Symmetry

Last year, I took a Makeup Artistry class through UVU. The day we talked about eye shadow and how to apply it to different eye shapes, the teacher pointed out that I had one classic and one contour eye. A contour eye shows more eyelid than a classic eye. For some reason, I NEVER noticed this before. Maybe it was because I never wore much makeup, BUT I DID look in the mirror at least every day of my entire life. The purpose of the class was to teach us how to use makeup to create symmetry, which the teacher said was the definition of beauty.

That night I thought about doing a portrait where I mirror my face to see how I look when I am perfectly symmetrical, but I never did it until now.

Apparently it is not only my eyes that are asymmetrical. One half of my face is lower than the other half, which is why my sunglasses never fit right! I thought I was just buying defective glasses all this time!

I don't feel bad because I am not symmetrical, so please don't worry about my self-esteem! My mom told me I was beautiful every day of my life, and despite much evidence to the contrary, I can't seem to unbelieve it. My makeup teacher said everyone is asymmetrical, so I've been looking at faces, and the truth is, I don't see it in other people very often. Rarely, in fact. Only once, I saw it, in Vanessa Williams. She has differently-shaped eyes, like mine, but much better. I mean she was Miss America. And there is also the fiddler crab, you know the one with one huge claw and one miniature claw.

Anyway, I am a little more self-conscious than I used to be, because I spend a lot of time perfecting the faces of people who are already beautiful! But hey, you know what they say about the man who complained he didn't have any shoes . . . .

My tendency is to lean more toward the image on the right, the "ugly" one, if I may say that about my own photo, as being representative of me. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, right? You know the least common denominator kind of thing. But isn't the one on the left me too? The pretty one, if I may say that about my own photo. It is 50% of my face, in the same way that Barack Obama is 50% white, right?!

Sure, the side-lighting didn't work with the mirror image, but you get the idea.

Wow, check out that neck.

Interesting.