Hey there and welcome to the BigAppleSchool podcast – the weekly English show where we speak about everything under the sun. The major goal of this show is to help you with your English and of course learn something new. My name’s Katya, I’m your host and today with me…
So and we have a very girly talk today, we have ladies party today. Feels nice, you know, once…
Once in a while to have a meeting like that. So and before we jump into our girly topic, which I actually have been looking forward to, I would like to ask our listeners, you know, of a little bit of a favor. So, if you haven’t done so yet, could you please subscribe to our pages on Apple, Yandex, Google, Vk or any other platform where you listen to our podcast and let us know what you think.
What you like or dislike about our show. If there is anything you would like to be different, anything you would like to add or change about our show. You can give us stars, you can ask questions, you can always rate our podcast.
And you can even send your ideas about our next episodes. We always appreciate it and we’re always there to talk. So and just as we are here to talk today. So and we have a very fun topic today which is beauty and make up. And as far as I can see all of us are wearing make up. Yeah.
It’s like once in a while I think maybe once twice a week I’m wearing make up.
So is that for the podcast now?
I think it’s just mood, yeah.
You wake up in the morning and you see the sun and you feel that maybe today is the day.
Today is the day for make up.
I feel like having it, putting it on. So and tell me, do you know anything about the history of make up? Like, do we know anything about where it appeared or maybe what the beauty standards were? Well, let’s talk first about beauty standards maybe. So do you know anything about beauty standards back in the day, back in history?
Yeah, of course. Quite a lot actually. Also because I googled it before the podcast.
I didn’t do the homework. Right.
Right. And I know just something general, I mean, about ancient China, Egypt, yeah. And the stuff when the cosmetics was something creative, like that.
Okay. So let’s talk then about beauty standards – it might not always be about the make up as such, but you know, even about the face, the body and everything.
So what would we start with?
Okay. So the first kind of masterpiece that tells us about beauty standards is the statue of what is it called? Something of Willendorf.
Yeah yeah yeah, Venus, of course. Venus. And so maybe you’ve seen this statue, so it looks like, like a ball basically.
So it can tell us that plump women probably were in favor.
Maybe. Or the maybe the artist was not really talented. I mean, who knows, really?
But that would make sense though, cause the Venus of Willendorf dates back to.. what is? Paleolithic era? And at that time I guess, you know, if a woman could bear children, you know, if you could see that, that would be considered, you know, beautiful. So…
Plumpness would mean that the husband or whoever’s taking care of her is wealthy enough to feed her.
So see, there is some logic into that thing. So but what about later in time, so let’s say ancient Greece or ancient Rome? So that was also, you know, ancient time, so way long ago.
Okay, so well in Ancient Greece, I’m thinking especially particularly Spartan, the Spartans, the women, and the men too, they needed to be military ready. And so the physique was very important. And even the women would be along the river, the river bank with their mears and certain exercises to do. And so exercising was always really important, the standard for beauty.
So we can see then that depending on the country and the values maybe, the beauty standards changed accordingly. So that means that what, in Ancient Greece both women and men were supposed to be and were considered beautiful if they had like fit body, muscles maybe.
Fit and healthy. And I think we can call that beauty cult, right. According to the sculptures that we have nowadays left.
Well also based on their philosophy, meaning that if you are fit, if you have a fit body, it’s going to give you a fit mind as well. Body and mind.
I think, well, at that time as well, how do you pronounce that? Pythagoras, the one who made the theory.
I think you’re pronouncing it right.
Pythagoras. Okay, so that guy. He also created like the golden ratio of beauty. I don’t know the details, but he did the ratio like the face, the eyes, the nose, like you know, how it should be situated, you know, ho symmetrical or… Symmetry was then considered beautiful, right?
So, yeah, so he was one of those first who actually put numbers into it, like, the ratio now.
Actually a fun fact, because you know, because of that, because of the golden ratio, it was actually popular to have the unibrow. Can you imagine? Because it, like it means that the girl is kind of like nice and soft and naïve maybe. So and like this maybe.
Well there’s nothing more, you know, symmetrical than a unibrow. Frida Kahlo….
Or more naïve than a unibrow.
But even I heard on something very recently how in style now are thick eyebrows. And I was like aghast, like, thick eyebrows. Because when I was a teenager, I shaved off my eyebrows and penciled them in 1930s Hollywood style.
Well if we think about Russia, the beginning of 2000s, maybe 2007, the thin brows were so popular. As thin as a thread maybe. Which is why it’s so funny, you know, to look at the photos from that time.
Well, you’re saying ugh now, maybe if you look at you know, our photos and pictures 15 years from now, you would think natural eyebrows? And that was popular?
Well it also depends on the person, because I went through a phase when I’m going to grow my eyebrows, they are gonna be natural. And then where were they? They were kinda loke a smudge. It had no shape, so I gave it like a 6 month chance, and then never again.
But that’s so interesting, yeah. I would never have thought that a unibrow would be, you know, considered beautiful.
Oh, Frida Kahlo would be, you know, just hitting it there then.
Okay. So what about later in history? So was that always then the case? Was that the beginning of fit body being the standard of beauty?
I’m thinking about the Egyptian art and of course they wore this make up that extended the eyes.
Yeah, but well, we’ll talk about makeup in just a little bit.
What are we talking about then?
Like, the figure, the figure type. Cause let’s say the ancient times it was more about the plump body, you know, that could show that you’re wealthy, you can bear children.
Okay, so if I’m looking at Egyptian art, they also seemed like they had a good physique.
Maybe they had the same values as like ancient Greece.
I think when you’re out there working, you’re not sitting at a desk typing, I think…
It’s really hard to become, you know, fat, actually. Even if you want to… You have things to carry, work to do. What about Europe of, you know, let’s say Middle Ages?
I think that those days the women, if we talk about standards of beauty, were quite slim.
I think it all started at those ancient Greece times and then it never really changed. So Europe, like Renaissance times, Victorian times, there were differences in terms of beauty standards…
Hourglass figure, the very…
Thin waist with the corsets.
Oh yeah, they wore corsets and all that. Yeah. So but it was always fit or really thin, well, depending, sometimes it was more fit as in physically fit, with muscles. Sometimes it was just petite. Hourglass.
Yeah. And I think if we talk about those standards, really pale skin was aristocratic. And if the woman was a little plumper than necessary or if she had quite healthy tone of her skin, so she could have been considered as like a peasant.
Oh yeah, well because, you know, like you work in the sun, you have pale skin.
Or maybe you remember from the Gone with the Wind, there was kind of a scene when the girl was, the main heroine, was wearing quite open dress in the daylight, and her nanny was like oh, no, you shouldn’t have done that. Because you’ll have the… by the way, sun marks, what are…
Freckles. Yeah, you’ll have freckles on your chest, yeah.
