Beauty tag >__>

As I may have mentioned, I'm currently in a very beauty-blogging related internship. So I found this tag. So I thought I'd do it.

MAKEUP:
Blush or Bronzer? I don't really like either but if I had to pick, blush.
Lipgloss or Lipstick? Lipstick - only started using it a couple of months ago, high five.
Eyeliner or Mascara? Eyeliner. EYELINER. I can't love this enough.
Foundation or Concealer? Both really, but if push comes to shove, foundation.
Neutral or Colour Eyeshadow? Don't really wear eyeshadow, makes neutral the default.
Pressed or Loose Powder: Pressed, but I like both.
Brushes or Sponges: Brushes, though I only have one.

NAILS:
OPI or China Glaze? OPI, only because I've never used China Glaze.
Long or Short? Short.
Acrylic or Natural? Natural.
Brights or Darks? Darks, I really only paint my toenails, and it's only ever been dark blue/purple/green/red.
Flower or No Flower: WHAT IS A FLOWER IN THIS CONTEXT?!

BODY:
Perfume or Body Spray? Whatever.
Lotion or Body Butter? Lotion.
Body Wash or Soap? Body Wash.
Lush or Other Bath Company? I don't know what constitutes a bath company but I really like Original Source shower gels, because they have lemon and lime ones. Amaazing.

FASHION:
Jeans or Sweatpants? I don't like either..
Long Sleeves or Short? Whatever.
Dresses or Skirts? WHATEVER.
Stripes or Plaid? Stripes, I hate plaid.
Flip Flops or Sandals? Flip flops, I don't have calves that can pull off an ankle strap.
Scarves or Hats? Scarves, though I do want to try hats.
Stud or Dangly Earrings? Don't have pierced ears.
Cowboy Boots or Riding Boots? Riding I suppose, I don't have either.
Jacket or Hoodie? I like both, whichever's fine.
Forever 21 or Charlotte Russe? Forever 21. <3
Abercrombie or Hollister? They're awfully similar aren't they...
Saks 5th or Nordstrom? ^

HAIR:
Curly or Straight? Straight.
Bun or Ponytail? Bun, but only the nice ones.
Bobby Pins or Butterfly Clips? I think this should be bobby pins or hair clamps.. Butterfly clips are butterfly shaped clamps, no? Clamps yes, butterfly shaped - heck no.
Hairspray or Hair Gel? Hairspray, but I don't really use it.
Long or Short? Long.
Light or Dark? Dark.
Side Sweep Bangs or Full Bangs? Both, maybe side a bit more.
Up or Down? Down mostly.

RANDOM:
Rain or Shine? Whatever.
Summer or Winter? Whatever wtf. I guess winter.
Fall or Spring: I love both! Fall a little more.
Chocolate or Vanilla? Vanilla.
East Coast or West Coast? I've only been to the West Coast, which I love (particularly the NW), but I think I'd like NE too.Whatever man, I'll take it.


This tag annoyed me a little bit because there were a lot of choices between two things I really like or two things I don't at all. As you can see I'm quite apathetic about a lot of things. 

Overcorrecting politically correctness

If you do not live in the UK, are not an avid Tweeter, and are not a fan of Dove on Facebook, you probably missed the furore that happened today/yesterday. I for one only saw it because my internship involves trolling Twitter incredibly intensively. I personally find the incident banal (I am really bad at pronouncing this word correctly even though I know the proper pronunciation) and really unnecessary, and I'll explain why. Here's what I believe basically happened:-

1. Dove releases a picture on its Facebook page (you'll see it in a minute).

2. Someone spots it and tells this woman.

3. This woman tweets about it. 

4. A bunch of people start going crazy about it, with most people taking offense as well, and Sali Hughes persisting on quashing those who believe it's not that big a deal. Links - 1, 2, 3, 4. 

If you're too lazy to click it, here are a few quotes: 

'If someone's careless choice of words offends many people, which it has, change it. 'Shameful'! Jeez'

'yep, sorry Sam, have to disagree. I don't see how it's not racist to imply dark skin is abnormal?!'

'whether its marketed that way or not it's wrong. I'm not Caucasian and I would've bought this sort of product.'

'Gradual tan is used by all races. It's not a strictly caucasian product.'

'It still makes one skin tone normal, which is unacceptable and inaccurate. There are other words to use.'

5. Dove releases an apology statement and everyone is happy. 

Now, I just think this thing was just blown up because people are too ready to flip out. I could go further and speculate that we have no great war, no depression, a recession no one can do anything about, (I'm stealing a bit from Fight Club here) so the easiest thing to do for thrills is pick fights over the internet. But that's not important right now.

