Today's highly sophisticated and aggressively marketed cosmetics industry is having an impact on women beyond the mirror. And beauty messages are bombarding the Christian world too. Are you wearing your make-up " or is your make-up wearing you?

The cosmetics industry is worth over US$160 billion worldwide. Industry experts claim that on any given day, the average Australian woman draws from a collection of $100 to $400 worth of cosmetic products to look after and make up her face.

In fact, one of the three women interviewed by the Herald Sun for a "face-off" of beauty products and their costs admitted the total contents of her make-up drawer are worth over $5000.

However research is increasingly showing that these figures document an effect that is more than skin-deep, that goes beyond an addiction to fashion. Concern is increasing over the impact of cosmetics advertising on the everyday woman's perceptions of beauty and self-image.

One in 11 of the advertisements Australians see every day has a direct message about beauty. Only 10 per cent of women say they are very satisfied with their beauty, while a quarter of teenage girls say they would undergo plastic surgery if they could, and two per cent have already had cosmetic/plastic surgery. Rather than increasing beauty, it seems cosmetics advertising is making us feel worse and worse about ourselves each day.

The trend has been concerning enough for the Victorian government to introduce a four-year $2.1million Positive Body Image project, which includes a voluntary media code of conduct to encourage media to use more realistic images and less digital enhancement of photographs.

Even cosmetics company Dove has jumped on board with its Campaign for Real Beauty, which includes a now well-known advertisement showing how even the model we see on a billboard is a product of extensive make-up, lighting and "" photoshop[ping] within an inch of her life".

Do you fit the model?

Sexual health expert, Dr Amelia Haines says the main problem is that only one type of beauty is making it into cosmetics advertisements.

"These advertisements rule the way we conceptualise female beauty," she says. "One of the reasons why advertisements are a bit problematic is because it's true " these women are beautiful - but one of the negative things is the lack of diversity."

Dove surveyed over 3000 women from 10 countries around the globe, and found that women worldwide agreed that a narrow definition of beauty was presented in the mass media: a slim white young woman, dangerously underweight, with blonde hair and unblemished skin.

Dr Haines indicates that seeing this image of beauty over and over can be demoralising for women who don't fit this mould.

"We see too much of the one type of beauty, when we know that that's what we're not, and we don't fit into that tight narrow range," says Dr Haines.
This is where Dove made a good marketing move: the success of its campaign " with sales leaping 600 per cent in the first two months " shows that women appreciate a more inclusive take on beauty in the mass media.

While the women in these ads are still on the more beautiful side of the average woman on the street, Dr Haines says she has found the campaign "refreshing… to see that women of a different shape can still be seen as aesthetically pleasing," adding nonetheless that "I don't think it is as far as I'd like to see advertising go".

The flip-side of the cosmetics coin

Sexologist and relationships expert, Dr Patricia Weerakoon indicates that cosmetics advertising is only as powerful as we make it.

"The effect of advertising on an individual woman would depend on her personal feeling of self-worth and self-esteem," she says. "A woman who is comfortable with who she is and in a secure and loving relationship will feel empowered to select what she feels she likes from cosmetics advertising."

Despite the "negative press", US cosmetic critic Paula Begoun says she is "" in awe of how well most cosmetics work" [as they] " take care of dry skin [and] protect skin from sunburn as well as wrinkles and skin cancer."

Dr Haines adds that cosmetics also provide an opportunity to have fun. "I think we disregard how lovely it is that God has made us with a sense of humour and the ability to be playful."

That said, Dr Haines and Dr Weerakoon warn that Christian women need to be aware of their vulnerability to high-powered cosmetics campaigns.

Behind the princess myth

Different views on beauty abound in Christian thinking: some say Christian women are "princesses" whose essence is physical beauty as well as spiritual; others eschew make-up altogether as idolatrous.

In her article, “Look at me, I’m a princess”, Youthworks College lecturer Kerrie Newmarch says the ‘princess’ movement in particular is being applied more and more in Christian churches.

“Christian bookshops have an array of books, resources and merchandise for children and adults alike that have the words ‘his princess’ proudly displayed,” she writes.

“Churches have taken on the language of royalty as they present their ministry to women. Women are now described as ‘daughters of the king’, and ‘warrior princesses’.”

Surprisingly, there is no reference to the ‘princess’ theory in the Bible, Kerrie asserts, adding that the philosophy appears to be a human creation.

“My belief is that it (the term ‘princess’) stems from our fallen nature and what seems to be our never-ending search for self-worth… We are made in the image of God and our security rests in Jesus and his saving work. We must direct women who are searching to find their worth and an understanding of themselves to the Bible.”

Ask yourself, is your make-up wearing you?

Youthworks College lecturer, Ruth Lukabyo says the attitudes of Christian women to make-up should be governed by a biblical approach to beauty: it is a gift from God to be enjoyed, but it is also fleeting and inconsequential " "our character is far more important," she says.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with enhancing the natural beauty God's given you," Ruth Lukabyo says. "But I think there's a danger that women can get their self-worth from beauty instead of Jesus loving them and dying for them."

Perhaps the reason why make-up is such a difficult area to pin down is that it's actually more about making sure your heart reverences God rather than your appearance, she adds.
The practical outworkings of this could be tested by asking ourselves a few questions. "Can I walk out the front door confidently without a made-up face?" Ruth asks. "Do I spend more time thinking about what clothes or make-up I'll wear than I do reflecting on God?" and "Do I spend more money on my appearance than I give to God's work?".

While these are not hard and fast indicators, they may take us some of the way towards working out where our hearts are as we fumble through the make-up bag.