4 minute read
Makeup for Everyone
How the beauty aisle is evolving into a safer space for all genders By Lora Grady
Like most preteen girls growing up in the suburbs, I went to the mall with my friends at least once a week. But as the biggest, tallest girl in the group, I wasn’t always able to shop at the same clothing stores. I’d hold my friends’ purses while they tried things on, feeling like an outsider. When we stopped by the makeup aisle of the drugstore, though, everything changed. Mascara, blue eyeshadow and Lip Smackers didn’t have any size tags. I loved poring over all the diferent textures and shades, and I experimented endlessly. Makeup made me feel like I could express myself in a way that my clothing couldn’t. Today, an entire wave of young millennials and Gen Z-ers are proving that there are no rules when it comes to makeup— and all are welcome.
Toronto-based model, actor and TV personality Mina Gerges grew up in Abu Dhabi. He attended an all-boys boarding school, where he was taught how to “be a man” from a young age—something that never felt right to him. His first experience with makeup was when he was eight years old. “I have a specific memory of this red lipstick my mom wore. I looked at her and thought, ‘This is what beauty means to me,’” he says. “When she wasn’t home, I would put it on and look in the mirror. It felt right.” After moving to Canada at age 12, Gerges would go to Sephora with his girlfriends. He pretended like he was there for them, even though he was really looking for himself—but he didn’t have the confidence to go for it, for fear of being judged. The moment things started to change, he says, was when he fully embraced his sexuality. “As I learned to accept myself, I realized that makeup is not a gender thing.” Support on his social media gave Mina the confidence to keep going and in 2019, Gerges worked with Sephora on the brand’s We Belong to Something Beautiful campaign. “Makeup is such a beautiful and powerful way to make a political statement. For me, it has been a way to say, here I am: I’m openly gay, and I’m Egyptian, and I’m comfortable with who I am. I’m creating my own rules around how I’m going to express myself,” he says.
Michelle Silverstein, a Torontobased makeup artist and hair stylist, grew up in the dance and theatre
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scene, and has worked on countless faces. Makeup is a tool to help us express ourselves, she says. “It’s the art of care, the art of connection and the art of expression.” One of the funnest parts of makeup, Silverstein adds, is that you can express yourself based on how you’re feeling that day. Gerges agrees: “I identify more as gender fluid, so the way I apply makeup is informed by whether I’m feeling more masculine or more feminine.”
Hunter Athena, a Calgary-based model and travel influencer, also first discovered makeup as a kid and had “very rudimentary makeup skills” as they grew up. When Athena left their abusive ex-husband, makeup turned out to be a healing medium for them. “He would actually make fun of me for my makeup. I wore blue eyeliner once and he told me I couldn’t do that unless I was going to a club,” they say. “After I left him, one of the first things I did was buy a bright-blue liquid eyeliner and I drew the biggest blue wings.” Athena went through a period of self-discovery after leaving and a big part of their healing was learning how to do makeup. “I’d sit on my bed in my apartment doing my makeup every single night, teaching myself. I worked at it for two or three years, constantly learning,” they say. “It was a really deep, spiritual, healing journey for me.” Playing with makeup helped Athena realize that they can be non-binary and feminine. “I love feeling pretty and that doesn’t change who I am in my gender at all. Anyone can want to feel pretty!”
As for where we go from here, Athena is ready for more visibility—and not just on the internet. “I love seeing men play with makeup on TikTok while calling out toxic masculinity. I’m living for it. I want that to translate to the mainstream because that should be everywhere.”
#Throwback Thursday
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