Dear Beauty Trends,

You make no sense. Why is being a size -4, having a butt bigger than a planet, and having Kylie Jenner's lips considered 'beautiful'? All of those attributes together are physically impossible without plastic surgery, end of story. At times, you seem reasonable, telling people to love themselves the way they are, or showing them ways to make themselves feel happier and healthier, but then the next second you are shaming people for being too 'fat' or 'too skinny, idolizing models who live on diets where they eat essentially nothing before a photo shoot. Ugh, the diet tips! Every issue of a 'health' magazine shows a diet, but why? Restrictive diets cause horrible side effects like malnutrition or eating disorders if taken too far! Speaking of which, why are you promoting weight loss all the time? Is there an issue with being a bit bigger? And then there are times when you say it is not good to be smaller. Is there an issue with being too small? Besides, I thought the entire point of you beauty trends was supposed to make the person feel more beautiful on the inside and out, not put them down anymore. Create a trend surrounding something that is actually beautiful, like a cheerful smile. But then again, maybe that would just cause you to broadcast that a smile isn't perfect unless it has shining white teeth. Even fashion trends can be horrible for people; the clothes you recommend are way out of my price range. No way am I going to spend $50 on one pair of jeans!

Still, there is one positive trend in your midst: makeup. Makeup can help a person express themselves any way they want, and it has no requirements at all; it's completely up to each person. Makeup trends don't promote changing anything about a person, they just showcase different types of things a person can do with certain colors or tools. In fact, all beauty trends should be more like makeup trends, customizable. Instead of having one person or appearance being the image of beauty, beauty trends should showcase how beautiful each singular person is, in every unique way. So beauty trends, get yourself together.

Sincerely,

Emily Otten