I love freckles, I always wishes I had freckles.
I have freckles, I don’t like them
I do have them on my nose and chest also and I love them dearly.
You know, I feel like it’s like with straight and curly or wavy hair. If you have straight hair, you wanna have curly hair. If you have curly hair, you wanna have straight hair. The same with freckles. I know people who actually use henna or, you know, hair dye to make freckles, fake freckles.
Exactly. I’ve seen those people.
They kinda like, you know, just sprinkle this hair dye or the henna onto their face and then it washes off.
There are even masters of making these artificial freckles, so yeah.
Yeah. Right. Well, these days, yeah.
I can remember even a story when a girl tattooed the freckles just because she wanted them so dearly.
It’s so interesting. But I guess at that time, when, the pale skin was, you know, considered the beauty standard, nobody wanted to have freckles. But what about later? That’s kinda curious.
Cause now… Do you think that there is such a thing as beauty standard now?
We’re supposed to be all inclusive and we’re not supposed to body shame anyone. Especially women, we’re not supposed to talk bad about women.
Well, men too I guess. Ideally.
I think men are okay, I think we can talk bad about men. But women we’re not supposed to.
I think like we are freer maybe and we are more liberated now. So we don’t have anything like you have pale skin, that’s beautiful, you have that, that’s beautiful, that’s not beautiful. So yeah. I love that.
Okay, so part of this beauty standard is would be a standard that maybe men have put on. So the idea of I can be however I want to be and I’m not here for your… to be an object for your desire, so I can be whatever I want to be.
That is actually true, if we think about it. Very often all those beauty standards have been dictated by men.
Yean and it really does, it does this… It disgusts me because you can see, I won’t talk bad about men, but whatever their physique may be, that may be substandard, they have a lot of judgement, they’ll put a lot of judgement on, like oh, she’s too skinny, oh she’s this way. They can line up women and critique them.
And you know, the worst thing is that some older women sometimes also do the same. So it’s like oh you are too skinny, you are too plump or you’re too… You are too something and…
Insert whatever you need, yeah.
Eat, eat, you’re too skinny.
I have a question to Natalie. So do you know anything about beauty standards or maybe history of beauty standards in Asia? In China or in Thailand? Cause I can imagine the beauty standards would be different.
Yeah yeah yeah. Well, speaking about Asia, I don’t know a lot about history. I only know that in China they used to do… How do you call it, binding?
Oh, the foot binding. I saw some pictures, they were horrible!
Yeah it is actually disgusting, yeah. So…
Beauty standard was tiny feet, right?
Exactly, because it’s like… I don’t remember why, but it was kind of… It was considered…
Tiny feet and then the women would have to kinda shuffle along because they were in pain. And they started biding early like when you’re a little girl.
Exactly, exactly. Also I think it’s kinda good to be small there, I don’t know. If you are too tall, it’s like a bit weird I would say. So I mean, for me it was a bit different, because I’m like, I’m from another country. But for them when for example a Thai girl or, I don’t know, Chinese girl is too tall, so it’s like a bit strange.
It’s interesting you say that because a few years ago there was this trend, and I don’t know if it’s still going on, but a trend of being more western.
And they were actually going to surgery and lengthen their bones so they may be taller.
Yeah yeah yeah. It’s changing but like really slowly.
Or widening the eyes, almond the eyes. Western eyes.
Especially that. Yeah, in Korea too, they just, yeah, make the eyes wider and…
And I think they still have, you know, this… It’s considered to be beautiful when you have pale skin. I remember when I was in China people just would come to me, point at my skin, at I have a very white skin. I never, I can never get a tan.
Like even if I want to, like, I just get as red as a lobster and that’s it. And they just pointed and said beautiful, beautiful. I’m like aw, thank you. And some people, you know, there were situations when some people approached me and they showed, you know, a photo camera. And I’m like oh, you want me to take a picture of you.
Cause, you know, it was the Forbidden city, everybody was taking pictures, and they showed me like no no no, we want to take a picture with you. And I was like a what now?
One of my friends lived in Singapore for 3 years I think and all the time she used to tell me like, you know, my little kid, who is about 3 years old or something, blond with curly hair and pale skin, you know, attracts so much attention of Indian people, Chinese people, yeah, Asian.
I’m pretty sure the kid has blue eyes as well.
Of course. First, she was really freaked out by that, because like crowds of people, yeah, approaching her kid, trying to touch her head or maybe her hands, right. Maybe take a picture of her kid. Yeah, and my friend was really mad about that. But then like, time had passed, right, and she got…
There it’s like a sign of good luck or something like that. So if they touch a white skin baby, it’s just…
Especially I know that the head for them is kind of…
Sacred part of the body, yeah, especially….
Yeah like a crown of your soul or something.
Actually that’s why in Thailand it’s really rude to touch somebody’s head, you know, if you touch it, it’s like oh my god, what did you do? So.
The other thing about Asia is in history, yellow teeth were out of style and since they couldn’t get white teeth, they would paint their teeth black, women.
Yes, I heard China and maybe Japan, yeah.
Something like that. Yes, I even…
And that’s a lot easier to have black teeth than to have white teeth.
Oh wow! I have never heard about that!
I’m not sure I want to see, you know, the black teeth.
It’s such strange and weird.
So what did they… Do you happen to know what they used, what materials they used?
I can’t remember, but some kind of make up, something from the earth, some concoction.
Like every day they painted it black?
Oh, I thought it was like once and forever.
Oh no, no, it’s like make up, you’d have to apply it I think.
But then you eat and like it’s gone.
I don’t know how they did it.
It’s like lipstick, yeah. So you have to reapply it.
Only to teeth. Well actually, I think this beauty standard has, you know, has stayed in most of the countries that it’s kinda considered to be beautiful to have white teeth.
I don’t know. I’ve been to the dentist several times here in different dentist’s, cause I’m trying to find a dentist who will acknowledge the fact that I’m losing my white teeth and they’re turning yellow and can you do something about it? And they seem like, oh no no, you’re fine, you’re fine. It’s quite natural. I know it’s natural, but I…
Maybe you should, you know, make an appointment with a dentist for the teeth whitening.
I’m sorry, I’ve tried everything. I really appreciate your…
No no I mean teeth whitening in a clinic.
Cause I’ve done the whitening with the stripes.
I would not want a teeth whitening if my enamel is rubbing off, I certainly wouldn’t want to put some kind of product on it. So I’m trying to get some information that seems to be lacking.
I know that nowadays some people who want to have really beautiful teeth, they would have the veneers.
But it’s kinda, well. It’s a serious step, you kinda have to have your teeth just… What do they do? They kinda…
They don’t cut it, but they… Not polish, but…
Make it smaller in some way.
