harmless way to amp up the hotness.
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