Thursday, October 19, 2006

make-up and perfume

yeah, this is a bit of a girly post (and rather pissy)... but, really, in looking at what i'm about to write, i think a lot of guys can relate to it.

first... let's talk about make-up. i love buying make-up, especially eye shadows. when i lived in the States, i'd be one of the first ones at the counters when they were having their free gift w/ purchase, and usually i'd buy eye shadows to get this precious little gift bag. to me, eye shadow says more about a girl than anything else... other than lipstick. i also love lipstick and think a girl can never have too many shades and different varieties of these sweet lil jewels.

guys get into eye shadows too.... or maybe it's just the movie stars, not sure. can't say that i've seen too many arab males walking the streets in eye liner and eye shadow as of late! ;) except for the few from kuwait... and you know who you are! ok ok.. maybe there are a few from bahrain as well, but i think they like to keep it a secret. personally, i think eye liner and shadow on guys looks hot. not too much or anything, but just enough to highlight the eye. in saying this though, i think most in this part of the world think it a very big negative to see a man w/ any sort of make-up on and dismiss it immediately as him being gay, when in all actuality, it doesn't mean that a man is gay if he chooses to wear a little eye liner or shadow now and again, but then again, he could be! and so what if he is. many rockers are sportin' it and most movie stars do too. so to all you arab males and men out there who think it's a bad thing... loosen up!

girls in this part of the world are REALLY into make-up... a little too much for my taste, honestly. i think my first real introduction to this was a few years back when i attended an arab wedding. boy oh boy.... the bride was not to be outdone, that is for sure. i wonder how long it takes to apply so much make-up? i think some girls stay at the salon for hours getting their hair done and make-up applied before attending weddings and for what, i wonder? anyway... another topic for another day.

sometimes when i look at different girls w/ so much make-up on (and i'm talking on an average day, not for a wedding or anything in particular), i wonder why w/ such natural beauty that most arab women have.... why they choose to cover it up w/ so much crap. i guess many think they're highlighting the beauty or something... or i guess they see these arab singers and actresses and such wearing it this way and, just like in the States, they copy it.... altho, i will say that many stars in the U.S. take on a "natural beauty" way of applying make-up instead of applying as much as possible. i don't know - there's a big difference between here and there, i will say that. and another thing... do guys like the arab girls wearing all this make-up?? when do the girls take this stuff off? right before going to bed or do some sleep in it? and it's not just the young girls either.... phew... the older women i see wearing this crap... it amazes me. if my mom wore make-up like that, oh gosh... i can't imagine it. but then... no wonder the daugthers are wearing it like that.

but don't get me wrong, i do like make-up... but not to the degree that i see so many ppl wearing it here. i think a little goes a long way... which brings me to my next point - perfume.

i do love myself some good smellin' perfume. yeah, i like the expensive stuff and the bigger variety the better... altho, i have limited myself as of late and only have about 4 bottles. :(

my mom always taught me that when putting on cologne/perfume, if you can smell yourself, then you're wearing too much. which, honestly, is true. some days, i will have on perfume and not even notice it, but will be some place, near someone and they'll comment on how good i smell. which is always a nice compliment - when someone likes your perfume. BUT.... i don't swim in the stuff before leaving the house and, even still, another person can smell it. the key is **where** you spray it, i think.

it's best to spray it on your pulse points and where you sweat. that way, it will last all day long (if it's a good perfume/cologne) and when you get excited, busy or stressed, then your perfume will do its job.

but you know, ppl don't do this here. both men and women swim or bathe in perfume every chance they get and i don't understand it. the other day, i got some papers from this guy at work and i could smell his cologne on the papers. yeah, it smelled nice, but i wondered what he smelled like if i could smell it all over the papers. when i walk out in the hall, all i smell is cologne and sometimes it's gagging.

