The ‘illusion’ of makeup: Why is makeup seen as "shallow" and not an art?

“My dad used to say makeup was a shallow girl's sport, but it's not. It's armour.” – Courtney Summers

People are often quick to dismiss the hobby of makeup, ignoring the delicate skill it requires. There is a misconception surrounding makeup that it is not a real hobby or tough skill to master because it is traditionally feminine. In actual fact, makeup is as difficult a skill to learn as any other type of hobby. It too requires hours of practice just like sport or learning an instrument or language.

While a love of makeup doesn’t always become a full-time hobby where you are thinking up the craziest looks with SFX and outlandish colours all of the time. Many people have used the power of internet tutorials to further develop their techniques into some pretty astonishing looks.

Many are self-taught by using the tutorials available online, but there are also widely recognised professional qualifications that people can achieve and assessments you need to pass.

I think that much of the dismissal of makeup as a challenging and engaging hobby does lie in the fact that makeup itself was originally for enhancing the appearance of women. For some people, it is something they wear every day too - and to someone who is not interested in makeup, it might be easy to look down on it with disdain.

Nowadays though, the makeup industry has made leaps and bounds to becoming more inclusive and the skills of makeup artists have been bolstered up and when paired with their imaginations - it seems the sky truly is the limit in terms of what can be created.

I think we really should give more credit to makeup artists and not belittle the skills they have invested so much time into perfecting. There is a reason why makeup artists have that name. They are true creatives and can think up amazing looks using the canvas of a face. We consider art to be a skill, so why not makeup? Some may even argue that this is an incredibly accessible way to create or view art.

Edited by Imogen Bowlt