Why can't we go 'Haha, silly Dove, you made it sound like having dark skin isn't normal' instead of 'OMG DOVE U R SO RACIST! HOW DARE YOU! YOU ARE A RACIST, UNETHICAL COMPANY AND YOUR PRODUCTS SUCK'. As a skincare company they are obviously used to throwing the word 'normal' in everywhere. Normal to oily. Normal to dry. 'Normal' being constantly used as a mediator word. Sali Hughes says here, 'No, because on skincare, 'normal' refers to texture (universal) not colour (racially specific).' I don't disagree, but I do think Dove simply made an honest mistake. The term 'normal' is commonly used as a mediator word, and yes, medium would have been the ideal choice, but I'm sure Dove didn't think 'Hey, we can use the word medium, oooorrrrrrrr, we can use the word normal, because we think dark skin is bloomin' abnormal!'

Heck, for that matter, someone else on Twitter also mentioned that the other shade is described for 'light to normal'. Are light-skinned people freaking out over being called abnormal? No! I actually think Dove was being kind of race-blind. They weren't thinking about race, just shade of light/dark. If one shade was 'light to medium' and the other one was 'normal to dark', then that would have been something. 

Being 'politically correct' has become such an incredibly difficult, walking on eggshell type of thing. Now, if you asked me, I don't even know what to call.. certain ethnicities. Anthropologically speaking, it's broken down into Caucasoid, Negroid, and Mongoloid, at least that's what I was taught from a book as a wee 'un. Obviously Caucasian is an acceptable term to use, that one is not, and Mongoloid/lian/whatever has never really caught on. But anthropologically speaking the words are there. But we are not allowed to use them. 

It's relatively easier in America where the term African-American is widely used and accepted, but in the UK, I don't know what to use. 'Black British' or 'Black Caribbean' etc. commonly appears in forms, but it's not like you know where a person is from just because they're 'black'. I'm not saying they all look the same, I'm just saying - I can't tell. Just as a lot of people think all Asian people look the same and are Chinese, that's fine, I accept that. I can laugh about it, why can't you?

The term 'black' itself is up for debate. Is that allowed? I don't know! I thought it was, but speaking to my white and Asian peers I am sometimes given doubt whether it is or not. Moreso, I once spoke about the term 'coloured' to E, and he said that was racist! What what? I walked past an ATM right after a woman got mugged one day, and she was on the phone to the police. As she was describing the mugger, I distinctly remember her pausing, then saying he was 'coloured'. She wasn't Caucasian either, though I didn't stay and speculate on what she was. I thought that meant it was okay, but after speaking to him I wasn't so sure. 

(Note: When E said it was racist I retaliated that it was okay because I'm coloured and he said I wasn't, which sparked a brief argument consisting of me insisting that I was and waving my untanned leg at him, with him insisting I had no colour and going 'don't you dare say you're yellow.' Obviously I am.)

Now in the beauty world there is a new term thrown in - 'women of colour'. WHOA! Does 'of colour' sound like it contains more respect than 'coloured'? It sounds the same to me, if not more unnecessary. I'm not sure on this, but the term might also expand to suit people of Indian/Pakistani descent.. Which is even more confusing. 

We've backed ourselves into this huge, tangled mess of confusion, all because everyone wants to make everyone feel good about who they are. We're painted into a corner by inappropriate words. Maybe everyone should just feel good on their own without trying or expecting someone else to fix you. Maybe everyone just needs to chill the [blank] out. 

Maybe everyone needs to remember the episode of South Park where Cartman was being a little jerk - as he is to everyone - and threw a stone at Token (who is African-American), and got jailed for a hate crime. Behind every South Park episode, there is a moral.


Update: Right after posting this I went back on Twitter. A quick search of 'Dove' or '@Dove' will garner you a ridiculous amount of ludicrous tweets. Here is a link that compiles what seems to be some of the angriest. I've copied a few here:-
'@Dove, last time I checked, my skin colour was normal.'
'*ring* Hello. @Dove? Dark skin isn't normal? I think you have the wrong number *click* #shadism
@Dove Very unfortunate that your product labelling would imply that dark skin is somehow less "normal" than white.'
'@queerviolet Clearly dove should rebrand so that it's offered for "Normal to Awesome" skin tones.'
'Took me too long to see the problem with this Dove copy, which is the whole, shamefully ugly point. bit.ly/K4IiEH cc: @canice @MituK'

Also I realize my blog post implies that Sali Hughes started it, but honestly I don't know who did, I just caught wind of it through her Twitter + follow up.