ppl spray it all over themselves - from head to toe. and some don't use just one cologne, which is something i don't like to practice. i've seen ppl spray 3 different kinds on themselves.... the thought makes me cringe. maybe the reason is because sometimes cologne makes me sick, especially if it's cheap or these knock off brands, altho some higher priced brands do the same to me if i smell too much of it. when i go shopping, i've never been one to spray one cologne after another onto my wrist because i usually wind up getting a headache or getting sick to my stomach. i find the same happens when i'm out and about w/ my husband or such... i can be standing behind someone in line or walking behind them and will immediately start getting sick to my stomach because of their cologne and even if i don't get sick... there's just something inside of me that doesn't want to smell every joe on the street. smelling someone every now and again is ok but gosh... when does it end???? sometimes i can even smell someone after they've passed me or i'll walk into an area and smell someone after they've gone. now... that's some powerful cologne!

you can't run and you can't hide from it. it's everywhere and i don't get it. why do ppl bathe in cologne??? is it a tradition or the culture? i'm assuming it's the culture, but i also wonder if it's to get attention from the opposite sex. isn't that what cologne is for? attracting someone to you? i know that i like my husband to like my cologne. there's nothing like sweet kisses and the purring sound of "ooooohhhh, you smell good".... to put a smile on my face! :) but how far does one go to get that? why do some ppl want the world to smell them? this is the eye burning question!

one day i was at chili's. i had to make a quick run to the girlie room and when i walked in, i had to take a step back. you could see it in the air. there were prob 4 girls at the counter spraying cologne, doing their make-up and whatnot. after finishing and heading back to my table to sit down, it wasn't any time until i was reminded of the smell because once the girls left their 10 min. make-shift beauty salon and made their way back to their table, which was just a few yards from where we were sitting, i sat there, smelling them. you could smell it everywhere. it was sickening.

i don't know... maybe it's just me and i'm a grinch or something but i really have a problem w/ this. i worked w/ a girl, a while back, that brought her bottles of cologne to the office and sat them next to her. all day, every time the bossy poo would make his appearance, she'd bathe herself in that stuff. we had a small, closed-in office and, on some days, it was more than i could take. i'm not this kind... i spray or dab myself in the mornings and freshen up if going out at night or some place during the day, but i don't spray myself all day long at the office. what's the point? i take baths and i don't stink, so why do it?

i even know ppl who spray it on their hands... maybe that's what that guy did before sending me those papers and that's why they smelled like that. ooohhh... perfume tastes terrible so why put it on your hands. doesn't it get on your food?

smiles and back to that happy place! :)

14 comments:

Puppy said...

Nice post. I think Virgos are into perfume. I limited myself with 3 bottles of different perfume which I use depending on my mood and color of the suits I wear, so far its been 2-3 yrs that I use the same ones, buying the same ones every time, I need to do for perfume smelling tour and choose a new perfume, I remember I liked Kenzo’s fragrance but forgot the name, so I will go by the month end and will spoil myself with 1 or 2 bottles of new perfume, not more, don’t want to spoil myself. My sis always using my perfume, which actually annoys me, I have one perfume that I buy from Moscow, which I cant find in Baku its one of my favorite ones and she always use that one:)

I think it’s a cultural thing, here you will see people wearing so much perfume or cologne. So far there are very limited amount of men who will use it properly, you will see men without cologne who smells bad ufff and the ones who use them over limit, having bath in them and u can smell it from distance, which I also hate. I like a cologne of my friend named Fahrenheit (I guess its DIOR)

But when often using the same perfume u loose the ability to smell it on yourself, so u can overdose.

As for make up, I don’t use much, eye liner and white shadows is what I use. U said shadows can say a lot to you, so anything about white shadows? Here u will see a lot of women at age 40-45 their face will drown in a make up. Culture culture culture, or absence of it :)


Cheers

Puppy.

Anonymous said...

GREAT rant!

I am so with you on this.

I do wonder, the women who literally paint their faces, at what point do they let their husbands, or even boyfriends, see them without. It must be a harrowing experience the first time! For both parties!