I have no idea how they do this.
Okay, they file them down, right, and then they stick this…
Yeah fake teeth on top of them.
Yeah. It’s really trending with younger people and so they’re warning please don’t do this because whenever you’ve ruined your real teeth, you’re going to weaken them. And later on… And in time you have something put on, it would create a gap which means you are going to get infection and everything. Only if you really need it but not something for cosmetic reasons.
I mean some people do need it, some people have like really bad teeth, I don’t know. But most people just do it for…
It’s a serious step I would say, you know. When I see, you know, when they prepare the teeth for the veneers and how they pile them down.
And you know, you have like normal teeth and then you have like remnants of it and it looks so creepy and I’m like oh, ho! When my dentist suggested that, I’m like no thank you. He’s like it’s aesthetic. I’m like I’m very happy with the way my teeth look, thank you very much.
You know, aesthetically wise. So yeah. So and what if we talk about make up in history and when did that appear presumably and what materials people used. So do you know anything about that?
I bet it was charcoal first and maybe some ash that yeah, that was first things to apply on, I think, eyes.
Well that’s what Barbara has said about ancient Egypt – if we look at the pictures they have left, we always see some kind of eyes with make up, yeah.
Kind of, what’s that called? Cat eye, right?
Yeah it’s not really a cat eye. I think that’s people think a cat eye is. But a cat eye is more of a triangle at the end of your eyes and you don’t… You have to fill in this triangle, so if you just extend it, it’s gonna look Egyptian. But if you put another line to make a triangle and fill it in, that’s the cat eye. And people don’t know that and I’d love to tell people, but I don’t wanna be rude.
Yeah, yeah. So yeah, and they did, I think the ancient Egyptians were the first ones. Well, at least they are thought to be the first one to do that.
China and Egypt I think, they were…
In China I think they applied some kind of lipstick to make their lips red.
And this was probably from berries or something that can stain…
That sounds more natural than putting soot and, you know, kohl.
And I think they use to apply some what chalk maybe or some powder made of it to make their skin even whiter, yeah.
Well, that’s, the love and the trend for white skin and pale skin.
Yeah. Talc, like baby powder that we use today is from talc. And I used to use talc or baby powder on my face just to make it lighter.
Do you know about the Renaissance times? Cause there was a trend for pale skin too, but what they used is they used the lead.
Oh yeah yeah yeah, I heard about this.
So the lead paint and that was… You can imagine, it’s lead.
And I remember there was kind of rice powder and lead, yeah?
And then there was this woman whose name was Aqua Tofana and she was a very popular producer of this like face powder, so and it was made with arsenic, I think this is the chemical or something like that. And she would say, you know, that you should apply it at least several times a day and everything, so yeah.
How many people survived that?
But there is also an interesting story. She was the one who supplied women with powder, but she said apply it several times a day only when your husbands are around. And later it turned out that it was deadly, so and this is how she was executed later…
That’s why she was executed later for helping women murder their husbands with the help of make up.
Because they also kind of… They breathed it in.
But how true was it? I mean…
Well it’s history, so how… There’s no way to check, but yeah, but what’s true though is that all of the women that used this lead paint which was, well, chemical, it was dangerous. What else? They used, since you know, this pale skin was a sign of wealth and aristocracy. What else?
They used the chalk with lead. So and basically, mostly everything that they used was so chemical that later, you know, that caused so many problems with the skin, the teeth. It would lead to shakes and sometimes even death.
And I think this is kind of a slow poisoning.
Oh yeah, so you wouldn’t… so at first you would think like oh everything’s fine. I’m fine.
Yeah it doesn’t affect me at all, yeah.
Yeah. Just wow. Just wow. So and then what else? If we think about, let’s say, the Regency era, so they loved the red color so they would make sure to put some kind of a lipstick, whatever they made that with, on their lips.
And eyebrows were blackened, so it was considered to be beautiful to have black eyebrows. So yeah. But at that time, so let’s say in England for example, like, at that time, the make up was usually made with some herbs, with flowers, brandy, fat, vegetables.
Strawberries. We have like face masks made of that now. Yeah.
But I remember that at some time… Cause in Europe I think it all started with France, you know, with all those balls and whatever. At some point people thought that French have something to hide, so make up is bad.
So and that’s why in England, you know, at some point they were against the French. So they were like no, we are not going to use that, we are going to use natural materials. And at some point the make up was, you know, even kinda not forbidden, but, you know, people would look down on you if you had bright make up.
But women still wanted to have some kind of, you know, shiness to their faces, so they would put egg whites on their face. And then, you know, they would kinda shine.
And what about men though? I remember…
…seeing like powder, powdered something.
Yeah, yeah, that’s true. It’s true.
I don’t know. It’s all like hygiene, rather than washing one would powder.
Yeah. Well it was at that time, the baroque time, we would look at the pictures and we would think oh, they look, you know, so beautiful with make up, they must’ve had great hygiene. But actually they had special things such as fleas, cause they only took baths once a month or something like that.
Or even less. Like some of them bathed, I don’t know, twice for their lives. I mean.
Exactly. And when they died.
Cause you imagine just like you know, and that was at that time it was popular to give a lady a gift of this special little box, you know, encrusted with different diamonds or something to where she would put the fleas that she caught. I read some things, you know, about the balls in… How do you call this palace in Paris?
Yeah, that one. And since they didn’t have, like, they had the balls, but what to do when you need to go into the toilet? So and they had special, it looked like not a kettle maybe, but something like that.
They had big dresses, so they would just put it under the dress or just use one of the corners, multiple corners in the castle. I was like oh wow, so much to the developed…
But that’s very convenient.
That’s very smelly as well, that must be. Maybe that’s why the perfume was, you know, popular at that time. Oh my goodness. If we look at it, it kinda makes you think how grateful you should be about now, about all the, you know, ingredients of makeup being so…
Well, at least not, you know, killing you slowly.
I have a question, by the way, which is more of a ethnical question. So when you buy make up or some kind of facial hair, oh, care or shampoos or whatever, is it important to you that it has not been tested on animals?
Yeah, it is so important to me. But it’s very inconvenient to find and it’s hard to find and that’s what bothers me. Because if you have a certain shampoo that you have been using that really works, then sometimes they don’t work as well. But I use..
I have used MAC for many years, since 2005. And so I’ve googled Mac, and they say no, we don’t test on animals. But in China they do. So whatever they sent to China, China tests on them.
Yeah that’s a little tricky. So you can kind of, oh, well, I can use Mac without feeling guilty.
It’s really important, but it’s just so hard to find.
It’s hard to find. Sometimes it’s even more expensive. Cause for example there is this brand of make up which I really love and which is not available in Russia, of course, which is Kat von D. And if you google the founder, you might have mixed feelings, cause she looks very gothic, you know, all black, all that.
