What “Makes Up” Makeup:
A Short History of Cosmetics

At the start of every morning, my mother wakes up an hour earlier than necessary to “put on her face.” As a kid, I never understood what she was doing and was constantly annoyed that it would take her extremely long to get ready to go somewhere that was barely down the street. Why was she putting makeup on to go grocery shopping? To my grandma’s house? “Because I like to, Shyla,” was the only answer I ever got. But being that young, makeup was something you only wore on special days: on Halloween, to disguise yourself as someone else or a wedding, to be pretty. My mom wearing it daily confused me. As a woman, contradictions are shot at you like bullets. “Be natural, but don’t you dare have any blemishes, pimples, scars or hair anywhere that isn’t your head.” “A girl wearing absolutely no makeup, bare faced and natural isn’t enough, but a girl wearing heavy eyeshadow and face makeup is slutty.” Everything we do is somehow scrutinized through the eyes of what a man would or wouldn’t like. We have an endless list of standards we must live up to, all the while making sure to be ourselves, because guys don’t like fake girls. Some view makeup as a weapon of destruction, like it’s lying to the world, making people appear to be flawless models with it, but completely different person without it. All those years of watching my mom layer on product after product, wondering what the point of all of it was, I realized makeup is an accessory. Makeup is worn to cover acne, for fun, for special occasions, to feel better, to enhance features, all sorts of reasons, but it’s for no one but the person themselves. Wearing makeup is a choice; it’s one thing that no one but the person can control.
It is believed that cosmetics were first used by ancient Egyptians, most notably their use of kohl. Egyptian men and women