Cosmetics

[princessgianna]

What are your thoughts on cosmetics and their use?

I struggle alot with this issue! I think they can be good and be used to enhance natural beauty however too many times women totally cover up their beauty.

Does Scripture speak on this issue? Church Fathers?

What is your opinion?

Please discuss~


PG~

[img]http://www.meg-expo.com/jilms/img/make-up2_by_cassandra_tiensivu.jpg[/img]

[Moosey]

I think using it sparingly is fine. Sometimes on special occasions I wear eyeshadow (which is a lot for me) I usually wear just concealer and mascara. If I were a man I know I wouldn't be attracted to a woman who isn't happy with her outward appearance and who needed to hide behind two inches of make-up that was applied with a knife and a fork.

I do believe there is a scripture passage that says something about how women shouldn't adorn themselves with braids, gold jewelry and such fineries. I can't remember which one it is though. Anyway, I think the main idea that passage points out is that women should not be hung up on their outward appearance and should put more focus on their spiritual growth and beauty.

If anyone could give me the passage Im talking about, that'd be great

[mcts]

I wear make-up on rare occasions, but the way i see it is that God made me look this way and i'm going to have to assume that he had a reason for that. I'm not going to mess with God.

[Lil Red]

+J.M.J.+
God decided to let me have a lesson in humility. he gave me horrible acne when i'm pregnant/breastfeeding. i cannot wear much makeup, when i do, it's very light and i wash it off within hours. i really don't like not wearing makeup because the acne is ugly and since i'm so pale, without makeup i'm a ghost.

[Christie_M]

[quote name='Moosey' post='1839971' date='Apr 18 2009, 07:52 PM']I think using it sparingly is fine. Sometimes on special occasions I wear eyeshadow (which is a lot for me) I usually wear just concealer and mascara. If I were a man I know I wouldn't be attracted to a woman who isn't happy with her outward appearance and who needed to hide behind two inches of make-up that was applied with a knife and a fork.

I do believe there is a scripture passage that says something about how women shouldn't adorn themselves with braids, gold jewelry and such fineries. I can't remember which one it is though. Anyway, I think the main idea that passage points out is that women should not be hung up on their outward appearance and should put more focus on their spiritual growth and beauty.

If anyone could give me the passage Im talking about, that'd be great [/quote]


I remember being told about that passage, but at the moment I can't recall it.

In my oppinion, I think some make-up is fine to enhance a woman's natural features. But when it takes about an hour to apply it, that might be taking it a bit far. I don't wear any (mostly because I have NO clue how to put on anything besides mascara).

I also think age matters when it comes down to it. I don't really aprove of 5 year-olds wearing that stuff. But that's just me.

[CatherineM]

I never wore make-up until I began taking a medication that made my skin very blotchy. I just use a bit of cover up and foundation mixed to match my skin tone. Most people think it's acne, even if I'm a tad old for that. Although most people think I'm an overgrown adolescent, so they may think that is part of the persona.

[elizabeth09]

I just wear make-up on special occasions and shows that I am in.

[StColette]

I wear mineral foundation and mascara. I believe when used in a correct way makeup can help enhance a woman's beauty. We wear clothes that are flattering for our bodies, modest yet flattering mind you. So when used modestly, makeup can help in the same way. I mostly wear it during the winter. My arms, legs, etc. stay very tan during the fall/winter months but my face gets kinda pale so it helps even things out during the fall/winter months. During Summer I tend not to wear it because I'm really tan by then, but I will wear a slightly tinted moisturizer during the Summer that has SPF in it.

Tim 2:9-10 is the verse that speaks about women wearing adornments

9
Similarly, (too,) women should adorn themselves with proper conduct, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hairstyles and gold ornaments, or pearls, or expensive clothes,

10
but rather, as befits women who profess reverence for God, with good deeds.

It mentions nothing about cosmetics, lol. I believe what was being taught here is that we should not become consumed by our appearances. Meaning we should not spending extravagantly on things such as golds and expensive clothes to adorn ourselves with. The passage is reminding women that they should adorn themselves with virtues that would help make them holy rather than merely look good by appearance.

[TotusTuusMaria]

[quote name='princessgianna' post='1839949' date='Apr 18 2009, 09:36 PM']Does Scripture speak on this issue? Church Fathers?[/quote]

[url="http://newadvent.org/summa/3169.htm#article2"]http://newadvent.org/summa/3169.htm#article2[/url]

[url="http://www.bibletopics.com/biblestudy/141.htm"]http://www.bibletopics.com/biblestudy/141.htm[/url]

Those women who wear gold imitate the Egyptians. They occupy themselves with curling their locks. They are busy anointing their cheeks, painting their eyes, dyeing their hair, and practicing the other pernicious arts of luxury. The truth is that they deck the covering of their flesh in order to attract their infatuated lovers. Clement of Alexandria (circa 195 AD), 2.272.

Nor are the women to smear their faces with the ensnaring devices of wily cunning. But let us show to them the decoration of sobriety. Clement of Alexandria (circa 195 AD), 2.286.

These suggestions [against cosmetics] are not made to you, of course, to be developed into an entire crudity and wildness of appearance. Nor am I seeking to persuade you that squalor and slovenliness are good. Rather, I am seeking to persuade you of the limit, norm, and just measure of cultivation of the person. Tertullian (circa 198 AD), 4.20.