But she makes sure and her policy when she was creating the company is that all of the make up produce would be vegan and cruelty free. So it is not tested on animals, it does not use any kind of, you know, animal produce, so nothing like that.
And I start to notice that a lot of brands right now have this little cruelty free sticker. But I also understand that very often you have to do some research to find out whether that’s actually true.
It’s like with ecological, eco-friendly.
Green, we’re going green.
But then you find out it’s only greenwashing. So I guess the same thing about make up very often.
It’s just getting popular and people use it.
Yeah, so sometimes you actually have to dig deeper to find out whether it’s marketing or whether they’re really cruelty free. But yeah. I don’t know. Natalie, what about you? Do you care if your make up has been tested on animals or not? No judgement!
I do care I guess, but again, it’s really hard to find and also I don’t use as much make up to be honest. And yeah, I guess I’ve never thought about it like so much probably.
I think I’m more brand oriented in that case, yeah, so there are some special brands of cosmetics that I’m used to and I really love them and I can’t say if I checked that cruelty free label on them. So I have not given it much thought I think.
Okay. So let’s talk then about brands. So what brands do you use and what make up do you use and how do you choose it? So tell me your story, your relationship with make up.
If we talk about skincare cosmetics, yeah, so lately I’ve been using more Japanese and Korean things, yeah. Maybe you heard that 10-8, 8 or 10 step Korean skincare.
Yeah, I actually use it too.
So you do all the 8-10 steps?
I have a friend, she kind of tried to teach me how to take care of your skin in the morning, how to take care of your skin at night, right, before sleep. And I realized no, it’s too boring, too much time and I realized that actually I want my skin to breathe more.
To my mind, it’s too much, yeah. And I follow some steps, I love some products like I don’t know, different essences or maybe some serums, yeah and I do those masks, yeah. Those sheet masks, they are so lovely. Bubble masks, right. So they are so cute when you put…
You put it on and then you’re like look at me, I’m a cloud.
Right. It’s so fun, yeah. And actually it lets you have some time for yourself doing all those treatments.
Actually, that’s a question. Is it actual like when you look after yourself or it’s like, you know, you put this sheet mask on and you pretend as if you’re actually taking care of yourself.
That’s a very good question.
Especially if you’re eating like a big chocolate ice cream or something. Look at me taking care of myself.
I think it also depends on, you know, what kind of skincare routine you follow in general, what kind of sheet masks you use. Cause for example, if you go to Fix price and you buy 50 ruble masks made with…
Yeah, and you till pretend, yeah, looking at yourself…
That would be, you know, pretend self care.
But yeah. Cause I think in this case it’s quality that matters.
That’s what makes it true self care or attempted self care.
I tried to go to the shop which sell Korean and Japanese cosmetics, right, and so they provide different brands. And so you can try different things, see what’s good for you personally, right. What brands you like, which I don’t know, you skin reacts much better and so on.
So there were some thing by Bonne Bell, you know, in 2006. And it was a kind of tonic that you would put on and it would take oil off. And but I’ve been exfoliating my skin since I was a teenager, I used to scrub. Since I’ve come to Russia, I had to abandon my normal products, cause I can’t find them.
And so it’s a matter of time of course and it takes some effort, right, to investigate I must say. But anyways, it’s, I don’t know, it’s kind of really interesting as well, doing that research, seeing what’s good or seeing what could have been better, yeah. So.
So and what about make up meaning decorative cosmetic? So which one… What do you use?
Well I just wanna go back to skincare.
So I learned skincare from my mom, cause my mom had really dry skin. And so you were talking about quality. And so she would always buy Borgezie and she really had to put in a lot of money for her poor dry skin. So when I was a teenager, I had acne or pimples, and so I always had oily skin, so I had to make sure that I used something that would soak up that oil.
And I had to kind of make due, but I always have some kind of scrub for my face and a nice lotion.
Can you have them delivered to Novosibirsk?
Well not amazon.com because that’s so expensive.
Oh yeah, it’s like the shipping is more…
I looked on other things like aliexpress and ozon, they don’t have the things I need. So I just had to adapt.
Do you remember the names of the brands?
Yeah, I would use Saint Ive’s scrub and Noxzema and Kerasal – these things I cannot get. Epsom salt for soaking in a bathtub for your muscles. Yeah these things I all had to give up.
Wait, you can get Epsom salt at…
It’s not the Epsom salt that...
Alright. Cause I remember seeing some at a shop which is like eco friendly shop where they have like package free shop, so I remember…
With aroma or something for… Something like a bubble bath.
They don’t have the aroma, it’s just not scented, nothing like that.
I looked all over, but this is just like really, just really cheap from the earth.
Yeah yeah yeah, that’s the one. So maybe you wanna check it out.
Alright, okay. Yeah it’s so interesting to listen to, you know, about the skincare. I feel so lazy, cause I usually just use, you know, a wash and then once a week a scrub or something like that. But when I was in the US, I used this company… I don’t remember the name right now, but the idea is that you…
And it’s an online, so they have offices around the country I guess. So and the thing is that you send them a message, you attach the photos of your skin from different, you know, sides and all the problems. You describe everything you can, your diet and everything. And then they send you a cream based on your needs.
And so usually it’s like face wash, face cream and night lotion, something like that. And at first I thought what can they do, you know, online? But since they work with dermatologists and, you know, they make the cream based on your needs and they have the contents, I was like, okay, let me give it a try.
And that worked so well. And I was like oh my goodness. But of course, you know, since it’s done and made personally for you, you can’t get that in other countries as well. They don’t have shipping outside the US. And yeah.
What I also notice is that when you go to another country, since they have, you know, different water, quality of water and everything.
It is in one city as well.
Yeah and your skin takes so long to adapt.
What is this smell that this water has here?
I’m not sure I want to know.
Like lake smell, it’s from the water. It’s just… My skin smells.
Well you know, I think about…
It smells like tires or rubber or oil or something.
In some places it does. I don’t know what it depends on, but it depends on the part of the city too I guess. So.
But now I’m used to it, I’m like alright. If I’m getting poisoned from it? I don’t know.
It’s like kind of a perfume.
Yeah, so, that’s so true. So and what about decorative cosmetics? So make up, what do you use? I mean what kind of products you use and what kind of companies, brands?
Not so many products, actually, so mascara, so I don’t know, eyebrows gel or something like that. I don’t know. So blush and highlighter. That’s it.
And you call it blush. It used to be called rogue.
Rogue. Because the women, I’m talking about my mom, she was born in 1921, so we’re talking about the 1930s, in the 20s. The blush would be red and red means rogue. But then blush came out, the sound of blush because this word is a different kind of like a natural…
Pink. Yeah it depends on the blush.
