So, today I had a little feature in the Daily Mail that used pictures of me wearing expensive make up and cheap make up.  Based around Makeup Revolution which regular readers will know I’ve been using and testing for a few weeks now, the feature focusses on the price disparity between budget and luxury brands and pretty much whether budget brands can ever perform as well as luxury ones. As you know, I totally rate the palettes from Makeup Revolution – Iconic 1 is my staple go-to at the moment.

Great as it is to be able to flag up my blog on the DM, Daily Mail commenters are notoriously an angry lot who will take aim at anyone and everyone for no particular reason. I’ve pulled out a few of the more choice comments but the main theme is that I’m smiling in one and not the other, and the photographs are taken by a photographer to be skewed in favour of the cheaper products and that generally I am far too old and ugly (!). So, luckily I have a place where I can put that right. I took those pictures myself in my dining room on Sunday – iPad selfies (you can even see my arm sticking up where I’m holding the iPad). The fact that I’m smiling in one and not the other is totally irrelevant – they just happened to be the best of the pictures. Obviously, it goes without saying that I wasn’t paid by the brand (I wasn’t paid by anyone come to that!).

So get ready to see what happens when you end up on the UK’s most read news site:

Brian, Bartleby, United Kingdom, 15 minutes ago

Yeah, and the smile etc. The thing is, she’s pretty old (though she might get it) and her hair looks terrible in both pictures. I’d like to see an honest attempt to achieve perfection with both sets of makeup on a more flawless face, and to know how the makeup survives during a night/meal out.

Bella, London, United Kingdom, 2 hours ago

Very misleading. A brighter light has been used on the cheaper make-up photo.

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Willlis_Hide, Auckland, New Zealand, 6 minutes ago

She looks absolutely hideous in both images. I recommend she has a head transplant or a sex change to cure that.

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smartcookie, somerset, 2 hours ago

She will require a lot more than make up to turn the clock back – she looks like a heavy smoker and drinker!

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Katy30, Leeds, United Kingdom, 2 hours ago

It’s very clear that the lighting is better in the ‘cheap’ products photo, which gives those products the edge! Also this woman looks like she has been paid to market these brands. Not convincingly either!

ramsaysnow, dreadfort, United Kingdom, 2 hours ago

No matter what makeup she uses, she’s “over the hill” and isn’t fooling anyone

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ramsaysnow, dreadfort, United Kingdom, 2 hours ago

Women who wear make-up are vain, shallow and dishonest. Without exception. If you resort to wearing body-forming underwear, you’re twice as bad. SHAME!

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tom jones, london, United Kingdom, 1 hour ago

That face need surgery and a dark room

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RM, Paris, France, 2 hours ago

Don’t know about makeup making any difference, but she looks a right hound in all the pictures.

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Jaro, Northants, United Kingdom, 1 hour ago

Its a job to tell with that face, they could have chosen a pretty model.

emilymillson, rotherham, United Kingdom, moments ago

so with the expensive make up you have painted on bag under eyes made her look dull and shes not smiling on the cheap make up .. make up has been applied properly nice and shes smileing

To be fair, I had an idea of what was coming so none of this is shocking to me at all…I’ve often looked at the DM staff beauty writers or regular freelancers and wondered how they can put themselves through it. And indeed, why there is no moderating of comments. But, what is of most interest to me is how negatively people view older women. It’s no secret that I’m in my 40’s – it never has been – and I’m not interested in holding back time or looking younger than my years.

But, it’s yet another indication that the beauty industry needs to start championing more mature women so that beauty at any age is seen as ‘normal’ and not associated solely with youth. I’m not at all upset – I knew it was coming and wanted to make the point – I care more what my friends or my readers think than any of the commenters on the DM. And, I’ll go back to what I always say about commenters who are unkind – “happy people don’t do that”!

 

 

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