Is Beauty a Promise to Happiness?

When I was a little girl around the age of five I was introduced to make-up. I fell head over heels in love with it. Needless to say, my love for make-up hasn't changed and it has expanded to all types of products for skin, hair, and body. I wake up in the morning and I wash my face because there are advertisements that tell me a clean face is beautiful. I brush, and perhaps whiten my teeth because having white teeth is important to being beautiful. When I apply make-up for the day time, I don't use as much eye liner as I would if I were going out at night because there was a magazine post about the correct amount of eyeliner based on certain occasions. Up until college I was unaware that the methods I was taking in order to be what society deemed as beautiful was all because I wanted to be happy with my appearance. It is through my passion for cosmetics that I have come to wonder, why. Why is beauty so important to our culture, specifically women, and why is it framed as "happy"?

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Publication Details

Journal
New Errands The Undergraduate Journal of American Studies
Published
2025-04-29
DOI
https://doi.org/10.59236/ne2259652
Primary Topic
Sustainable Urban and Rural Development
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Is Beauty a Promise to Happiness?

Brook Chervenic
New Errands The Undergraduate Journal of American Studies
Sustainable Urban and Rural Development
article

Is Beauty a Promise to Happiness?

Brook Chervenic
article en

Abstract

When I was a little girl around the age of five I was introduced to make-up. I fell head over heels in love with it. Needless to say, my love for make-up hasn't changed and it has expanded to all types of products for skin, hair, and body. I wake up in the morning and I wash my face because there are advertisements that tell me a clean face is beautiful. I brush, and perhaps whiten my teeth because having white teeth is important to being beautiful. When I apply make-up for the day time, I don't use as much eye liner as I would if I were going out at night because there was a magazine post about the correct amount of eyeliner based on certain occasions. Up until college I was unaware that the methods I was taking in order to be what society deemed as beautiful was all because I wanted to be happy with my appearance. It is through my passion for cosmetics that I have come to wonder, why. Why is beauty so important to our culture, specifically women, and why is it framed as "happy"?

New Errands The Undergraduate Journal of American Studies
Miami University (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 87%
Sustainable Urban and Rural Development
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