As I’ve mentioned in a few other posts, I’ve been watching lots of beauty content. Inevitably, I’m putting some of this new knowledge into practice and enjoying how much my skills are improving in this area. It’s fun to learn new things in general, and there’s the bonus of being able to see my newfound knowledge and efforts pay off.
As I’ve been consuming beauty content, I noticed that my approach to beauty content has changed pretty significantly. I think this is due to my reflections on the amount of information I’m consuming, which you can read more about by clicking here. But also since I’ve been applying my knowledge, that naturally changes how I approach new information. Instead of being a total beginner, I now have personal experience to help me. And my preferences are evolving and solidifying as I continue to experiment. My experiences and preferences are helping me filter new information for what is worth trying and what is not for me.
But I am still relatively new on this “glow up” journey. If you are also new to beauty, or maybe new to one aspect of it (such as hair or makeup) then I hope that adopting the beauty empiricism approach will help you navigate the overwhelming amount of beauty-related information out there.
Defining terms: beauty and empiricism
“Beauty” can mean a lot of things, so I want to clarify that what I’m referring to here is mostly personal grooming. This is not the same as the broader definition of beauty I’ve discussed when pursuing beauty as a philosophical ideal, which you can read by clicking here. For today, I’m being more practical; I’m really just referring to the effort we put into looking “nice.”
I’m not saying that you have to care that much about your appearance. But for me, part of what deterred me in the past is not that I didn’t want to look nice. The truth was I didn’t know how, and I was too prideful to ask others for help. I was tired of not understanding why my makeup or hair didn’t look the way I wanted it to. I wanted to have enough knowledge and skills that I could achieve a certain look if I wanted to, rather than always defaulting to my unadorned, natural beauty.
As for empiricism, I’m also not referring to the philosophy of empiricism. According to Merriam-Webster, empiricism can be defined as “the practice of relying on observation and experiment especially in the natural sciences.” Admittedly, beauty is not one of the natural sciences. But you don’t need to be a scientist to use your observation skills, experiment with new techniques, and form your own conclusions.
Beauty empiricism: a case study
I want to use one of my past experiences with makeup to explain how I’ve put beauty empiricism into practice.
I have skin that tends to be a little dry. As I’ve started using more makeup, I noticed that my makeup accentuated the texture around my nostrils. It’s the sort of minor thing that no one else would care about, but I was curious about why it happened and if it could be prevented.
Now, there are several ways to solve this makeup “problem.” It can be frustrating to try to use search engines to find answers for specific issues. This is because you’ll get a lot of different answers. That’s because there are different ways to solve different makeup issues. And they all can work, so there isn’t a right solution. There’s just the one that works for you.
Testing and observation
At first, I thought it was maybe my sunscreen. One day, when I was not wearing makeup but was wearing sunscreen, I noticed the same texture around my nostrils and a bit on my chin. I figured that if my sunscreen was highlighting the texture, then of course makeup was exaggerating it more.
Still, I wanted to be reasonably sure the sunscreen was the issue. I alternated between chemical and mineral sunscreens for a few days and observed how my makeup looked. I even did a side-by-side comparison on my own face, one half with one sunscreen and the other half with the other, to see if the sunscreen was the culprit. I determined that while the mineral sunscreen wasn’t helping, the texture persisted around my nose even with the chemical sunscreen.
In this video by Marlena Stell, she mentions how primer can smooth your skin for more even makeup application. I had bought a makeup primer and didn’t see the point of it initially. But after watching Marlena’s video, I decided to use my makeup primer and apply a small amount to my nostrils before applying makeup. And I was pleased to see that my makeup did not get the weird texture over the course of the day.
I’ve since incorporated more regular exfoliation into my skincare routine, which is another solution offered in the video above. After exfoliating more regularly for a week or so, I decided to apply my makeup without using the primer, and I noticed that my nostrils and chin did not have the weird texture even after wearing makeup for several hours.
How to apply beauty empiricism
In my example above, there are a few key steps I took to solve the “problem” I was having.
- Identify the specific issue. Instead of being like, “My makeup looks bad and I’m just no good at makeup so I should just stop wearing makeup,” as I’ve done in the past, I considered what I specifically didn’t like about my makeup. Once I identified what was bothering me, I could properly address the issue.
- Identify possible causes. After observing how my sunscreen was contributing to the issue, I switched the sunscreen I used under makeup from mineral to chemical.
- Test one variable to determine causality. When I switched to a chemical sunscreen, the issue mostly went away on my chin, but persisted around my nose. While switching to a chemical sunscreen improved the appearance of my makeup, the cause of my texture was not my sunscreen.
- If needed, test other variables. Using the makeup primer I already had, I applied the primer to my “trouble area.” I found that the product did, in fact, smooth out the texture around my nose.
- Once you’ve determined the cause, apply your knowledge. After learning that exfoliation could help smooth skin texture, I incorporated this into my skincare routine. I found that I was able to stop using the primer without getting the weird texture.
Learning from beauty empiricism
Over the course of a few weeks, I had learned a lot. I learned why I would want to regularly exfoliate my skin. And I learned that a “pointless” product worked as intended by smoothing out an area with rougher texture. This gave me a newfound appreciation for my existing products. It also improved my confidence in how I go about applying my makeup.
To go back to an earlier point about how you can get so many different answers when searching for THE answer, I think that this case study shows how I could have solved the issue a few different ways:
- Instead of switching sunscreens, I could have just incorporated the makeup primer over the areas I was noticing texture. This probably would have led to smoother makeup application without exfoliating.
- Also instead of switching sunscreens, I could have just started exfoliating. Once my skin got smoother, my sunscreen wouldn’t cling to those areas, and then my makeup wouldn’t have exaggerated it.
I don’t think that any of these solutions are right or wrong. It’s not wrong to use a makeup primer, or wrong to use mineral sunscreen, or wrong to exfoliate. Because beauty is so personal, if you approach the situation by focusing on the specific things you’re observing and doing, you can find an approach that works for you.
Embracing curiosity and investigation
There’s an argument that spending so much time hyperfixated on your appearance can be detrimental to your development in other areas. For example, it could take your attention away from the real issues of society and the world. And while most things taken to the extreme are bad, that doesn’t mean the moderate version of it is.
I don’t really see beauty empiricism as being “obsessed” with your appearance. The point of this approach isn’t to nitpick at yourself and your appearance. The texture “issue” on my nose and chin bothered me personally, but I doubt anyone else noticed or cared. And when I say it bothered me, I didn’t have strong negative emotions to it. It was more like, “Huh. I don’t really like that. I wonder why it looks like that.”
The way I see it, these kinds of exercises actually strengthen our mental capabilities. Instead of being complacent or overwhelmed, and then either dissatisfied or frustrated, we practice remaining calm and objective. We use our capacities for observation, critical thinking, and problem-solving. The only way to get better at something is to practice it. This is true for makeup and hair, and it’s true for your intellectual faculties.
When we practice “beauty empiricism,” we’re able to sift through new information based on observations and experience. Grounded in the practical knowledge gained from our own observations and personal experience, we can more easily vet information and solutions that will actually work for us. And we recognize how a product we already have can work just as well as a different product that someone else is using.