So it’s not like red-red.
So you only use these for… Is there any brand that you are loyal to when you buy these products?
I like French cosmetics. Not because of the quality but because of the, you know, boxes. They are so…
So you like the aesthetics of it.
Exactly. Like Givenchy or something like that.
Well that’s… Well these companies have good quality, right?
Right, they do, they do. It’s not only because of like the boxes.
Yeah, because these are… I think they are considered to be like, well, not like mass market, but they are considered to be…
Well leaning to that side.
Yeah leaning to that side, yeah. I guess. I don’t know.
Well it’s worth it if it’s high quality, it’s good, it’s better for your skin.
Exactly, yeah, it’s worth it.
Barbara what about you? You’ve mentioned that you’ve been loyal to Mac.
Yeah, I’ve been loyal to Mac. There is a rule that you should use lip liner when you have lipstick on. But then it should match. But then I changed lipstick color so now my lips liner and my lipstick doesn’t match. So I don’t know if you’d be critical of me or you’ll talk behind my back or anything.
I don’t use the lip liner. I’ve never used it.
Oh you must use a lip liner. Oh a proper lady uses a lip liner.
My mom used to actually. Now she doesn’t use it.
When I was in my 7th year, sorry.
When I was in my 7th year in school I used to wear lip liner.
And did it match your lipstick? Cause it has to.
No. I used to wear only the lip liner.
What does it do? It doesn’t let it go?
Well the reason for a lip liner is to keep the lipstick from bleeding so to speak. It does keep it, but you’re supposed to color within the line.
It can bleed actually? It can go like…
Well it could be kinda faded on…
You can smudge it sometimes, so it can make it more of a smudge proof.
But it does have… I like it, yeah.
I don’t… Well I don’t use it for one reason is that I don’t use the usual lipstick, I use the matte ones, so the ones that can get dry. So and they are smudge-proof, so I can apply my lipstick in the morning, have breakfast, lunch, dinner, drink coffee, drink tea and it’s still on. And then I have…
This is called a stain lipstick that’s what you wear, a stain lipstick.
Yeah, because stains. It doesn’t actually wash off.
So. Yeah. These are the lipsticks that I use.
I love tints from time to time.
They smell nicely and they make your lips look bright, but you don’t feel anything covered.
Yeah that’s true, that’s true.
That’s much better probably.
I think they come from Korean world.
I think yes. I think about 10 years ago or something so the world became mad about Korean cosmetics and the treatments they provide and I think maybe Japanese as well, but I think that for example I met that all actually taking part in cosplay. So there I met all that kind of treatment, yeah, all those BB creams, yeah.
That can make your skin look…, right. And different tints that you apply for example on your cheeks, on your lips, yeah. And they look beautifully without any additional cover, layer. So it’s very nice.
Yeah, yeah, I do. I love Clinique and Korean Holica Holica and Mishka cosmetics. So if we talk about foundation. They are quite, you know, you don’t feel them…
Yeah I like the kind of foundation where you… It’s liquid and it feels like powder once you put it on, it’s a really nice feeling.
So you face doesn’t look like cake.
Not cakey, right, no. But I used to, when I was younger, and when of course when I’d go out, I would wear a foundation. It takes so much time and then I don’t do that. It’s time consuming for that.
And blush or rogue it’s too time consuming, it just takes too long to do that. Yeah. That’s true, that’s true, 3 or 5 seconds too long. Because it takes a long time to put on an eyeliner. You gotta go round a few times.
I used to do that actually and it took me, I don’t know, 10 minutes to do it. That’s a long problem.
Yeah, eyeliner is really important to me. I use this wonderful kohl, it’s soft. And it goes on, it’s not the liquid that you just draw one thin line, cause I like a thicker look. And make sure you see I got my eyeliner. I’m in business here, I’m dressed for success.
I’ve never learned how to use the blush. To me it’s like if… you can easily overdo it and then look ridiculous.
It’s supposed to be for the indention, for the shadow of your cheek. Not on the cheek like around…
Actually it depends. You can do it two ways, you can do it right here or you can do it right here.
Then your face will look differently.
Exactly. Like this it will look childlike or something like that, so if you put here it’s like….
So I’ve never learned how to use the, well, you know, all these contouring.
Oh no. That’s… As if I don’t have things to do.
I tried once I remember it.
It looks so time-consuming.
You’d have to have perfect lighting following you round the whole day.
Then you look ridiculous, like really.
And then there is also strobing and I remember going to Sephora and they were like do you wanna, you know, sign up for our workshop how to do strobing, I’m like I’m not even sure I know what that is. They’re like highlighting, it’s like contouring, but with highlighters. I’m like thank you, no. I don’t have the time for this.
Anything you want to know, you can find some kind of Youtube video on that.
Although you need many attempts to actually improve that skill.
So yeah, which means that you’re gonna look ridiculous for some time until you actually…
Learn how to do it well. And how do you choose cosmetic? I mean do you just go to a shop like that looks nice, that looks nice. I mean how do you do that?
Once you find something you like, you just stick with it for years and years and years. That’s what I do.
And then they stop producing it and break your heart.
Like what happened with my favorite perfume.
Heartbreaking, yeah, that’s heartbreaking.
Yeah. I found… Of course I have several like several things, but what… Still breaking my heart.
Took you years to get over it.
Okay. But things that you use and you have used maybe for years. But how did you find them?
That many shops provide. And so they can be either mass market or they can be some, let it be Korean shops, whatever. So many shops provide you with samples and you try something and you realize, okay, I’d love to try that, yeah. Maybe one more time.
I can ask them for a sample maybe and the next time I’m buying some product I needed. And then for example I buy just the minimal container, right, and see if it all fits, yeah, everywhere.
It doesn’t work for me. I usually just go to a shop and try everything.
I just love the process to be honest. I just go and… I just love all these like eye shadow and eyeliner and mascara. But when I was in the US what I really loved and what I really miss is I was subscribed to what is called an Ipsy bag. So it’s a company, Ipsy, and once a month for, so you pay $10 a month.
For that money they send you a makeup bag, every month, which is actually one thing I did not need cause, you know, it’s every month. So at the end of the year you end up having 12 make up bags. And they send you 5 different mini products. And the thing is that they are supposed to be mini, but honestly, sometimes they’re not mini at all. Like full size eye shadow container.
So and then before you actually sign up or when signing up, you fill out a little questionnaire, for example, what you would like to get, what you don’t want to get. And you answer these questions in some categories. For example, hair. Would you like to get something for hair? And I always answer no cause, you know, I have my hair routine that I’m used to.
And then let’s say eye shadow. Do you prefer let’s say nude colors, bright or like the color scheme. The same with lipsticks, perfume, all that. And every month, you know, this is one thing you really look forward to, getting that envelope with an Ipsy bag. And I got so many cool things thank to that.
