Making Yourself Beautiful in Your Own Way

Beauty is an impression that does not only pertain to humanity but also other things that the Almighty created yet oftentimes misunderstood. The views of different people vary regarding beauty and most of the time it ends in confusion and frustrations. As an individual, how would you define beauty in your own perception? Some people associate beauty with the cover model in a certain magazine. Others define beauty just like the melodious music or a romantic verse. No matter how people define beauty, it is evident that there is no definite description that could clearly explain what beauty is. In this sense, it only shows that beauty is something that is indescribable. The perception about beauty depends and varies from individual as we have our own way of thinking. For many people when something that satisfies and give pleasures that could be something beautiful. Thus, the true meaning of beauty depends on the person who receives or experiences true feeling of joy, satisfaction and pleasure.

However, how can you justify that a person is beautiful? Can you consider an attractive person is beautiful? This is such a complex question that no one can give definite answer especially in our society where different factor influences a person's view about beauty. The culture is one factor that influences as it sets criteria of defining beauty. In the past, the culture implies beauty as being plump therefore it was the common practice of many women to gain weight before getting married. However, these beliefs have changed in the modern times through the advancement of technology. Because of human interaction, the cultural preference in defining beauty changed. A standard way of defining beauty was set and influenced by fashion through the images they project, the way they walk as well as the physical aspects that includes the way people dress up. This set of standard became the trend that almost all people in the world expected to abide. However, this should not be the case because no one can set a parameter in defining beauty and because setting such parameter would only result to prejudices.

Therefore, instead of setting criteria we should rather think that we are all beautiful as God created no one ugly. However, it is also our responsibility to preserve and maintain the beauty we have. We should care about how we look because apparently beauty plays a big role in our lives. According to studies, beauty becomes highly commercialized in this modern time. Maybe you wonder why beautiful people receive more attention and assistance, gets higher marks and better job as well as trusted and paid more. However, you should not aim to be the most beautiful person instead you need to develop your strength. In doing so, your self-confidence will be enhanced in such a way that you become acceptable and presentable in the society you are living in. To achieve and improve your beauty as well as your health in general, you should follow the basic rules.

Reflections From On Beauty by Zadie Smith

Tonight is the last of the night shift, yay! Over the week, I've managed to finish the Bill Bryson book and this one by Zadie Smith. It was a very enjoyable read.

I wondered why it was called "On Beauty". I thought about "beauty" from several angles.

Most superficially, beauty as in appearance and size. It was interesting how Smith mentioned each woman's size, the women's own view of beauty, as well as making some comments to what society call beauty. I thought it was intriguing how the African/ black women all had different view on size and beauty according to, if you like, how white they are on the inside. That is, the more ethnically connected, the less that woman was inclined to value being skinny, having big breasts and round bottom, as beautiful. Kiki, the main female character was obese yet constantly being described as being beautiful, even by other women. The beauties in the paintings referred to in the book would be judged as obese by today's society. Yet these paintings are the lifetime works of men, yet more men devote a life time to study. They are valued by today's society, in the millions. How conflicting and incongruous. What is the standard of beauty would society have us believe?

There is the idea of "beauty" being innocence. In the story, Levi was taken by the plight of the Haitians and poverty in general. Despite being a middle classed suburbana teenager, he found himself fighting, even, in the end, potentially sacrificing his future, for a people whom, superficially, have nothing in common with. It was purely recognising that those in poverty were made of the same essence as himself. That was sufficient "glue" to stick him to them. He has no other redeeming quality, yet, I thought his naivety beautiful. How many of us can give up so much, for something so distant.

Next I come to the beauty of strength. If I had written this book and called it On Beauty, it would be because of Kiki. Obese. Black. Menopausal. How does a woman, whose belly hangs over the elastics of leggings, that spreads beyond the handles of a seat, be beautiful? By being kind, generous, genuine. She is the mother - to her children, her husband and her friends. In putting the needs of others in front of her own, she is the "looker - after-er". Perhaps it is this reason she forgave her husband's infidelities. Yet a genuine entitlement to being herself led her to both sense and express the betrayal and disappointment she felt. Yes, "entitlement to be yourself". I really liked that expression. One needs to be taught that we are all entitled to be ourselves. It is a God given right. Otherwise He would not have made us the way we are. Because we are allowed to be ourselves, we are allowed to be possessive of the love of our lives, and feel hurt and jealousy. It is something I have yet to learn myself. I live in the shadow of what others deem beautiful. It is the root of my problem. Maybe that is why I know, at least on the intellectual level, that I am not beautiful.

The natural question then, would be, how does one feel beautiful? How does one find the entitlement of being oneself? From the book, I would suggest "belonging" - the sense of belonging that one is not alone, one is validated by others in that group. Perhaps it only reflects my own lack of belonging that I find the book raises this issue. In many ways, I think the characters in the book are all seeking their belonging, their identity. Clearly family is one place where one can feel accepted. After all, blood is thicker than water, so the saying goes. This unspeakable bond sometimes only emerges when the storm of life blows through. But what interested me was Levi's sense of comraderie in suffering in the book. It is perhaps through the lense of youth that the beauty of humanity comes into sharper focus.

It leads onto a less prominent idea of beauty - the beauty of justice. I suppose I shouldn't say exactly what happened because it's a bit of climax of the book. How do you fix poverty? If a poor man steals to feed his family, regardless, it is scorned by society. Voting for Hilary or Obama, would that fix it? One finds that answer through history, I would have thought. Perhaps social justice is as elusive as beauty, alluring yet unattainable. However, I do not, for one minute, advocate complacency. Much like my theory on suffering, I think perhaps the enigma of it, the unattainability of it, drives us to constantly strive for justice, for beauty. For, perhaps, beauty knows no bounds.

Beauty Products Online

Beauty products online allow you fast and easy access to many top cosmetics retailers. You can buy all your health and beauty products from secure health and beauty shops and chemists online. There are separate beauty aids for men and women. Just by clicking your mouse on the online websites, you can have beauty products delivered to your door.

Skin care products, cosmetics, dietary supplements, makeover products, perfumes, lipsticks, and other skin supplements are available for purchase online. Online you can also find beauty products that are made from natural herbs and essential oils. Certain online department stores specialize in offering discount beauty products. There are also shops that sell only luxury beauty products and top quality brands.

Most of the beauty product manufacturers have their own websites that provide more details regarding their products. There are a number of websites displaying lists of some of the best shops selling beauty products online. There are even sites that display the week's top seller of a particular product group, which makes it easier for you to judge the market value of a product. Beauty products for sale on the Internet have to satisfy specific guidelines to ensure quality.

Most of the beauty products purchases from websites include shipping charges along with the listed price. Some companies charge shipping fees later during the delivery of the product. Pay Pal is a commonly accepted payment method for online purchases. For international purchases, some of the most popular credit cards such as American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa can be used.