Cosmetic Culture Quotes

The feminine vanity-case is the graveyard of masculine illusions.

Women in America read 'lifestyle' pages which are really glorifications of shopping. They teach us we must veil ourselves in make-up to be loved. And we willingly take the veil, thinking ourselves freed by it. Make-up is no more optional for us than the veil is for Arab women: it is our Western version of the chador.

I used to wear so much makeup and be beat, and that would get me clocked, so then I'd wear less makeup.

We are constantly driven to believe that women should look a set age or be a certain body size, which is fuelling an obsession with ever more dramatic and invasive steps.

Something happened culturally: No one is supposed to age past 45 - sartorially, cosmetically, attitudinally.

Russian women are very friendly with makeup, almost too friendly sometimes.

Men are just jealous because they can't wear makeup.

In my life, I don't wear makeup, I don't care about any of the trappings of the "feminine," or how I look in photographs. To me, it's irrelevant, which I think is really shocking to people in the industry that I'm in, because it's like, "You should always look good", but I honestly don't care. It's not important to me.