I’ve decided to focus on the topic of make-up.
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Initial Questions:
How does a beauty trend come to be?
How does the current perception of beauty get defined?
How have the uses of makeup changed over the years?
Is the usage of make-up due to its long history of perceived beauty or merely commercialism and societal expectations or both?
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- “Is the usage of makeup due to its long history of perceived beauty or merely commercialism and societal expectations or both?”
- “Has commercialism and societal expectations damaged our self-esteem so much that we rely on makeup as a necessity instead of an accessory?”
I decided to choose to focus on number 2.
effects of advertising on young women (psychology reports, past cases of teenage depression, pressure to be perfect)
– Secondary Sources: scholarly articles on how advertising affects us (specifically research done by Behaviorists)
makeup uses for a general teenage girl (annual spending, obsessive nature)
– Primary Sources: conduct surveys?
– Secondary Sources: Look at other people’s surveys.
current trends on makeup (what girls choose to achieve)
– Contouring (Primary Source: observation based off YouTube beauty gurus/girls in general)
– Extreme cover-up (desire for perfect skin)
– Eastern vs. Western trends comparison (Secondary Source: magazines like Cosmopolitan/ Vogue that determine beauty trends.)
big make-up companies (drugstore versus designer)
– slogans/ ideals/ the way they advertise (Primary Source: looking at their advertisements, from the past to now.)
It is general knowledge that advertising can have a negative impact on a teenager’s self-esteem. This paper is more focused on specifically the topic of make-up and it ties in with the not just the psychology of being effected and why but also with the trends and current perceptions of beauty.
I’ve previously made a magazine for my senior project where I’ve created “natural” makeup looks for different ethnicities that takes into consideration their cultural ideals of beauty and emphasizing their features that they’re blessed with. (http://www.a-subs.com/cakeface) I want to go deeper into the topic with this final project.
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I could perhaps use this to highlight different ethnic girls and their daily make-up usage. What they can’t leave the house without?
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Precedents:
