Inspiring Confidence & Redefining Beauty Standards: It's Not Just About Cosmetics

Our society has always instilled in our minds that the key to being beautiful is to pattern the way we look after its unrealistic beauty standards. Based on these standards, women are told to be supermodel thin while men must be at least six feet tall and muscular. Likewise, society perceives natural body compositions such as uneven skin tone, acne, pores, stretch marks, and wrinkles as imperfections. This ideology, alongside the ubiquity of excessively retouched and edited-to-perfection images seen in various brand campaigns, advertisements, and social media filters, has contributed to poor self-esteem among people.

Many also think that you can only be beautiful by applying makeup. The truth is, it’s more than just cosmetics. As cliché as it may seem, everybody is beautiful in their own way, with or without makeup. Essentially, makeup is simply a way to enhance and accentuate your natural features. It's a way to express yourself creatively and create the look you are most confident to strut.

Beauty truths to bear in mind

The concept of beauty varies per person. While everyone is intrinsically beautiful, some see beauty in different spectrums. For some, it can be cultural, personal, or even universal. Many also think that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, though the experience of being moved can also be universal.

Today, as more people embrace the concept of inclusivity and move toward a culture of big-tent beauty, its definition continues to expand. This movement makes room for people of color, people with novel cultures, obese people, people with vitiligo, and even bald ones in the beauty sphere.

Now, let’s dive into the beauty truths that must be kept in mind.

1. Your individuality powerfully sets you apart

You have a distinct DNA, a specific count of hair strands, and a combination of features that are only true to you. Your unbendable truth of individuality is what makes you unique in this world. This is your powerful edge that nobody can take away from you.

Let’s admit a fact though. It’s hard to boldly embrace who you are when you are surrounded by different kinds of pressure, including conforming to the world’s standards and pursuing what the majority thinks is best. To overcome this, it helps to shift your perspective and release your inhibitions, surround yourself with the right people who also celebrate your individuality, and find your signature style. Some check out different makeup trends to experiment with which makeup styles they should achieve to feel most beautiful. Some also mix-and-match clothes to see which fashion style suits them best.

Remember, you do not have to be a certain way to have a valuable individuality.

2. Your features don't equate to flaws

We have been conditioned to believe in our society’s utopian standards, and that our worth is decided by what others think. Issues such as colorism, fat-shaming, and other types of shaming persist today and continue to ravage people’s self-esteem. This society also instills in people’s minds that having cellulite, stretch marks, visible veins, moles, uneven breasts, scars, freckles, gap teeth, or big hips can make them unsightly.

It's time that we put an end to these wrong perceptions. To embrace our individuality, it is crucial to stop seeing whatever we have in our bodies and skin as flaws and start considering them as features. While some of these “features” may be unwanted (and this is okay!), these are what make us humans.

3. Embrace what makes you feel more beautiful

Start pursuing what you like and what feels right. If you think wearing fancy dresses makes you more you, go for it! If being bald will help you feel more comfortable about yourself, don’t hesitate to do it. After all, your beauty can not be measured based on others’ perceptions or what many people do.

You can try to put on your favorite outfit and have a photoshoot, do self-care, wear your favorite shimmery eyeshadow and your red lipstick, eat healthy food that contributes to glowing and radiant skin, create art, dance, and compliment yourself to give your heart a cheer up. Some also feel most beautiful when they do skincare, facial oil cleansing, facial steam, or even dye their hair. These are only some of the ways people can feel more beautiful, but remember to explore, lock in, and embrace what makes you feel you.

4. Beauty emanates from within

“Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.” –Kahlil Gibran

Our society has conditioned many of us to think that our beauty is solely attached to our external appearance. Unfortunately, this makes us forget that who we really are deep down is about so much more than our physical appearance. This reality also prompts many to base a person’s worth on their appearance.

To not lose sight of what makes you genuinely beautiful, it helps to cease placing too much importance on your external version at the expense of your inner being. After all, beauty also comes from within. When your heart embraces your authentic self, when you think of noble and lovely thoughts, when you allow kindness and compassion to emanate from the inside out, and when you do not limit who you are and what you can do to what others think, then you live out your real beauty.

Remember, more than striving to be eye candy, be soul food. And with the right perspective about beauty toward yourself and others, you can also influence them to see the concept of beauty through a better, clearer lens.

Pretty isn’t a look but a feeling. So, forget about conforming to the world's unrealistic beauty standards and start embracing your individuality. In ways you can, also begin empowering people around you to embrace and express their real selves. After all, everyone is beautiful, and each one’s beauty deserves to be celebrated.