It warns that children as young as seven are concerned about their looks, with 36 per cent of seven to 10-year-olds believing looks are paramount.
The findings come from the charities annual girls’ attitudes survey and revealed that girls were suffering a crisis in body confidence.
The results are worrying because this is the largest annual research of its kind. More than a third of girls believing women are judged on looks as opposed to their abilities.
Statistics
Worryingly, 15 per cent of girls said they felt ashamed or embarrassed by the way they look.
“Too many of us are made to feel that our looks are the most important thing. Girls say this and gender stereotypes are holding them back.”
The results don’t come as a surprise to Bath Weekend columnist makeup artist Evie Smith.
She feels that many women – and men for that matter – are so in search of perfection they use makeup to change the way they look rather than enhancing it.
What is contouring?
Evie isn’t a fan of the contouring trend, which sees strong shades of makeup used to change the appearance of a person’s face.
“Contouring has been around for many, many years but has only recently come in to the spotlight thanks to celebrity makeup artists such as Mario Dedivanovic (Kim Kardashians makeup artist),” she explained.
“Contouring, simply put, is using various shades of makeup, ranging from pale to deep, to create hollows and highlights in a person’s face. Creating the illusion of cheekbones.
“The placement of dark colours can give the illusion of depth and the lighter colours can bring out certain features.
“The real question for me is: Is contouring needed? The short answer is no. Is it wanted? “Apparently yes.’
“Drag Queens mainly used contouring in its original form”
“It was meant to be harsh so that it stood out underneath the bright lights of the stage.
“Wearing it off of the stage can sometimes look a little odd to say the least.
“Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate a trend as much as the next woman, and a small amount of contouring can look beautiful. However contouring, the Kim Kardashian kind, is one that I have really struggled to get my head around.
Evie’s thoughts
“Personally, for me, it goes against everything that I believe day to day makeup should be about. I subscribe to the idea that day wear makeup should be about enhancing your natural beauty. Concentrate on the features that naturally appear on the face rather than creating a mask or indeed an entirely different face.
“That is not to say that I don’t love experimenting with makeup and if by choosing to contour, you are expressing yourself and how you feel then you should go right ahead.
“My personal opinion is that this particular contouring trend is teaching women (and men) that a certain bone structure that is appealing to everyone. That we should all look a certain way. That we shouldn’t embrace our features. We should concentrate on the parts of our appearance that we love rather than the parts of ourselves that we hate.”