*I wrote this in May 2012, but made the video just this week (after the train incident which I talk about in the video).

It came as a sort of shock. But not like a sharp-intake-of-breath, ground-breaking shock; more like a fuzzy-vision-cleared shock. A mild shock. I was thinking about how eyeliner defines the eyes. I cannot really recollect how my train of thoughts came to stop at this station. But I’m sure you know how many streams of thoughts come to meet at one point; how we come to conclusions based on many threads of thinking and little nuances, feelings and circumstances. The brain is truly a marvelous thing. Anyway, that’s another stop for another day.
Immediately the eyeliner thought crystallised in my mind, I remember thinking, “Well, why do I need to define my eyes? Guys don’t have to define their eyes; and we girls like them well enough.” That was the shock. In a sort of funny way, it should be no shock at all. Duh, it’s girls that wear make-up, not guys. Except exceptional guys like the guy from that guy Kiss and sprinkling of other media, and Goth guys. But really, even the most popular media guys, the most good-looking ones who top all the sexiest and best-dressed lists don’t wear any form of make-up. If they do, it’s for the cameras; and they don’t even want us to know that they’re wearing it. We women wear it like a badge of honour. And we love those men for their “rugged good looks”!

I’m not a feminist, at least not in the extreme sense of the world. In fact, the damsel in distress routine is pretty entertaining. It’s funny to see a guy think that he’s some hero because he opened a jar of jam for me. I love the guy opening the door, pulling out a chair for the lady thing. I’m also all for the woman’s right to vote and all that (which some say would never have happened if not for those women who would cry for blood if a man opened the door for them). I guess everyone has their uses (that must sound bad; but oh well…). So, please don’t misconstrue the purpose of this.

I’m not a big fan of make-up actually. I don’t think I’ll ever use powder, or foundation, or concealer on a regular basis. I‘ve only used powder about three times in my life. Make-up is just a habit that I never cultivated. I have nothing against it. But wearing eyeliner, mascara and lipstick once a week to church is a burden enough for me. I’ve sworn of eye-shadow. But I just got my Ruby Woo by MAC lipstick about two weeks ago, after much anticipation. I admire those who have the patience and expertise to apply perfectly blended make-up. It might be laziness, honestly. But I cannot be bothered to shape my eyebrows, because then I’d have to keep on doing it. But then my eyebrows aren’t that bad. I’m sure that if I had caterpillar eyebrows (as one of my friends described her pre-shaped eyebrows), I’d do something about them. I can’t stand the glitter of eye-shadow all over my face; and I have an upper eye-lid that folds over so that the shadow almost always goes where I didn’t put it. If I found the perfect non-smearing matte eye-shadow, I’d probably use it.

Back to the point (although it seemed like it, I’m not trying to list all the reasons why I only use certain items of make-up), we like our guys with their shaggy eyebrows (in fact, the thicker the better). We like them with their un-shadowed eyes, their un-blushed cheeks (anyone who’s seen a picture of Prince Harry of England during winter, knows he doesn’t need it), and their un-lined eyes. In fact, some guys are liked particularly for their unkempt-edness. Imagine their shaggy locks and tattered jeans are adored! As I thought, it occurred to me that I would find a man with make-up particularly distasteful. It made me wonder who comes up with all the rules and dictates of society. I mean, right from birth I’ve “known” that earrings are for girls not boys. At that point, I sort of felt like a peacock. You know, we ladies trying to present our best look (with our highlighted cheeks, coloured lips and all) while we parade in front of guys to make their choice. Note, “peacock”. Note especially: pea-“cock”. In that bird species, it’s the guys that parade!!!

All this is not to say, that I’ll not wake up thirty minutes earlier than needed on Sunday so that I can have time to apply my eyeliner, mascara and lipstick. I did just spend £14 pounds on that very lipstick. In fact, I might put in extra effort this Sunday because I think I’ve just mastered the perfect lipstick application technique. And I absolutely do not expect my boyfriend to begin to line his eyes so we can equally parade ourselves. But it did get me thinking…