I found out about different companies, the cool companies. I got so many cool samples of eye shadow that I still use after like a year of regularly using them. So they are not like tiny, they’re full size eye shadow.
So yeah. I just love it and I miss that a lot. Cause in here, every time I go to let’s say some makeup shops, it’s all the same things. And there are just so many.
You know, I’ve heard that I guess iHerb or they have the same thing, but I’m not sure if we talk about the cosmetics, probably that’s kind of skincare.
There are a lot of subscriptions like that, you can pay a certain amount and then get five…
I am a creature of a habit because I really like saving time. And so it was a lady friend that wanted to buy something for me, so she bought a lipstick from Mac. And it was from that moment on I was sold on Mac.
And the good thing about Mac is they have one here. And the ladies in there are so nice. And they welcome me, they ask me my name, they let me speak my Russian. They try to understand.. Of course they can understand because they’re taking their time.
And you know, what do you have to say? You just say a few words and they’re understanding. And they make you feel like a real person. So I love going to Mac. I don’t care how much you charge me, I’ll pay you to be nice to me. So I always get my wonderful same things that I can count on.
Aw, that’s so great. I love changes in make up. I mean I love trying new things, I love trying new brands, all that. So I just… That’s why I have…
But what about… Doesn’t that make you feel like you have to decide too many things? That’s just horrible, I don’t like so many decisions.
Yeah, I understand. I always make the same decision.
Well with Ipsy bag, they make the decision for you and then later you just…
But then the next morning, when you have all these 12 Ipsy bags and go, which one… What do I feel like?
Oh yeah, every day I’m like what do I feel like?
Do I want to put glitter on? Cause I have so many you know, like… I have liquid glitter, I have what’s it called? It’s like eyeshadow… Loose eyeshadow. So. That. Or do I want the usual eyeshadow? But then, what color? Do I want to use the eyeliner? Or not?
Okay, so you’re basing this on your morning mood. What about in the afternoon? Do you all of a sudden say oh no, I don’t feel like this kind of…
No, no, I just put it on once a day.
I do that with clothes. I have way too many clothes and every morning I wake up and I’m like alright. Who am I today?
These are the choices I love. Like with eyeliner, I have black eyeliner, I have pink one, blue one, purple one. So I don’t know. And the same with different accessories, so you know with earrings, the rings. Like what earrings do I wanna put on today?
Yeah. And I wear nothing. Because it saves time.
I don’t know, this is one thing that I really love. I have about… Well this year I made a difficult decision which means I threw away all of my lipsticks because I know that I bought most of them like two years ago, so I know like they must be expired right now. Some of them started to smell. I’m like okay, I’ve had them too long.
I threw all of them away, but before I did, I found the replacement in Sephora. So that’s why now I have not my usual 22 lipsticks, but only like 15 maybe. So I don’t know. I love this moment of like choosing what I feel like today. What lipstick I wanna put on, what eyeshadow I wanna put on.
It’s funny because like once a year, every year, I try like really bright red lipstick on, and it’s just only once. That’s it.
I don’t feel comfortable.
Do you think colors go with ages. Like when I was 30, I had this beautiful bright pink hot pink lips. And then after a while I thought I think I’m getting too old for this, so I went more purple. And I’ve been wearing the purple since for, you know, almost 20 years. But now, when you get older, you get I can wear whatever I want to, I’m an old lady, I can do whatever I want to.
I think this is the attitude people should have at any age. Like I should… I mean that’s why for some time I was putting on my grey lipstick or just almost black lipstick, green lipstick. I don’t have them now.
I do have such lipsticks, but and sometimes I really put them on, but actually I Have a huge bag with different cosmetics and with different aqua grim and so on because I used to work as a make up artist for some years.
And mostly it was because of my cosplay career and I kind of developed into the make up artist. I don’t know, I had tons of scull faces and I think beautiful ladies made up during, yeah, in those five or maybe six years I’d been doing that.
And some things were really crazy like applying, putting on some prosthetics, yeah, different masks made of silicone or maybe rubber latex and we’d used to do those things ourselves, yes, with my colleague, my master. So it was such a, I don’t know, fascinating job to do, yeah.
Halloweens, different contents and all that stuff we used to take part in them as people just asked who couldn’t do that themselves, they asked for help. Of course, we took money for that, but it was every time just new something, yeah, interesting something. One of my biggest things were we maybe you remember from the X-Men, we made the girl Mystique.
Oh wait, she has blue skin!
Yes. The prosthetics put on her breasts on her head, right, on her thighs which made her look like a reptile, right. The…
Sounds like a lot of paint was involved.
Sure. Yes. And then we made Pennywise from IT.
The huge head, the wig and doing actually making that wig, it’s like crocheting, and so you have just one hair in that hook.
A huge work. Yeah. And then. Oh, the Avatar, yeah, two of them.
Even the shape of the nose, cause they have, you know…
Yeah, silicone. Silicone.
Oh my goodness, that sounds so cool! You know, I sometimes look at different pictures on Instagram and social media of different make up artists or just girl who’re good with makeup and I admire them. Cause I love makeup, but at the same time I can’t do all these, you know, different makeups with lots and lots of colors and that’s just a dream.
I know that, you know, given enough practice I might do that. But at the same time you just need to practice it every single day in order to excel in it.
It takes so much time of course.
So cool! So and what about different beauty procedures with your hair or nails? Do you do anything? Do you have anything done? Natalie just showed us…
I’ve promised myself that I would go once a month, but then 5 weeks passed, 6 weeks passed. And my beautiful, long beautiful pink nails are now as you can see, I’ve got one over here and two left over here.
In the summer I usually just don’t think…
Once, I’m just trying to take off my long nails and so I damaged my… So you can see, right.
I have my nails done every 3-4 weeks. I love it. First of all, I love it so much, you know, choosing the color, the design. And I also think I love doing it so much because I can’t do that in the US cause I can’t afford it.
Right! It’s so expensive.
How much does it cost actually?
Well, depends on who you go to. For example I once went to a salon, not at my town, and what they did was horrible and that would be absolutely unacceptable over here cause, you know, I had the cuts, I had the scratches.
It was painful, it didn’t last long. So that’s why if you want to have what you have here, the quality, the same quality, you would go to Russian girls.
Oh I love going. I’ve never gone to a manicurist before ever and so when I got here, my eyesight is getting worse. I go you know, I don’t have time for this, I can’t see. Here, you do it. And it’s just so wonderful, such a wonderful…
It’s so wonderful. And in the US for example, if you want, let’s say, I love the design. So, with the design and everything it can be up to like $100 if not more. And then you need to remember that if you go and have some service, you have to tip it. Cause people provide service and you have to actually…
So I tip them here… And do you tip them here?
