July 06, 2012

Play Time

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Play Makeup

Do you remember applying makeup as a child? Ahh, the careful application with a rough brush or q-tip, dipping into brightly colored eye shadows and sweeping on frosted lipsticks. Then there were the compacts which had tin foil paper in place of an actual mirror. Those were the days, right? To actually play with makeup. In recent years, makeup giants, such as MAC and Maybelline have tried to put the play back in makeup. There’s been much debate whether products featuring iconic cartoon characters such as Hello Kitty, Wonder Woman and Miss Piggy are infantilizing women or not. The makeup companies claim that the reasoning behind such products is to add a hint of notalgia; taking the woman back to a time when makeup was more play and less a part of their routine. It seemed to have worked in Japan in 2009, when Maybelline launched a Hello Kitty Volume Express Mascara, which sold a record amount of units. What do you think? Are women who buy cartoon clad makeup products buying the emotional aspect more than the product itself?

MAC’s Cruella De Vil Makeup Line