by Shanna Campbell

Created on: September 14, 2009

Every person uses a mask in life. Whether it is one's profession, lifestyle, attire, hair or make-up, as individuals we seek ways to define our personalities or to cover what we perceive as imperfections. Make-up has several uses and purposes in our daily lives. It seems silly that cosmetics could envoke any kind of emotional properties, but there seems to be a strong connection between make-up and how we perceive a woman or how she perceives herself.

The first evidence of cosmetics has been estimated to be the Egyptian era. Cleopatra famously enhanced the length of her eyes with dramatic black liner, create a cat (considered a god to the Egyptians) like look. Cleopatra was also quite vain- one reason why women apply make-up to this day. If you have a tendancy to gaze at your own reflectiont several times through-out the day, you want it to look good. Nevermind that, you want others to think you looked good. Back to the history though, make-up has been carried throughout every era in almost every population since Cleopatra's time, though with different meanings depending on the geography and era.

In Japan, Geisha's wear make-up to create extravogant exhagerations of themselves. They're opaque white skin with bright lips and perfect eye contouring is considered art by many. What is also very interesting is that you can tell at which level a Geisha is considered amongst her sisters by the way she wears her make-up- specifically the lips. Different ranks have different looks, and it is only after the first set of these levels is passed by a young geisha can she apply her own make-up. The make-up was mostly intended, however, to enhance the sexuality of these women. These women and the society around them are taught from a very young age that make-up equals sexuality, but also art and femininity. It is also in this instance a very distinct part of the Japanese culture.

The idea of make-up as a sexual tool has been long used by many women in many societies through-out history. More recently, in the 1920's, women began exhagerating they're cheeks with heavy rouge, sclupting their eyebrows into an un-natural, penciled in thin set of perfect arches, extending their eyelashes to intense lengths and even rouging their knees. These women were for the most part considered flappers in those days. It was a sign of their freedom to be women and be highly sexual individuals; apparently sick of society's rules and repression. Why was make-up necessary to bring out the sexuality

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