Anti-ageing elixirs, BB cream, concealer. We all have at least one of these in our arsenal – right? But what if we told you that blemishes are in and covering them up is the biggest faux pas you could make this season.
Hailing from the rise of realism in beauty, and collections from the likes of Peter Devito, Sophie Harris –Taylor, and Esther Magyar – imperfection is being embraced like never before. For these artists, it is showcasing pimples, stretch marks, freckles, hyperpigmentation – anything that defies convention, or classical beauty all shot in a typically editorial fashion.
Classical beauty is what humanity has striven towards since the dawn of time, but with a few beauty rebels cropping up over the centuries – think “Paint me warts and all”, now the trend is on a trajectory it’s unlikely to come down from. The perfection we are being shown in magazines and posts online has long been outdated and as often coming under fire for being unrepresentative.
Why the rise of realism in beauty now, though? Perhaps it’s simply that with the new brand of Instagram Influencer, perfect people have become a saturated market? Or is it something deeper – imperfections make us human and covering them up is bowing to societal pressures.
Beauty Archive spoke to @makeupbrutalism’s Eszther Magyar about her ideas on the reasons behind the movement: “On one hand, imperfections in general are not embraced at all - showing your diastema, or bad skin, bold natural eyebrow (armpit hair, cellulite etc.) is still considered “brave” - and if you think about it, it’s not a positive message. On the other hand, trends are making everyone the same - perfect skin, kissable lips in the same lipstick colours, sharp contoured noses etc. [These trends remove] anything which is different - that makes you special - and special is good and desirable. Everyone wants to be special.”
Although - as Eszther explained- social media has played a part in accentuating our insecurities, it has also created a platform for the realist movement. For example, take @myfacestory on Instagram, which follows Kali Kushner’s battle with acne in an unapologetic realness.
With models, influencers and celebrities jumping on the natural beauty bandwagon this quarantine with their bare faced selfies, could this be the end of perfection as we know it?
