September 2024

Whenever you Google the words ‘revenge make-up’, the outcomes mostly discuss with the concept of showing an ex-lover what they’re missing through the beautifying effects of a makeover. Many cite achieving a ‘glow-up’, which seems intrinsically tied to the before-and-after makeover scene often depicted on film, from Pretty Woman (1990) to The Princess Diaries (2001).  There’s one other form of makeover scene though, often linked to a unique form of revenge, or sometimes representing melancholy, ecstasy, or rage. It all the time signals character development, not necessarily from bespectacled and dowdy to blowdried and desirable, but perhaps from vulnerable to armoured, or from human to monstrous.  The rituals surrounding beauty are sometimes described as types of self-care – which, in fact, they...