I myself go for a natural look. My lips are tinted with a colour that enhances my natural lip colour, and topped with a gloss (otherwise I peel all day).

I wear a little eyeliner on weekdays and already have long eyelashes, but if I have a special do, I add drama with a discreet natural-looking mascara. Anything more makes them go all spider legs.

Just yesterday, I bought some makeup at Biotherm. I have their face products, but still being ridiculously oily, I went to get some matte makeup and powder. It is lunchtime now and so far my nose is NOT shining! Good news!

Before, I was using a Max Factor foundation that was supposed to last for 8 hours and not touch off, and a supposedly matte powder, but obviously they were not working any more.

As for perfume, I don't go for the current hot thing, I choose carefully what suits me and melds in with my body chemistry.

I rarely go for the celeb ones, so I surprised myself by buying the range of Sarah Jessica Parker's new scent Lovely, but only because I fell in love with it at first sniff. It exudes nicely from my skin, if you know what I mean. I sit at my desk every morning enjoying the occasional surprise whiff.

I got sprayed in a shop with Prada once and couldn't wipe the stuff off fast enough!

I don't understand women who wear a designer scent just because. They obviously prefer to proclaim status and make themselves memorable in the wrong way, rather than make a pleasant impression by using something that truly compliments them.

The Flip Flop Girl said...

Lovely post. I do prefer the natural look and I would say this is the case with many girls in the States. A litttle makeup, a little perfume. Actually, I'd say I often go with just a little lipstick. It depends on your look and your own personal sytle too, of course.

As for eyeliner, I like it now and then. As for boys with eyeliner, yes, I do think that is hot but you'll never see that with a majority of boys. Just the most daring, I suppose. And only within a group setting or party for the most part.

Thanks for your comments on my blog! I will comment back. I love your blog!!!

Leilouta said...

You talked about our Arab weddings, you’re right. Most of the time brides look like a wet oil painting. It is too much and sometimes you can’t even recognize the girl. They look completely different in a bad way.
I applied makeup by myself on my wedding, and I decided at the last minute to go to the hair salon close to my house. It was a disaster, he messed up my hair and burned my best friend’s forehead with the hair straightener.

Gaz said...

If one of the lads was seen wearing makeup he'd get slaughter'd he'd get the piss taken out him for ever,someone once told me that if a woman starts spraying perfume on herself in the back of a cab,it's coz she's just farted lol.

Anonymous said...

Great rant...and honestly…judging by the title, I didn't think I would comment…but I can relate to some of what you said…

Seriously, there's no justification what-so-ever for a man wearing makeup…unless he's a rock star or movie star doing it just for the show (emphasis added on the 'show' part). Otherwise…only one word with two definitions comes to mind, and it's certainly not the definition synonymous with 'happy'.

You're right…ladies in the part of the world are seriously into makeup…so serious that when friends ask me where a certain girl is during a party, I simply say, "She's in the bathroom applying more war paint."

And you're not a grungy person…it's that people like overdoing it with their colognes a bit too much for the likes of other living things around them…and I stress on living things because I'm sure if plants and animals could talk…they'd complain in some way. I'm now allergic to strong scents thanks to years of suffering around teachers and classmates at school. Now why in the world would anyone bring more than one cologne and deodorant to school?! Glad I never got detention when I posted a paper that said 'Health Hazard' on the girl's bathroom door in 9th grade…

The Moody Minstrel said...

When it comes right down to it, the whole point of wearing makeup is to make yourself more attractive. So the question is do you wear makeup to enhance or accentuate your natural beauty, or do you wear it to cover up your ugliness?

For that reason, I have to wonder about people that wear too much makeup. I figure they either have very low self-esteem, or at least little confidence in their natural appearance, or they are trying too hard to be attractive...sort of a "Hey, everybody, look at me kind of thing." In other words, excessive makeup means you either don't like yourself or you like yourself too much.

