In a truly empowering new video, Kate Winslet is celebrating the brand’s 50th birthday byโฆtaking off her make-up. Unlike most of the adverts weโve seen in the past, this campaign puts emphasis on natural skin and celebrates natural beauty in a series of videos from the brand called โLessons of Worthโ.
In an age of make-up commercials that encourages us all to believe that perfection is possible with photoshopped and flawless skin, it is encouraging to see big brands like LโOreal shifting gear and focusing instead on positive messaging around natural beauty.
Image via Youtube L’Orรฉal Paris Australia
The latest campaign re-enforces the brand’s well-known tagline โ’Because youโre worth itโ’.
Kate Winslet knows that natural beauty is best
Watching the video, itโs plain to see that Kate Winslet is a beautiful woman. At 46, Winslet has aged with grace and is well known for her views on plastic surgery and Botox, which she is staunchly against.
Image via Youtube L’Orรฉal Paris Australia
In fact, despite many tabloid stories suggesting that Winslet is secretly loading up her face with Botox, she isnโt shy about calling it out as nonsense.
Winslet told The Telegraph:
“It goes against my morals, the way that my parents brought me up and what I consider to be natural beauty. I will never give inโ.
She went on to explain that, as an actress, she couldnโt imagine freezing her face and becoming unable to express herself.ย
She told People Magazineย that she now has โthe kind of wrinkles that are here to stay now… Not just the ones where you wake up in the morning, and you go, ‘Oh, that will go away in two hours’ time.’ No, they’re there. That’s the way that it isโ.
At a time when airbrushing is as easy as the touch of a button and Instagram filters can change your entire face, it’s nice to see women like Winslet standing up for naturally beautiful skin. Of course, Winslet is open about the fact that she looks after her skin and admits that she regularly has facials.ย
This is what we need to be telling the next generation
At 27, looking at this campaign was a real wake-up call.
All too often, as Winslet says in the video,
โ’When we’re younger, we all think that our worth is about our face, or our body shape, or how much attention we get, or how popular we are, or how many ‘likes’ you get compared to your friendsโ.
“I consider myself lucky that social media only really became a fixture in my life towards the end of my teens. Facebook of course was already a stalwart but personally, I feel that it was the curated feeds of Instagram that began to make us feel โless thanโ. “
Winslet really focuses on the fact that what we need to focus on is “owning the right to be you.” Perhaps the most important thing she said is โ[you need] to stand in your truth with your body, your skin, and your face โ which is going to change as the years pass โ that’s just a factโ.
All too often, young women, myself included, feel that they should do anything and everything to reduce the signs of aging and even hide the fact that it’s happening. Personally, I know of many 20 somethings that are already filling their faces with Botox in an effort to stop the aging process before it even begins.ย
Winslet believes that we can help each other to unlearn the negative associations of agingย
Winslet also makes the point that feeling brave enough to be truly and authentically you are vital, and it’s something that โwe can all help each other to doโ.
We all need to stand back and take a critical look at how we personally view the aging process, especially as women. There’s no doubt that you should be looking after your skin to the best of your abilities.ย
Image via Instagram
This includes things like making sure that you remove your makeup before bed, putting on sunscreen every day, and caring for your skin by moisturizing it and using a cleanser twice a day.
The really important thing though is to accept that, although you can look after your skin and care for it, it will undoubtedly change over time, and it will, at some point, begin to show the signs of aging as you get older.ย
The trick for us, like Winslet, is to learn to see the wrinkles and lines on our skin as part of a natural process that shows what weโve been through and tells our stories.
The lines around your eyes and mouth when you laugh show that you have led a happy life. Itโs nothing to be ashamed of, in fact, itโs something that we should be proud of.ย
Comparison is indeed the thief of joy
Itโs a quote by Theodore Roosevelt or CS Lewis depending on who you believe, perhaps both of them said it, either way, it’s a great quote. No matter which one of them said it, it’s likely that they didnโt think that it would be quite as pertinent in 2022.
However, with social media apps like TikTok and Instagram (and the extensive array of filters) at the height of popularity, it couldnโt be more relevant.
Despite the fact that we know intellectually that most of the people we see on Instagram and TikTok are using filters and donโt actually look like that, we still tend to compare ourselves. Why isnโt my skin flawless like hers? Why donโt my eyelashes look that good?
A campaign like this from a big brand like L’Orรฉal with women like Kate Winslet and Helen Mirren showing what they truly look like beneath the perfectly applied makeup will hopefully encourage us all to see that, though make-up is fun and many of us enjoy wearing it, it shouldnโt be a crutch to use in order for us to make ourselves look โbetterโ or โyoungerโ.
We need to appreciate that what is underneath is just as valuable, and authenticity is always better. Most people do not look like they do on Instagram, we do not live perfectly curated lives, our skin tells that story, our story and that is to be valued.ย
Referencesย
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/pink-kate-winslet-more-celebrities-150000002.html
https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/17541234/kate-winslet-make-up-loreal/
