Vanity

"Vanity" by xXPrettyWhenUCry

Vanity: The mother of all sins; an excessive pride in one's appearance (ref: dictionary.com)

So what counts as 'excessive'? Sure, guys can say that they don't like girls who cake their face in makeup because it's fake and ugly (???), and anti-cosmetic surgery because it's not 'natural', and girls can say that they don't like guys who are metrosexual and care about their appearance because it makes them seem girly and gay, but look at the flipside: if you're someone who doesn't put any effort into your appearance, you're never going to get laid, unless you're naturally gorgeous, and even then, it's because you look good. Point being that we try to make it out that appearances are not important when they are. You can kid yourself all you want and say that you only care about the personality of a potential significant other, but honestly we are all shallow to some extent.

In a world with cosmetic surgery, makeup, skincare, hair products, weird clothing that's supposed to accentuate features (idk, push up bras, corsets, high heels, padded underwear for guys).... heck, even soap, how can we say that we don't care about how someone looks? I'm sure everyone wants to look good to some degree. We are a shallow race, there's no denying that. It's in our genetics; we're biologically engineered to seek out the best mate for reproduction, and one of the ways we determine that is by using the sense of sight.

Guys who say they like 'natural girls' actually mean they like girls who look good without looking like they have cms of makeup piled onto their faces. Ie, some makeup is probably used. I doubt anyone would disagree if I said that they would prefer a girl who has clear looking skin over a girl with acne, if all other factors were the same. Guess what does that? Concealer and foundation :]

I guess I'm speaking more for girls here, but it's not like we're narcissistic attention seekers when we go out with makeup on, nor do we have such low self esteem that we feel the need to cover up our face. Well actually, even if we did, wearing makeup would make us more confident. What's wrong with that? There's a plethora of reasons why we might be wearing makeup... Maybe we have too much and we have to use it before it expires. Maybe we got bored. Maybe we find putting makeup on fun. Maybe it's a special occasion. Maybe we just like looking good. Yes, plenty of reasons. So, don't judge =P

As for girls who think it's not masculine for guys to care about their appearance. Well, I'm sure most girls would prefer a guy who is at least hygienic and doesn't look like homeless bob off the side of the pavement. Personally I'd prefer a guy who looks like he takes care of himself, and I wouldn't call that a sin. There's nothing wrong with looking good o.o in fact, isn't that a plus? :]

As for the natural argument... well, clothes aren't natural either. Maybe we should all just stop wearing those as well, if we're going to all out with this 'natural' thing... (That's not to say that I'm condoning cosmetic surgery. Honestly I think there IS a limit to vanity, and that's when you start to risk your health for aesthetics.)

No one wants to grow old and get wrinkles, that's why there's botox injections and face lifts etc, and I accept that people want to stay young looking as much as possible (maybe because of the disproportionate % of younger models in the media), so while we're young we might as well take advantage of our good looks right? :/

Idk about you guys, but people can say all they want about keeping it natural and I'll still see nothing wrong with trying to look good when you can. In any case, right now I have a pimple growing on my forehead that's so big I feel like I'm growing a bit of a devil's horn, but that's alright, I'll just keep hiding it under my fringe :] what the public doesn't know won't hurt them :D