In some cultures being fat is considered attractive. In others cutting a hole in your lip and shoving something in it is thought to be beautiful. I guess it all comes down to what you grew up with.

I still don't like navel rings.

Peceli and Wendy's Blog said...

I only use lipstick and when it wears off, it wears off. and perfumes make me sneeze!

Okay, so what do you think about the girls and women who spend thousands of dollars changing their body shape, straightening their noses, sucking in the fat, or expelling it?

It all sounds so revolting to me and pride gone wrong - though a long, long, nose would be a bit of a burden.

One of my friends is a nurse for a guy who does racial oops I meant facial reconstruction on men and women - sometimes just for vanity I suppose, other times to fix very bad jaws or dodgy noses.
W.

Anonymous said...

Good News!! this Eid.. free hi-speed wifi internet went live a few hours ago. No more batelco!

i tried posting to boycottbatelco but the site is down. Free, UNLIMITED, internet all around Juffair and surrounding areas today. Service went live a few hours ago, the implementation team in 2Connect have established various hi-speed wireless towers around Bahrain..main point is the Al Fateh Mosque.. on the second and third day of Eid.. there's going to be a huge festival there, take your wireless devices and switch on for free net. Speed is high @ a minimum of 128kbps to a max of 1mbps. [this speed will increase as the installations for other points go live soon]

Implementation team is from Air2Air UK, the way they're system is working in Bahrain can be found here:
http://www.air2air.co.uk/bahrain/

If you're going to starbux in the Juffair area, use the free wireless link, it's called Air2AirUK


Eid Mubarak to everyone in Bahrain!

PS: spread the word out, the receivers and links will be installed in many parts of the country as the days go by. :) Looking forward to having the whole of Bahrain meshed up with free hi-speed internet very soon.


[sorry tooners to post it in here.. just wanted to get the word out via blogs and the like.. once boycottbatelco comes up. will post in there, thanks!]

Just Jane said...

Too much colonge makes me want to vomit, no matter who is wearing it. And to be frank, I hate seeing men in make-up, unless they are in drag. I don't wear make-up but think I need to start. I'm not getting any older. Perhaps you can give me some tips....? I wasn't aware that make-up was so big in the ME. Interesting.

Leilouta said...

Happy Eid :)

Olivia said...

Hi Tooners, hope all is well and you had a good weekend :)

Um Naief said...

great comments everyone!! i've been taking a week off just relaxing and enjoying the Eid holiday.

Happy Eid everyone!!! :)

gosh, i'm sooooo glad that ramadan is over... yeah, i know, i'm a grouch and could hardly stand it - and i wasn't even fasting - but i just got tired of the same ole, same ole every day.

anyway.... jane, pointers... well, not really... i don't wear a lot of make-up either. i do like trying/experimenting w/ new "light" eye shadows, nothing dark and drastic - altho i have been none to pull night out w/ some black eye shadow but it's been a LONG time! ;) but anyhow, i suggest you do what seems to work w/ your skin tone and how you feel. i think wearing too much of anything isn't a good thing. for instance, and i won't name names, altho i'd LOVE to!, one person that i know went to an Eid party and wore this drastic blue eye shadow w/ some sort of brown stuff on top of it on in the crease... and well, it just looked God awful bad... and i'd never wear that, but... i'm not from around here and i don't get into what they get into!

and sam, I LOVE that you posted "health hazard" on the girl's bathroom... that is fabulous! and you are soooooo right!

anyway... sorry for not getting online and checking my comments here, but i've been sorta bored of the net and took a small break! :) but i'm back now!!! :) :)

Anonymous said...

Ah….the sweet, smell of perfume! Today's market is flooded with hundreds and hundreds of different fragrances ranging

from floral to woodsy. Most women love the smell of perfume, wearing it even when going to the grocery store. The problem

is that perfume allergy for some women, is anything but nice.