natural

How many of us are 100% natural when we leave the house in the morning? We don’t mean walking out the door in your birthday suit, but not using any makeup or cosmetic enhancements? The likelihood is that most of us will help Mother Nature along in some way, but have you ever stopped to think about how much help you have?

We were thinking about how many different non-surgical products and procedures are out there now to help us get the look we want. At thebeautyobsession we think it’s great that everyone can decide to try something to give them that extra bit of confidence, but we were also wondering when that extra boost gets out of hand and becomes for want of a better word; an “obsession”?

Have you ever taken the time to tot up how many things you do to alter your appearance? We thought we’d compile some of the many different options and you could see how many you use on a regular basis.

When you think about all the options open to us to alter our appearance without surgery it’s a little bit staggering isn’t it? Especially when you add up the cost!

So how much is too much? Well we’d say that’s up to everyone individually, but we know how sometimes it takes something to jolt you into realising how you actually feel about your body and appearance. If your total is more than you expected, maybe take a few minutes to think about the alterations which make you feel really good and those which you’ve starting having out of habit – are they a bit of an emotional crutch? Also have a think about whether any of your close friends of family have commented on how much you change your appearance and think about whether you could heed their advice?

Here at thebeautyobsession we really believe everyone is beautiful whether 100% natural or 100% enhanced and we believe that we’re are all really lucky to have the option to make those choices. We also think that everyone should recognise their own beauty and only make changes to their appearance for themselves! And for the record, we can tick off quite a few of the above!

Why not answer our poll and tell us how many you changes you make on a regular basis…?

Thanks for reading.

tbo

xxx

We’ve probably all heard of Children in Need. Yes – the one with Terry Wogan and the yellow bear! I’m sure we’d also probably agree that it’s a fantastic charity doing amazing things for a deserving cause.

We have to admit though, there were a few ‘animated’ debates here at thebeautyobsession HQ when we heard of their latest fundraising idea – the BearFaced Campaign. On Friday 9th November 2012, women across the country are being asked to go about their day without a scrap of makeup, not even a hint of tinted moisturiser! The idea is that the bare-faced will collect sponsorship money for the charity.

They’ve even got lots of stunningly beautiful celebrities to pose sans slap. From Heidi Klum to Caroline Flack, Lulu to Jodie Kidd, they’re all showing off their natural beauty.

Some of us thought it was a great idea, innovative and inspiring. Whereas the rest of us agreed with the innovative but thought less of the inspiring and more despairing! Firstly the good old sexism question arose, would they ask men to come in without wearing their makeup? Well no because it’d be pretty irrelevant to most (although we did think that getting them wearing it for the day would get the pennies rolling in!) Anyway that PC issue was quickly dismissed when cries of ‘Movember’ arose – point taken.

After bickering over the last chocolate hobnob, we got back to the issue at hand and decided it came down to two rather uncomfortable points for the despairing side; firstly, although the celebs look amazing without makeup, that’s part of the issue! We’re not going to say there wearing makeup, because we don’t know for sure, but experts in a natural face that takes thirty minutes to apply like we are, let’s just say we’re a tad suspicious! Even if the lovely ladies don’t have a scrap of cover up on, lets be honest – there is quite clearly a lot of very soft, expertly positioned lighting and quite possibly some expert use of the airbrush too. “Nothing wrong with that”, said some of the team, it’s just a little bit of help to make the photos more aesthetically pleasing. Which would be fine, accept the rest of us can’t help feeling a little bit like it goes against the Trade Descriptions Act!

Do any of us no matter our age look that perfect naturally? We’re sure some do ( you lucky, lucky things) but most of us have slight pigmentation, little blemishes, thread veins, a wrinkle or two, redness….or shockingly even pores! Not one of the celebs is showing any of these ( well except LuLu, but although she’s got a few laughter lines, she’s still magically poreless) and we can’t help but feel that puts pressure on us ladies to roll out of bed in the mornings looking like a supermodel, and if we don’t then we’re just not pretty enough!

Some would say that feeling like that is down to your own confidence issues, which brings us on to our second feeling of uneasiness. Some people really don’t feel able to face the world without their makeup on, maybe due to acne, rosecea or scarring. We can’t help but feel that turning this into a charity initiative puts pressure on people to reveal parts of themselves they just don’t want to.

When all is said and done, it is a very innovative idea and we hope it raises lots of well deserved funds. What will we being doing? Well we’ll be sailing out the door wearing a tinted moisturiser, a dab of lip & cheek stain, a swipe of Touché Éclat and a flick of brown mascara on our lashes…! That way when we put our donation in the pot, we can do it with a smile on our faces!

What’s your opinion, will you be going BearFaced? Let us know what you think, we’d love to hear from you.

You can visit the Children in Need page and donate here.

Thanks for reading.

tbo

xxx