Alicia Jones Capstone

For my capstone I held weekly discussions every Tuesday during Y-band titled, Makeup Conversations. The slogan for the weekly discussion was, There is Diversity in Beauty. In order to cultivate these discussions I created lesson plans to research the origins of makeup. Inclusive of the historical connections of cosmetics to geography and related concepts we live by in the makeup artistry realm. Additionally, examining the conceptualization that makeup has on society today, both positive and negative. Also, including the social implications of using makeup and why we follow certain trends. The evidence of these discussions were my blog posts which are uploaded on my website.

The most challenging process of my project was completing the research. Furthermore, to come to an understanding of how we have transformed certain ingredients into our cosmetics. My goal for holding these discussions was to learn more about the significance and role that makeup plays in the life of an average SLA student. For clarification, anyone was allowed to participate in my capstone, whether they wore makeup or not. We discussed a range of topics, from the new “natural” look with using filters and touching on cultural appropriation: hair and beauty. Although, there were some difficulties with staying consistent with conversation dates, when the group would come together there was a highly resourceful amount of information to take away. My final presentation for the Makeup-Conversations is linked to my personal brand, Face By Lí, where you can find more details on my website.

Annotated Bibliography:

Britton, Ann Marie, "The Beauty Industry's Influence on Women in Society" (2012). Honors

Theses. Paper 86. Accessed February 2, 2017. http://scholars.unh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1085&context=honors


I found this source useful because it provides connections between women and the cosmetics industry. There were many scholarly resources such as experiments referenced by the author such as studies done between the influence of cosmetics and self-esteem. This source was highly reliable. Furthermore, the findings in the document were insightful, believable, and easy to understand. There were both positive and negative relationships explored in the research that were referenced. Providing an excellent scope on how cosmetics, women, the consistent use of makeup, and most importantly self-confidence are linked. In addition, the statistical result data given at the end of the paper.


Davis, LaPorchia C. "African American women's use of cosmetics products in relation to their attitudes and self-identity." Graduate Theses and Dissertations, 2013. Accessed February 1, 2017. http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4215&context=etd.


This source was highly reliable to my research because it explored a number of theories and issues within their cultural indifference that could connect to self-image issues. Using the source struck out to me as important because all of the other sources I researched were surveying white women and there was no cultural range that could be a variable in the results. It provides information about the subjects memories and early experiences of using cosmetics. Which was highly unexpected to find in a graduate level research paper I thought. This made me want to continue to read and understand the text even more.


Dootson, Kirsty Sinclair. "“The Hollywood Powder Puff War”: Technicolor Cosmetics in the

1930s." Film History 28, no. 1 (2016): 107-31. Accessed Feb 1, 2017. doi:10.2979/filmhistory.28.1.04.


This source was very reliable because it details how the art of makeup being both on and off screen was complex to make sure the models were correctly shaded. Reading this also helped me understand the unpleasant shade range we already have and how it’s still expanding. It is a complication of being more than just a technical problem but a “ideological” one. Using this source provides a better understanding of what Max Factor and Elizabeth Arden were working on, rather competing to accomplish. When reviewing this I didn’t think it would explore so much such as naturalism in cinema, Pan-Cake Make-Up, nor provide so many examples of movies that has this problem.


Factor, Max. “How to acquire Sylvia Sidney’s Beauty Perfection,” Hollywood Magazine (Jan-Oct 1934), May 1934, 44. Accessed 1 Feb 2017. http://archive.org/stream/hollywood23holl#page/n275/mode/2up


This source helped me learn more about Max Factor’s techniques when it came to television productions. This source was reliable because it was written by Mr. Factor himself. Also, it has a example of what eye makeup should look like on different shaped eyes. In addition, this source is in a magazine about the trends of fashion and makeup in hollywood. One limitation of this source is that it is focused solely on Sylvia Sidney’s application of makeup. This article however does not exactly serve as a guide to “Beauty Perfection” because of the small window of certain styles look best on different eyes. Yet, considering the time period the application of makeup was still fairly being figured out.