The thing is that I’ve been going to the same nail technician for years and once I tried and she’s like if I wanted more money, I would’ve charged you more. So I give you the price that I…
Yeah, there is one place that I kept on saying like, do I need to pay more? No no no no, and then another place I asked, you know, should I give a tip and she said yes. And I asked how much and she said 100 rubles. So I did. And then there is another place where I was giving 100 and I thought that’s not really enough, so I gave 200.
Then at one place I wanted change back and she misunderstood me, and so she gave me 500 back, so I actually tipped 500. And I didn’t wanna sound, I didn’t wanna say no, I want my money back. No, I just let her have it, I just let her have it, like, fine with me. Now I make sure that I have my rubles in my wallet and I don’t need change.
Have you ever had… Cause I remember at some point that was really popular to have those fake nails or like nail extensions. Have you ever had that?
We did at school, yeah. I remember at some performances like at some dances we used to perform at stage a lot and so we did these nails like you know, really really long. It was black.
For dress up time. But you can’t do anything.
When I was a kid I really wanted to have it so we got some fake nails at a market and I just glued them and I was like look at me. Click click click everywhere. Oh my god, it’s so fun. Of course you can’t do anything with them. I mean, I sometimes have long nails, but these are my nails, you know.
And if they grow, you know, slowly and naturally, you don’t notice how they become long and then you just get used to doing whatever you usually do. But if you have the nail extension from short to long in like one day, oh, then you are just lost. How do I zip? It’s such a struggle! Alyona, what about you, have you ever had…
Last year during the quarantine lockdown times, yeah, so I found the master who actually provided service and I think in May I had my nails done those gel. And then I came to her in maybe like June and so we just cut those nails just a little and I wore really long nails during the whole summer last year.
I really love such things but after that I don’t know, I get disappointed with the length or they break or whatever. And when you need to go back and find time and so on. I prefer to just go to an average manicurist and have a classical manicure done and with my own nails.
And what about hair? How often do something or have something done to your hair? Natalie have you ever had your hair dyed?
Dyed? Oh I don’t know. I mean, I’ve never had blond hair although I wanted to but… Just I don’t know a month ago maybe I had my hair a bit more like gingerish if I could say so. Yeah I mean it wasn’t like really dyed, it was toned. But till it was kinda ginger a little bit. So yeah.
But apart from that, if I’m not mistaken, you have never had your hair dyed like bleached and then dyed?
I did bleach it once, it was maybe 3 or 4 years ago. No, actually, 2, just 2. Oh my god. Okay. So and I bleached it and I dyed it blue. So.
You might have seen it actually. It wasn’t like really blue-blue, it was…
It was like dark-dark blue.
It was dark blue and it was like only on the edges.
Oh yeah, I remember that now, yeah.
But it was interesting. I remember people like at the street were like wow, you have nice hair and I was like woah, thanks.
And how often do you get your hair trimmed?
Oh once a month usually, but sometimes I forget about it.
Do you go or do you do it yourself?
I just do it myself, it’s like… You take it like that and you just cut it. So it like takes one minute maybe, something like that. But if you go to hairdresser’s, it’s like much longer and it’s always some kind of sad story.
What is that thing they’re doing here? They use a razor cause I asked for a bloodcut.
Yeah, they might actually.
What is this thing? A razor!
You know like to go through all like length and like…
I have never seen that to be honest.
Well a blood cut is all the hair should be the same length and then there is this kind of razor thing and the end is not the same length.
Oh, yeah, I understand what you’re talking about. They do that.
Yeah I don’t know what that is.
It’s like a machine for splits or something like that?
No. I think that’s what in Russian we would call филировка so you know it’s like… They have the scissors, but they’re not cutting, they’re kinda… I have no idea how to explain it.
Or the scissors are jabbed or something. Cause that nice blood feeling when you’ve grabbed your hair and it’s the same length, I love that. And then when I… Like, what is that? What did they do?
Yeah, they do that, they do that here. Wait, Barbara, do you dye your hair or do you have it dyed?
Yes. No, I do it my own, that I will do it maybe once in a while. Oh I remember when I broke my wrist, I had to have it. I had to have someone do it. But yeah, I do it and I do it maybe very 4 weeks, 5 weeks, sometimes 6 weeks.
Do you dye the whole length or just the roots?
The roots. And then it will pull up some of it through but I don’t think that it’s necessary. Just the roots that I got here.
Okay. Alyona, what about you?
Well I’ve been wearing close the colors closer to my natural one for a year.
Is that your natural color?
Closer to it, yeah. The rots are my own. But I think almost all my life I was red, ginger red, I was orange whatever. Different shades of red color. I was ruby, I was, well, what, almost blond. Chestnut and all of those… Again, the line of the copper shades, yeah. So from the brightest to the darkest. So, yeah, usually like that.
And I was a little, I don’t know, tired, yeah, last year and I decided okay, decided two things. First, to grow my hair because I’m used to wearing much shorter length. And second, I decided okay, let it be my own color just for some time. Why not?
And I’m happy with that now. I’m not sure I’m going to change my color like at least tomorrow, so you know, sometimes it’s like okay, like a flash, lightning, whatever. And you’re like I want to change my color, I have the dyes stored at home, so whatever.
Yeah, I still have some green dye. I might use it one day.
It’s funny how trends have changed because when I was a little girl, it was considered like such a faux pas to have your dark roots showing, it’s like oh my god, her dark roots are showing. But now it’s, you know, it’s supposed to be very, you know…
The other thing is that when I was growing up, parts had to be very straight and not messy. And the part had to be exactly in the middle or exactly on the side, however it should be. But it should be this way or else you’d be made fun of. And now you know how people’s parts go all over the place.
The thing is that they say if you part always in the middle, all the time, the same place, then it might cause the hair loss.
I think that’s true because I’ve always had my hair on this side and then since I’d been in Russia, I thought okay, let me be different and I’ve changed it to the other side. And I do, I think one side is more bald than this side and it’s because of decades of one side. So it’s a good idea to change your part.
Something to think about, yeah. Alright. Alright. So and what kind of beauty procedures would you say are popular in Russia and in the US right now?
Lip fillers. Whatever. Botox.
Botox. What do you think about lip fillers? Would you ever do that?
I went before Botox was Botox and it was called collagen cause collagen comes from fat in your thigh or fat from a cow or something, and I have the scar here. And this was like 30 years ago. I went to a dermatologist, I said hey, can you just sand the scar off?
Cause it’s too deep, we can’t sand it off, we can inject it. And he was and he just happened to be the one who designed or discovered this new kind of injection thing. So I trusted him. And it was nice. It kinda puffed it out for a while, it lasted for a few months and then went back in. I thought well, I’m not gonna do that again, so that’s how I had the first Botox so to speak.
