Don’t you hate it when you look in the mirror and notice smudged eye liner, food on your face, messy hair, or a huge dab of bright lipstick on your teeth? You might get annoyed that no one bothered to say anything, but if you detected a makeup mishap on a stranger, would you really speak up? During the past year, I’ve learned a lot about human behavior through my social experiments, and how strangers react to the unusual. When I’m rocking saturated hair, or purple brows, they have no problem voicing their point of view. But a common makeup blunder? That’s a gray area.
I see a few recurring characters in my day-to-day grind, and figured that a familiar face would be brave and kind enough to break the barrier and tell me what a fool I look like, smiling ear to ear with purple lip color all over my front teeth. I must admit, I’ve seen strangers with less-than-perfect makeup, and haven’t bothered to tell them for fear of embarrassment. Heading into this experiment, I already doubted whether anyone would even notice. Well—people did, and their reclusive reactions surprised me even more!
In the course of two days I encountered nine individuals (seven of them male). I intentionally met a girlfriend for lunch, and after speaking for a few minutes I exclaimed in shock, “Why aren’t you telling me I have lipstick on my teeth?!” She responded, “Oh I didn’t really notice, sorry.” Then, at the grocery store as I was paying for my breakfast, a man asked if I needed any help. I kindly informed him that I was just fine and flashed my bright white (and violet) chompers, to which he put his head down and quickly walked back to his station. As I walked out of the grocery store, I boasted a pleasant “have a great day!” and gave him another genuine grin only to see that he waved his hand in response and kept his head low. Later, taking a break from work with my colleagues, I headed over to the coffee shop. I asked the barista for a water and she stared at my face, puzzled. Her reaction was quite different than the males during the day. There was less apprehension, and more of a sense of comradery about the situation as if she had been in my shoes before—but I found it strange that she didn’t say a word. In general, most people seemed to internalize their embarrassment for me through lack of eye contact and curt, dismissive conversation. I’m afraid there’s only one answer to this dilemma: Check your teeth before you head out the door, and check them well! And for good beauty karma, rather than ignore the next person you see with food in their teeth, pluck up enough courage and save them from even more mistakes—wouldn’t you appreciate it, too?
Have you ever been told you have something wrong with your makeup today? Let us know in the comments below!
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Sep 20, 2012
Patricia H.
Do you ever do make up updates for older women(40+)? I hate it when some of my older friends wear styles that just aren't their generation's styles. Maybe they can, but they just don't know how to apply it properly! Love your articles Babycakes!!
Aug 23, 2012
Kim L.
So I almost never do this, but your subject has inspired me; I believe our flaws cause people - particularly those who don't know us - to make snap judgments. Lipstick on the teeth labels you as the crazy chick (or worse); a typo, whether made because you were typing fast or because it's an odd word, labels you an idiot. Please, please do not be offended - Internet posts have no inflection, but I promise I am not being condescending.
I'm going to apologize for this, but I honestly think this is a great article, and I am making it my goal to try to politely point out potentially embarrassing things to people because of it. So, now that I have attempted to explain my reasoning, and I have my fingers crossed that I do not come across as a troll... It's "camaraderie".
As far as personal experience... I once happened to brush my eye with a finger before my mascara had dried. I spent nearly an entire day with a big, black streak across the side of my face. NO one told me - not the coworkers I saw everyday, not my friends who I met for lunch, not a stranger in the coffee shop before work. When I finally happened to see myself in a mirror, I was horrified. I cleaned it off, returned to my desk, and only then did the woman I shared my office with, say she was glad I'd noticed the streak, and how she felt horrible for not saying anything.
Aug 19, 2012
Donnie J.
I can see both points of views really. On the one hand, nobody wants to go around looking silly or ridiculous, but on the other, I think most people don't say anything because they don't want you to get offended and reject them, you know?
Jul 30, 2012
Rebecca C.
I once told a woman she had toilet paper stuck to her shoe. I told her quitely so no one would hear, plus we were the only two in the restroom and she scoffed at me and stormed off! Bloody cheek, I was only trying to be kind to a fellow female. :S
Jun 30, 2012
Gennett M.
I had a friend that would never tell anyone that needed to fix their hair or clean the lipstick off our teeth even though we would let her know if something was out of place on her. It got to the point where I stop telling her when things were out of place i would just walk around letting her look crazy. Then she had the nerve one day to ask me why I did not say anything when she had something in her nose, lol. I gave her the same line she would give me, oh I didn't see it. Haha!
Jun 28, 2012
Mariah R.
It seems the only people who tell me I have something on face, crazy hair, or something on my teeth are my close friends and family or my crushes. Most of the time though it's my crushes who tell me somthing -___-. Worst mistake I every made was when I sat on a red marker and was walking around with a big red mark on my butt. No one told me until my second to last period when my teacher (my aunt) gave me her sweater and told me to go the nurse's office for some pads. I was mortified!
Jun 27, 2012
Rachel K.
one major makeup mistake: mismatching/ill blended foundation that ends very clearly just above/on the jawline/in front of the ear. ahh. kills me. i will be nice and tell a friend if they did that!
Jun 24, 2012
Vickyy S.
girls just snicker if I have make up where its not supposed to be, I am not the most popular but all my guy friends yell at me for even wearing make up ;)
Jun 21, 2012
Brenda R.
i've had people tell me i had lipstick on my teeth, i hate those lipsticks or lipglosses that seem to always wind up on your teeth . it's probably happened many more times that nobody tells me
Jun 13, 2012
Rebekah E.
I used to attend Mary Kay consultant meetings with my mom, and (more often than once) I've seen women walk out after "makeovers" looking like they'd fallen into vats of talc. Its a bit too common for comfort, but I've never found a polite phrase to say to someone wearing the wrong shade of makeup, be it foundation/concealer/too much powder/bad blending/whatever. Just feels like its not my place... D:
Jun 27, 2012
Rachel K.
Aug 23, 2012
Kim L.