I love makeup. I love the variety of colors and products, and I love how I look in makeup. However, the cosmetics industry makes billions each year telling women that they are ugly. But most brands are smart enough to frame makeup as an art-form and an outlet for self-expression. Owner of her namesake cosmetics brand, Charlotte Tilbury has noted in an Into the Glossinterview that she has not and will not let her husband see her without makeup. I will not buy any products from her brand because she is selling the old mentality that you should never look less than beautiful and that you should be wholly dependent on makeup to make relationships work.
Tilbury is a British makeup artist and sells luxury makeup and skincare products. Her products get rave reviews for their formulas, and many people mention that they would gladly repurchase her products. I have not purchased any of her products and I will never start. First, because her products are costly and I am already pleased with the quality from my lower-end brands. Second, I feel that giving money to her company is validating her unhealthy relationship with makeup and I do not want to give credence to the idea that you should be glamorous 24/7. Her views are straight out of the 1940s and 50s, which were decades that were not friendly to women’s rights. You were expected to stay home and take of the children, look beautiful while doing it, and never talk back to your husband because his word was final. I do not want my relationship with makeup to revolve around keeping a man interested.
In some ways I do feel bad for Charlotte because in the same interview she does mention a boyfriend not liking her face without makeup. I wish she realized that he was at fault and that if he could not deal with her bare face then he should leave. Sadly, she has internalized the words of both this boyfriend and her mother about makeup and is now projecting her insecurities onto other women. I do not want to purchase her products because I do not want to internalize her vulnerabilities about makeup. I want to be clear that I will not stand for encouraging dependency on makeup and non-critical examinations of the cosmetics industry. I may love makeup, but I can still analyze the problematic reasons people especially women choose to wear makeup because they are harmful to women.
Worrying about your makeup all the time would become exhausting. If my boyfriend or husband cannot handle me without makeup, then they do not deserve me, and I want more women to know that. Vote with your dollars and do not support Charlotte Tilbury or her brand because she encourages a deadly dependence on makeup that women should not have to bear.