Closing:
I'm sure everyone will remember the naked women campaign Dove did (still do?). Close your eyes and think about it. They have women in ALL SIZES, in ALL COLOURS, with funny bums and different shades (50 shades of brown, har har). DOVE IS NOT A RACIST COMPANY! I am not even a Dove fan, I only have a shampoo I thought I'd try and don't like all that much, I just don't like flak being given where flak is not due. Thank you and goodnight.

I could stare at your face forever.

You Must Know

I was poking around TK Maxx the other day - kind of hoping to find a nice eau de toilette I'd like, because I've managed to convince myself that if I don't get one I will die. I've never used any before, but I think it's time to start. I don't wear deodorant or anything so I don't really smell of anything usually, but it's starting to annoy me when I've been hanging around someone else and their smell lingers around me after that and I realize I have no counter attack. Haha! I do have a body spray that smells of pear, but it's actually from H&M for kids heh, so I'm hoping to get something orange, lemon or vanilla scented. Naturally, I didn't find a nice eau de toilette or anything else that I liked in TK Maxx, but I heard a really nice song. So I did what anyone would do, I stood in the middle of the aisle and typed the lyrics on my phone and Googled them later. 

I seem to have a slightly obsessive personality that's the most poignant when it comes to listening to music. I'll listen to the same thing for days and days on end, before tiring of it. I haven't tired of this one (You Must Know - Leon Jean Marie) yet, mostly because I listened on a Monday and it's Tuesday afternoon now and I've forgotten to bring my earphones to work.



Sorry my return to blogging hasn't been as much of a bang as I would have liked, the internet doesn't really work in my house and I'm reduced to typing bits and bobs over a few days at work. I guess I should just do photo dump posts - cause that's all people want really, right?

Dainty eating

It's becoming increasingly apparent to me that I am eating at what I can only to refer to as a 'slow-ass pace'. The one defining incident was when I went to Subway with this girl the other day. She got a footlong and I got a normal 6". She didn't get a drink and I was sipping Orange Fanta. She got a veggie one and I had an Italian BMT. When she popped her last bite into her mouth and started crumpling up her sandwich paper, guess what I was doing? Sitting there with my hand wrapped around my half-eaten sandwich, chewing a piece of salami drenched in chipotle sauce with soggy lettuce stuck to it. That's right, it took me as long to eat 3" of sandwich as she did to eat 12". There's a dirty pun in there but let's not go there.

Now, when did this happen? I've always been really slow at eating fruit (when I eat apples I take a bite, wave it around whilst slowly chewing, take another bite etc. It's an arduous process), but I remember repeatedly scoffing down my burgers uber quickly at McDonald's then being annoyed at my sisters for being so slow. I remember my sisters inhaling ice cream after that and giggling that I eat proper food really quickly but ice cream slowly. I remember my mother being annoyed that I ate so quickly. Here are probable reasons why I've subconsciously evolved into such a slow eater.


1. Eating slowly helps you lose weight.
If you've ever read diet books (believe me, I have read a lot of them), you'll know that there are certain tips that recur. The biggest lie is, you guessed it, eating slowly helps you lose weight. I can assure you that I ate much quicker when I was 17, and I was much lighter and at a beautiful weight. This does not work. Just as eating slowly does not help you lose weight, jogging slowly does not make you less tired. If anything, it probably makes you more tired.

2. I am ageing.
With ageing comes physical retardation. No further explanation needed.

3. I am poor.
So I can't afford to get a lot of food, or eat a lot of food. I have probably subconsciously triggered something that tells me if I eat slower, the food will last longer and make it seem like I have more food than I do.

4. I want to be a dainty girl. 

Girls are meant to not be able to finish their food, order salads, wear heels, pretty dresses, know how to apply and blend multiple shades of eyeshadows. I can do none of these. But at some point, eating slowly to be more dainty has possibly seeped into my subconscious, especially important when I seem to usually not be the one ordering the girly dish. It constantly amuses me when I eat with boys and they have a girlier meal than mine. Went to Pizza Express with Tom, and they have this thing called a Leggara pizza. It's a donut-shaped pizza, very thin-crust, and filled with salad. WELL THAT'S A LADY PIZZA IF I'VE EVER SEEN ONE! He got it and I got a normal pizza. Went to TigerTiger with Ayana and Mike, I got ribs, she got steak, he got green curry.