I think the thing about some of these procedures is that you have to do them regularly.
Like every 6 months or every some amount of months, yeah. So it’s not that…
What about these younger women like 20s and 30s getting botox? It’s just, it’s so shocking to me. Like, why? Why? You are so young. Why do you wanna do that?
I think it all depends on your skin and the muscle tense, yeah. For example my sister, so she used to have really, I don’t know, wrinkled forehead, yeah. She’s just a year younger than I am, she’s 35 and so two years ago she went to a beautician and asked for the injections of Botox and actually if I’m not mistaken, she did that procedure just once.
And her forehead muscles relaxed and she obtained a new habit of not being forrowing, not being tensed, yeah. I mean, the muscles, right. And now it’s sportifying.
She’s used to it and she controls her mimics herself now and because, yes, because she didn’t do the procedures several times, I think there is no kind of habit of… There is no loss of habit of the muscles. So they don’t need those treatments. I think. Yeah. So and I saw that result and I was like alright, so I can give it a try myself maybe when I really need that.
And Botox can be used in medical purposes too like for migraines, for other stuff.
Oh wow, I didn’t know that.
It’s like when you have some kind of thing here in the neck, I don’t know how to describe it, but you can just inject some Botox and it will help somehow. I don’t know how, I’m not a doctor obviously, yeah, but still. That’s it.
Any other procedures you can think of?
Fillers. Lips filled and mostly I would say it looks really odd.
I mean it depends. For some people it’s natural, it depends on like whether it’s within reason or not.
It depends on the cosmetologist of course, how professional they are and maybe if they have some medical education, right. So background, yeah. And so altogether, I think nowadays advertisement works really hard and the people, girls, okay, so they follow the trends and they think it’s fashionable, but they forget about the beauty standards, Greek for example beauty standards. So that, so everything should be balanced.
So the first time I heard of injections was in the 1970s, Gelsey Kirkland, a famous ballerina from ABT, American Ballet Theater. She got her upper lip injected with what we used back then, it was called silicone and it was because she wanted to look like Suzanne Farrell who is another ballerina in the company.
I know that cause I read her autobiography. She also had her ankles injected so that her point looked like a little bit higher arch and of course it was considered very strange, odd behavior. But that was the very first I’ve ever heard of injections. And here we are 40-50 years later.
Used to be that celebrities getting botox and now, you know.
And now it’s available to everyone basically. I remember some years ago it was also popular to get hair extensions, you know, like fake hair and everything. Now it’s more like the braids, the zizi, the dreadlocks. I think this is still kinda popular.
And it’s really… You gotta be careful about cultural appropriation and this is where you take someone’s culture and you put it on yourself and it’s considered like the dominant culture which is the white society shouldn’t be taking cultural things from other people. So one has to be careful with that. But I don’t think it’d be cultural appropriation if I got some traditional Russian braids, would it?
I don’t think it would be.
I don’t think so. I would like to get a big thick braid and put it in some kind of Russian…
Also, you know, that would be debatable whether it is Russian. Cause that has been seen in oh in many many many cultures. And we’ve been doing the same thing. A lot of cultures around the world have been doing the same thing. You know, people have hair everywhere, so.
Well I looked up to see I mean, with the dreads – those are African roots. Those are not Ukrainian or Russian or Asian or anything.
Yes yes yes. Yeah. So yeah, you have to be careful with that too.
But since Russia’s such a dominant society, I don’t think it would be bad for me to get a big braid.
Is there any kind of a beauty procedure that you are planning to get? Or something you are planning to do?
And what is your attitude to plastic surgery?
Oh I’ve been following one plastic surgeon, the woman here in Novosibirsk. Just I was curious once and actually I stayed tuned, yeah. She’s been doing really great job. So for women, for example, who lost their breast because of cancer.
Yeah, so that restoration work. Really amazing things. And if we talk about women who want the bigger breasts, yeah, the actually the work that I saw it was kind of delicate and professional and really beautiful.
So and the other thing that the surgeon is providing it’s so called Hollywood face lift, yeah. So it looks really I would say amazing, yeah, the results, yeah, when the tissues of your face yeah. Yes. If you look at the photos of the process, yes.
And men are getting it as well.
Yeah. But the results, they are just…
Would you ever dare to undergo a plastic surgery?
I wouldn’t. Because since I was teenager I was a very much aware of plastic surgery because it was big in the 70s. And it would matter, it’s always been my goal, my daily goal is to take care of myself so that I don’t feel like I need it so much.
And to age gracefully and to say this is how old I am, look at all my wrinkles. Yes, I’m sacking here. And just have to deal with it. So when my skin starts looking bad, I thin okay, I’ve been eating too much sugar and I try to take care of myself from the inside out and then just accept whatever it is.
I can relate totally because actually. So as for me, plastic surgery and my attitude to that it’s just emergency, yeah. In case you had some, I don’t know, bad accident, or cancer. Yeah. Operations and so on. In that case it’s really lovely that actually our society provides such things, yeah, that people have that ability actually to restore something that happened wrong with their bodies.
Okay, alright. Well I’ve been thinking, you know, when I was a teen I was thinking that one day, when I’m an adult, I’m gonna get a nose job. But that’s only because I had my nose broken twice. So and it used to be more of a straight nose and now there is a little bump. So I thought I would change that. But now I’m like who cares? Like.
I’m so… Now I’m like I would only undergo a plastic surgery if I have to, meaning if I have had some kind of an accident, so I have to do that. But other than that – oh no. So I’m with Barbara on this one as well, you know, like I’ll accept whatever are my wrinkles… And I sometimes look, you know, at my smile…
Yesh, there are wrinkles.
These are my smiley wrinkles.
Well, I’m not as relaxed as you when I look in the mirror. Oh my god, look at me now. Oh my god! I can’t believe it!
Alright. Well that has been a fun conversation. So and I actually wanna know what our listeners think about all that. So what are your thoughts on plastic surgery? On make up? So do you use make up or not? And if so, what things you agree or disagree with?
So is there something you would like to talk about? Feel free to leave comments in the comments section on Vk. Well and that was the BigAppleSchool podcast and today we discussed beauty standards, make up, skin care and all that.
Thank you for listening and remember, if you struggle to understand our conversation, you are always welcome to our website which is Bigappleschool.com/podcast where you can find full scripts of each episode.
So you can read the script while listening. And if you want to get even more content which will help you learn English, you can follow us on social media such as Instagram, Vk, Youtube, Telegram, we are everywhere. Just search our name which is BigAppleSchool. So that was Katya and my guests for today were…
Stay tuned and we’ll see you around.
Катерина Рудых
Наталья Мамонова
