Good Heavens! It's Divine!

The Power to Improve Beauty

Johnson's Dictionary links the cosmetic with beauty, defining the term as "having the power of improving beauty; beautifying".  The word is also linked etymologically to "cosmos," Greek for "order, ornament, world or universe", ideas embedded within the term "cosmetic".   Paradoxically, however, cosmetic adornment in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was often perceived to threaten social order. Texts debating the values of cosmetics often figure face painting as degrading women, even though this position frequently obscures a more profound concern that such art actually empowers women.

Tita Chico, Designing Women: The Dressing Room in Eighteenth Century English Literature and Culture, Associated University Presses, 2005 page 109

Photographer: Bernard Tartinville

What Betsy Does Best

Lazy Women

"There are no ugly women, only lazy ones." Helena Rubenstein.

Baldazzling Is The New Vajazzling

Baldazzling Is The New Vajazzling as seen on Coco Perez and Phil Levine's Head Designs.

 

Vajazzling: The act of applying glitter and jewels to a woman's nether regions for aesthetic purposes.

The popularity of vajazzling has taken many by surprise, but for the faceCULTARALIST the only surprise was the time it took to become commercially acceptable.  It was merely a forgone conclusion once Ms Spears had used sparkle as a vehicle to showcase her unique talents. "How pretty does that look?" Amy asks in 'The only Way is Essex'.  I had to hold myself back from shouting at the screen.

The next big thing is Vatooing (thank you Coco Perez), which is a spray on tattoo. 

 

What did we do before vajazzling?

As seen on The Hair Hall of Fame

A merkin (first use 1617) is a pubic wig. Merkins were originally worn by prostitutes after shaving their genitalia, and are nowadays used as decorative items or in film making.  The term merkin is also applied to decorative – typically sequinned – patches commonly sold in sets with nipple tassels or "pasties", which are enjoying new popularity as part of the costume of new burlesque adult entertainment, and, according to NSOED, is also applied to fake vaginas.  The Oxford Companion to the Body dates the origin of the pubic wig to 1450. Women would shave their pubic hair and wear a merkin to combat pubic lice, and prostitutes would wear them to cover up signs of disease, such as syphilis.

Wikipedia.