I personally experience the pressure in US culture for women to wear makeup as oppressive and hateful, but it’s nice to be reminded that makeup can mean completely different things to people in other cultures. The world is big and human experience is vast and varied!
Such serendipitous timing on this interview. Though im relatively adventurous with makeup, I'm a white woman with light eyes, and I've always shied away from black eyeliner because it just felt too bold. I would do a smudged-out charcoal gray, or a purple, but never black. Last night I went out with a BLACK winged eyeliner. It looked good, but I was soooo fraught because it did look and feel different so much a choice of, hey...I am going for it! It felt...like a brave step, but for such a silly reason. Anyway, it was nice to see this thing I was feeling validated and put into a larger cultural and historical context.
I've never worn eyeliner --partly because the look has felt too heavy to me but mostly because I never felt like I really learned how to do it well (which, of course, may also be why it has felt too heavy to me). This inspires me to play around with it sometime.
More importantly, thank you for a quintessential CS piece: taking something we see every day and helping us get more curious about it in cross-cultural and political contexts. Hankir's book looks fascinating!
Eyeliner, mascara and lipgloss/lipstick are my staple makeup items: on a day off, I may not shower or do my hair, but those three things are ON. It makes me feel like me.
As I age, regular pencils sometimes drag on my skin, so I now wear gel pencils and pot eyeliner. Brown, bronze, charcoal and purple are my colors. Boring but easy.
I'll never forget seeing girls in the high school locker room lighting their eyeliner to melt it a bit before applying: how glamorous! To be so self assured as to buy a lighter in the first place (or take it from a boyfriend or sneak it from a parent, it was the late 70s-early 80s) and use it in front of everyone like it was no biggie. Meanwhile I used some drugstore pencil half on my upper lid, half on my lower (like a parentheses, I don't know why) and stood in front of a different mirror block, lol.
I felt so seen reading this and cannot wait to check out this book. I got an a car accident 10 years ago and broke my right hand and was unable to use it for many months. The first thing I learned to do - and did on Day 1 before I went into surgery - was put on eyeliner with my left hand. I’ve always worn it, even if I’m running a 10k, sitting at home, or on vacation. It is the one thing I cannot do without. I keep spare eyeliner at work and in my purse and travel bag. I’d even select eyeliner over mascara if I had to make the choice.
I think one reason this spoke to me was that I’d never thought through the bigger context of the significance of the ritual, or the appearance; the statement it makes to others and to ourselves. The sense of agency and control as well as the comfort of the ritual and the mindfulness aspect - that was powerful to read!
I have always loved the look of winged eyeliner so much but was always intimidated by it and am pretty inept at makeup as it is.
Now that I’m older, it seems like the chance for a wing is gone becuz of the tiny wrinkles... but I do use a marker-like eyeliner, thin from inner corner to about midpoint where I go a little thicker.
I’ve never tried lining my inner eye. My little sister used to do that--it always freaked me out, lol.
I personally experience the pressure in US culture for women to wear makeup as oppressive and hateful, but it’s nice to be reminded that makeup can mean completely different things to people in other cultures. The world is big and human experience is vast and varied!
Such serendipitous timing on this interview. Though im relatively adventurous with makeup, I'm a white woman with light eyes, and I've always shied away from black eyeliner because it just felt too bold. I would do a smudged-out charcoal gray, or a purple, but never black. Last night I went out with a BLACK winged eyeliner. It looked good, but I was soooo fraught because it did look and feel different so much a choice of, hey...I am going for it! It felt...like a brave step, but for such a silly reason. Anyway, it was nice to see this thing I was feeling validated and put into a larger cultural and historical context.
I've never worn eyeliner --partly because the look has felt too heavy to me but mostly because I never felt like I really learned how to do it well (which, of course, may also be why it has felt too heavy to me). This inspires me to play around with it sometime.
More importantly, thank you for a quintessential CS piece: taking something we see every day and helping us get more curious about it in cross-cultural and political contexts. Hankir's book looks fascinating!
Eyeliner, mascara and lipgloss/lipstick are my staple makeup items: on a day off, I may not shower or do my hair, but those three things are ON. It makes me feel like me.
As I age, regular pencils sometimes drag on my skin, so I now wear gel pencils and pot eyeliner. Brown, bronze, charcoal and purple are my colors. Boring but easy.
I'll never forget seeing girls in the high school locker room lighting their eyeliner to melt it a bit before applying: how glamorous! To be so self assured as to buy a lighter in the first place (or take it from a boyfriend or sneak it from a parent, it was the late 70s-early 80s) and use it in front of everyone like it was no biggie. Meanwhile I used some drugstore pencil half on my upper lid, half on my lower (like a parentheses, I don't know why) and stood in front of a different mirror block, lol.
Love this! I was serendipitously looking at this book just a couple of weeks ago and definitely plan on reading it now.
Also: my go-to eyeliner the last several years has been Marc Jacobs Highliner Gel Crayon. It doesn't irritate my contacts and it really stays put!
I felt so seen reading this and cannot wait to check out this book. I got an a car accident 10 years ago and broke my right hand and was unable to use it for many months. The first thing I learned to do - and did on Day 1 before I went into surgery - was put on eyeliner with my left hand. I’ve always worn it, even if I’m running a 10k, sitting at home, or on vacation. It is the one thing I cannot do without. I keep spare eyeliner at work and in my purse and travel bag. I’d even select eyeliner over mascara if I had to make the choice.
I think one reason this spoke to me was that I’d never thought through the bigger context of the significance of the ritual, or the appearance; the statement it makes to others and to ourselves. The sense of agency and control as well as the comfort of the ritual and the mindfulness aspect - that was powerful to read!
Thank you for this!
I have always loved the look of winged eyeliner so much but was always intimidated by it and am pretty inept at makeup as it is.
Now that I’m older, it seems like the chance for a wing is gone becuz of the tiny wrinkles... but I do use a marker-like eyeliner, thin from inner corner to about midpoint where I go a little thicker.
I’ve never tried lining my inner eye. My little sister used to do that--it always freaked me out, lol.