Guest Post: Beauty Goals Then Vs. Now

A bit of a different post for you all today. I was recently contacted by the lovely Remi, a marketing student by day and an insane fashion and beauty lover by night. She doesn't currently have her own blog but very kindly offered to write a post for Nails And Teapots, so I hope you enjoy it! If you would like to see more from Remi check out her Twitter page here. 

Beauty Goals Then vs. Now

For some strange reason, I have begun noticing all those ‘when did this become hotter than this’ posts all over the web. I have seen them before, but I have never really paid too much attention to them. However, right now I caught myself thinking for a long time about beauty standards and ideals, and how indeed they have changed.

“Weird” beauty

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Just as things have changed over history, they differ from one culture to the other. I am sure you are familiar with Chinese old ideal of tiny feet, which had generations of women wrapping their feet so tight that they were the size of a cigarette box. And, believe me, nobody would put themselves through such process if it weren’t for the fact that it was considered beautiful. Women of Pa Dong tribe on the Thai/Burmese border put brass rings on their necks to make them long, and girls in Ethiopia scar their bodies and faces to beautify themselves for their future husbands. You find it weird? They find it beautiful.

Body shapes

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Oh, when to even begin with this? Should I mention the impossible standards set by supermodels and the media? Or should I go back in time and think about all those centuries when plump figure was considered the ultimate beauty standard? And all those ideals focused on different things on a body – once it’s the breasts (should they be big or small), other times it’s the waist (the smaller the better), and then we have toned arms, tiny feet, thigh gap and flat stomach in focus (all at different times, of course).

Facial features

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What does it mean to have a beautiful face? Somehow, small nose, full lips and big eyes are generally considered beautiful. When asked about the most common procedures, facial cosmetic surgeons comment that women usually undergo rhinoplasty and eyelid surgery, in contrast to the previous years when, for example, thin eyebrows were one of ideals and many women had them lifted and shaped differently. To be honest, I am thinking about the ‘what goes around comes around’ saying and I wonder if some of the old ideals will be popular again, for example the androgynous look.

Makeup trends

While digging up all these interesting facts and info, I have concluded that some things will never change: eyes and lips on women’s faces will forever be considered beautiful and aimed to emphasize. Now, as we have witnessed ourselves, lipsticks and lip glosses can fight for the position of ‘number one product for the lips this season’, and either eye shadows or eyeliners can be used to emphasize the eyes, but the eyes themselves will always be in focus.

I am not one of those who idealizes the past and who nostalgically thinks about the ‘old days and old ways’. No matter how hard I try I cannot help but believe that these beauty ideal we now firmly believe in, will change as well. And, who knows, maybe we will again find beautiful and attractive certain features which we don’t find now.

I hope you enjoyed this guest post. Let me know your thoughts in the comments!