For those women sin against God when they rub their skin with ointments, stain their cheeks with rouge, and make their eyes prominent with antimony. To them, I suppose, the artistic skill of God is displeasing! Tertullian (circa 198 AD), 4.20.

Whatever is born is the work of God. So whatever is plastered on, is the devil's work.... How unworthy of the Christian name it is to wear a fictitious face — you on whom simplicity in every form is enjoined! You, to whom lying with the tongue is not lawful, are lying in appearance. Tertullian (circa 198 AD), 4.21.

I will then see whether you will rise [at the resurrection] with your ceruse and rouge and saffron — and in all that parade of headgear. I will then see whether it will be women thus decked out whom the angels carry up to meet Christ in the air! If these things are now good, and of God, they will then also present themselves to the rising bodies. Tertullian (circa 198 AD), 4.22.

What will I say of the fact that these [young women] of ours confess their change of age even by their garb! As soon as they have understood themselves to be women,... they lay aside their former selves. They change their hair and fasten their hair with more wanton pins, professing obvious womanhood with their hair parted from the front. The next thing, they consult the mirror to aid their beauty. They thin down their over-exacting face with washing. Perhaps they even dress it up with cosmetics. They toss their mantle about them with an air, fit tightly into the multiform shoe, and carry down more ample appliances to the baths. Tertullian (circa 207 AD), 4.35.

"Now Susannah was a very delicate woman." This does not mean that she had flashy adornments on herself or eyes painted with various colors — as Jezebel had. Rather, it means she had the adornment of faith, chastity, and sanctity. Hippolytus (circa 205 AD), 5.193

"But those women who have no husband nor wish to have one, or who are in a state of life inconsistent with marriage, cannot without sin desire to give lustful pleasure to those men who see them, because this is to incite them to sin. And if indeed they adorn themselves with this intention of provoking others to lust, they sin mortally; whereas if they do so from frivolity, or from vanity for the sake of ostentation, it is not always mortal, but sometimes venial. And the same applies to men in this respect. Hence Augustine says (Ep. ccxlv ad Possid.): 'I do not wish you to be hasty in forbidding the wearing of gold or costly attire except in the case of those who being neither married nor wishful to marry, should think how they may please God: whereas the others think on the things of the world, either husbands how they may please their wives, or wives how they may please their husbands, except that it is unbecoming for women though married to uncover their hair, since the Apostle commands them to cover the head.' Yet in this case some might be excused from sin, when they do this not through vanity but on account of some contrary custom: although such a custom is not to be commended." - St. Thomas Aquinas

"Cyprian is speaking of women painting themselves: this is a kind of falsification, which cannot be devoid of sin. Wherefore Augustine says (Ep. ccxlv ad Possid.): 'To dye oneself with paints in order to have a rosier or a paler complexion is a lying counterfeit. I doubt whether even their husbands are willing to be deceived by it, by whom alone' (i.e. the husbands) "are they to be permitted, but not ordered, to adorn themselves." However, such painting does not always involve a mortal sin, but only when it is done for the sake of sensuous pleasure or in contempt of God, and it is to like cases that Cyprian refers." - St. Thomas Aquinas

Edited April 19, 2009 by TotusTuusMaria

[Hilde]

I wear mineral foundation and blush, and I see nothing wrong with doing that. I have acne and it makes me self-conscious. The foundattion covers it up. The blush counteracts the foundation covering up my natural cheek color, and it adds some health to the look. I'm going for a natural look.

[TotusTuusMaria]

I wear make-up often when I leave the house. I have struggled with this often as well seeing as the fathers, the saints, and scripture kind of insinuate if not flat out say that wearing make-up is not a good practice and even sometimes sinful if not always sinful.

However at this time I just don't see me putting the make-up away. My mom becomes very disappointed in me if I don't take time to apply make-up, do my hair, and just spend time on myself. And I do enjoy it... it is probably vanity and it most certainly can and does lead to vanity I think. However... at this time I just don't believe I should do anything about it considering how much it would hurt her. She is already taking it very hard that I refuse to wear some jewelry I was bought and when I tell her I won't be wearing some of the clothes she buys. You have to pick your battles wisely.

Edited April 19, 2009 by TotusTuusMaria

[TotusTuusMaria]

[quote name='Hilde' post='1840420' date='Apr 19 2009, 09:58 AM']I wear mineral foundation and blush, and I see nothing wrong with doing that. I have acne and it makes me self-conscious. The foundattion covers it up. The blush counteracts the foundation covering up my natural cheek color, and it adds some health to the look. I'm going for a natural look.[/quote]

I have been wanting to try mineral make-up for awhile... so it works well?

[Hilde]

[quote name='TotusTuusMaria' post='1840422' date='Apr 19 2009, 05:06 PM']I have been wanting to try mineral make-up for awhile... so it works well?[/quote]I've bought it from everydayminerals.com and it works well for me. With liquid foundation it's been hard for me to disguise that I'm wearing foundation. I find it gives a really soft natural look. Blushes are fun too.

[Resurrexi]

I hate it when girls wear so much makeup that their faces look orange. Disgusting.

[TotusTuusMaria]

[quote name='Resurrexi' post='1840442' date='Apr 19 2009, 10:52 AM']I hate it when girls wear so much makeup that their faces look orange. Disgusting.[/quote]