Kaplan, Alyssa. "SiOWfa15: Science in Our World: Certainty and Controversy." Makeup and its Affect on Self Esteem. October 5, 2015. Accessed February 01, 2017. https://sites.psu.edu/siowfa15/2015/10/05/makeup-and-its-affect-on-self-esteem/.


Using this source helped me look deeper into more social experiments. I don’t think this source was completely reliable but it was helpful in understanding the social ramifications of wearing makeup in different environments. Plus, the anxiety that can follow with wearing a full face to certain places, such as school, over elsewhere such as a party. Also, it can make a woman feel like she isn’t pretty enough but this experiment draw conclusions to acceptance after not using makeup for a while. Although, there was no exact answer to have confidence effects makeup this study was made very similarly to the Ann Marie Britton honors theses paper on “The Beauty Industry's Influence on Women in Society”.


Poitevin, Kimberly. "Inventing Whiteness: Cosmetics, Race, and Women in Early Modern England." Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies 11, no. 1 (2011): 59-89. Accessed 2 Feb 2017. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23242188.


Using this source helped me identify how the art of makeup circled into Europe in around the 1500s. It also assisted me in understanding the crucial work of “whiteness” and how lighter shades were always over other shades (ignoring the aspects of racial disparity when it address class). However, when considering other races such as the Welsh the reasoning behind skin darkening were solely for entertainment. This source is highly reliable and serves as a timeline of the art that comes to whitening and darkening skin. It also provides specific terms for the products used back in history to “paint” their faces.


Korichi, Rodolphe, Delphine Pelle-De-Queral, Germaine Gazano, and Arnaud Aubert. "Why women use makeup: Implication of psychological traits in makeup functions." Journal of Cosmetic Science 59 (September 27, 2007): 127-37. Accessed February 2, 2017. http://journal.scconline.org/pdf/cc2008/cc059n02/p00127-p00137.pdf.


While reading this source I found it to be very scientific, with the use of its language and the structure of the article was set up much like an experimental paper which I did not expect. This source was helpful because reading the text may have been difficult but examining the tables of data results made it easier to follow along. Although this document was a a little more advanced than expected, it provides a clear conclusion following all of the data. One additional piece from this source that was also helpful was the evaluation of the subjects on their experience with makeup and how they gathered their qualitative data. Using an interview and different scales with a generous number of subjects provided a large range distribution of their data.


Schaffer, Sarah. "Reading Our Lips: The History of Lipstick Regulation in Western Seats of Power." 2006. Accessed February 2, 2017. https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/10018966/Schaffer06.pdf?sequence=1.


This source when first reading it did not come across as being completely reliable. Yet, as I continued to read it I understood the language being used about the purpose of regulations in different regions of the world with the connections to the time periods.  It provides as a document that explains the objective of regulations in makeup. I selected this source because it provides a clear timeline of what was happening around the world with lipstick useage. In addition, it details the laws and acts that were passed or even failed in making the the mandates of what could be in lipstick.


Silverio, Lauren. "Makeup's Effects on Self-Perception." OTS Master's Level Projects & Papers, 2010. Accessed February 3, 2017. http://digitalcommons.odu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1048&context=ots_masters_projects.


I selected this particular source because it was a graduate level paper and I was curious to how the author’s findings compared to others that I have already read. Some limitations of this source compared to others I have read was that the author left out a guiding question on how confident the subject feels not wearing makeup. Also, they all attended the same university in The Fashion Industry course. Without comparing this source to the others, it is more specific in its language. This source provides a precise definition of terms section which is different than what was expected. The findings in this source were very reliable to my research.


Russell, Richard . "Why Cosmetics Work." In The Science of Social Vision. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. 2011. Accessed February 3, 2017. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/92a2/4b62927d0f438258c4f9f0bd16c00955ec31.pdf.


I chose this source because it provided a very specific context in the introduction. This source also provided paradox of cosmetics which is something I’ve also wondered about and wanted to touch on in the discussions during my capstone. Also this chapter goes in depth about sexual differences within facial recognition. In which, to draw connections and conclusions on how makeup is to facial attractiveness, not much by sex. However, the relation can still be made because of women using makeup over men. This source wasn’t all that I expected it to be but it was highly useful and very reliable to understanding some paradoxes in cosmetic usage.


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