I’m not a jealous person, but yesterday the green-eyed monster took up residence within me. The subject? A schoolgirl of about 15. She wasn’t a model on a billboard, didn’t appear to be a millionaire nor do I imagine she had superhero powers. She seemed very much like a regular person.
The problem is, I simply cannot believe how beautiful teenage girls are these days. As in, they look amazing ALL THE FREAKING TIME! This one in particular was a stunner: flawless skin, perfectly groomed eyebrows, shiny hair styled in ghd curls and make-up that looked as though she’d visited the MAC counter before 9am roll call.
And this fine-looking creature is not in the minority of females who look better going into geography class than I do turning up to work at a beauty company. I feel pressured to up the ante on my own grooming routine and I can’t say I’m not a little resentful.
Did these girls not get the memo that as teenagers you’re supposed to have a few spots? What about a dodgy home-colour kit instead of subtle highlights that actually suit your skin tone? Hair that frizzes in a spectacular triangle-shape (no serums in my day!) instead of layered ‘dos? Chewed nails rather than buffed and polished hands that belong on polish packaging?
I can safely say that I never looked like that at 15, although by my senior years I was definitely getting there. I blame the fact that when I was a teenager, glam” wasn’t an option. Jeans and tees and natural faces were what everyone was (or wasn’t?) doing.
Grunge was in. So was R&B. Both styles were so in” they were mainstream. Getting dressed you chose between cargo pants and Converse shoes or baggy denim overalls with Caterpillar boots. The make-up matched in simplicity: pixie cuts (which I did for years) or boring one-length locks with pencil-thin eyebrows and too-dark lip liner in various shades of nude (think Alanis Morissette, The Smashing Pumpkins’ bass player D’Arcy or TLC). Even Miranda Kerr couldn’t escape the beige-ness” of 90s make-up when she appeared on the cover of Dolly. It’s safe to say that when I look at high school photos I laugh a lot.
It’s great today’s teens finding style early on in life, and I’m happy they take so much pride in how they look. The fact they’re interested in finding colours that suit them and want to know how to apply products is fantastic. But if these gorgeous schoolgirls girls are killing it academically as well, I’m glad I graduated when they were kicking off in Kindergarten.
