MY IMPERFECTIONS or so they have me think

I just want to lead with this. I have spots. I have lots of spots I am not just a whining teenage girl, I really do have acne and it makes me very sad quite a lot of the time. It makes me super insecure and I wear make-up to cover it which really just makes the situation worse. This got me thinking, why do I feel like I should wear make-up to cover my spotty spotty face when boys can just have it all out, spots and all and seem to come out of the 'spot phase' quicker than women. I will tell you why, because if you listen to adverts for foundation (especially recently with the 'blemish balm' foundations) we are being told they are imperfections. WHO DECIDED THAT SPOTS MAKE ME LESS PERFECT? 

All I can think is that the girl they put on the advert is who the company (or its respective advertising agency) deem perfect. The girl who's face I should aspire to have. Let's have a look shall we...

So our first offender being the ambassador of a brand I personally cannot afford. But I Do get the gist of what I am being told by this - 

BE JULIA ROBERTS, YOUR UN-AIRBRUSHED SKIN IS UGLY, followed by oh we want it to look like you aren't wearing make-up when really you are in order for you to look like what we deem perfect. (Julia Roberts) I actually think this advert has been banned because it's so ridiculously airbrushed .

This is one of the revolutionary BB creams, it is a 'skin perfector'. Thank you advertising for reminding me that unless my skin looks like peach silk I will never be perfect. Might I add that her 'perfect' face doesn't once utter a word during the television version of this advert, she just smiles and giggles like a mute wind up doll.

Ooh look this one is 'beyond natural' and it gets my 'exact skin tone', so does my skin, the skin I am not allowed to have because it is too much like real skin and not the fake real skin that Jessica Alba has. Jessica Alba's perfect fake real skin is probably even more fake because that photo is air brushed within an inch of its life.

Yes Maybelline, what is more beautiful than natural skin? Well it looks like you want me to buy your foundation, so I am going to go ahead and say, my skin with your foundation on it? Bonuses include hydrating, freshening and mattifying - things I probably wouldn't need to do if I had been a sensible young lady and not used the stuff in the first place.  Wow, Why do  Make up companies think we all need to be 'mattyified' and things? 

Finally we have Britain's sweetheart, the chocolate eyed geordie that can do no wrong. Of course we aspire to be this pint sized beauty why wouldn't we want to have skin like an ex-wag, ex talent show judge girl band member? Why shouldn't this be an aspiration of all young ladies nation wide? This one matches our EXACT skin tone, once again we are being encouraged to recreate our skin on our skin. Well that is an offer I cannot refuse. 

Really if these foundation adverts aren't offering us a face transplant we are just going to buy into the market for years to come, regretting every single purchase and lamenting over our bank balance as we try tonnes of different lotions and potions. Can someone explain the purpose of Toner to me please? Still don't understand.

But can you blame us? Being told we are imperfect, that natural unavoidable features of youth or stress or environment are 'blemishes' and something we should be ashamed of and hide. Surely it is hard to ignore such absolute nonsense, I know I buy in entirely, but as a good friend once said to me 'the people I love don't care so if they don't think they should waste their time caring why should I?'. I think she has the right idea, her skin is far from 'ad perfect' but from where I'm standing it looks bloody marvellous. 

Can we all stop pretending that humans aren't meant to have pores. Because they are, face it makeup people: Humans SWEAT.

Daphne and Dorothy