Bridal Makeup Pictures Biography
Source(google.com.pk)one part social media, and one part performance art. Women as young as junior high post videos of themselves doing makeup “tutorials” giving step-by-step instructions on how to achieve a look, “hauling” items they bought on recent visits to the mall (a consumer capitalist show & tell), and reviewing beauty products.
I started watching the videos five years ago as a cure for insomnia. I soon had favorites whose videos I watched every week like I did TV shows. I grew to care about Xsparkage’s recommendations, even if I would never buy a $200 hair straighter or wear a Silk Spectre makeup look. I know SayAnythingBr00ke’s favorite lower lid liner (Stila Smudge Stick in Stingray, natch) and her favorite character in The Hunger Games, a book I’ve never read. I worry about Shaaanxo, a New Zealander my same age recovering from the discount boob job she got in Thailand.
I found the videos fascinating enough to devote some serious time to them—I’m now doing academic research about teen girls’ participation in the YouTube beauty community. I expected the project to dominate my time, but I didn’t predict how it would influence my spending. Financially, the situation is getting ugly.
At times, YouTube has provided honest reviews for products I responsibly weighed buying. It has also turned me on to indie makeup brands before they hit Sephora. Most of the time, though, I end up filling my drawers with junk I wouldn’t have bought were it not for a video: Lip colors I know will wash me out; mascaras from brands I don’t like; hair products not designed for my pixie cut.
By responsibly doing my work—right now, watching videos is my job—I wind up with “Oh crap, what did I buy?” regret after every trip to Rite Aid. When I buy high-end products at Sephora, the guilt multiplies.
After watching and dissecting hundreds of them, I figured, the videos would be powerless over me. Turns out I’m still a sucker. Product recommendations weasel into the dark corners of my brain. I am subliminally controlled by teenagers in Arkansas and Ontario.
A few purchases from the past two weeks:
Maybelline Color Whisper in “Oh La Lilac,” $8.43 These lipsticks are popular on YouTube right now, even though no one seems to like them very much. I think people just enjoy saying the name—”color whisper.” I bought the lilac one based off a review by a Canadian guru. I don’t like her taste in makeup, clothes, or hair, yet when I saw this product at Rite Aid I thought to myself, “Hmm, I remember someone telling me to buy this.” Way to go, lizard brain. The lipstick is not great—barely noticeable and short-lived on lips. Good for wearing to work, or at least I imagine it would be as someone who works from bed.
Coastal Scents Eclipse Concealer Palette, $14.95 Coastal Scents hopped on the “giving guru products for review” train early—like, five years ago—and at this point almost everyone owns it. It’s a given. I almost never get acne, but when I broke out late last month I caved and ordered the palette on Amazon. My face was back to normal by the time it arrived. I have not used it and probably never will.
looking too cute
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