Truth in Beauty

Get the next issue of the French version of elle magazine, which is due on the news stands this weekend. It promises to be controversial. Why? Because it features several movie stars sans make-up and airbrushing. You read that right. These women are appearing in the magazine with unretouched faces. Granted, the lighting was extremely flattering and the photographer knew how to take the best shot of his subjects, but never-the-less, these women have taken the bold step of telling the world that real is often better than made-up.

I wish more women realized that the celluloid role models who they try to emulate are phony baloney. Real women, famous or not, cannot possibly live up to the unrealistic standards of beauty that has been accepted by our culture. Yet I see women of all ages buying into the notion that they can be beautiful and forever young if they go on the right diet, take the right supplements,use the right skin care, wear the right make-up, have the right hair-do, and oh yes, have the right plastic surgery.

Don't buy into it!!! Don't be a slave to advertising that doesn't give a rip about you but is only very, very interested in your wallet. You were created uniquely and beautifully to be YOU and no one else. Know yourself. Make the most of yourself. But don't become a freak trying to live up to a standard that you will never successfully attain over the long run.

"So American magazine editors, I plead to you: It's time to step up your game. American readers would like to see some real, healthy women who actually look like themselves. Please stop with the whole Frankenstein thing: We know you attach your cover models' heads to skinnier bodies. We know you slim down their thighs and their noses and you lighten their skin. We know you smooth out all of the facial "imperfections" that make them look human. We're tired of fembots. We can handle the truth." (follow this link for more) Jennifer Romolini, Shine staff