Dunno.

But I do know that when I personally cake it on, I’m not thinking about the male gaze, I’m thinking about things like: how can I look more like Debbie Harry circa 1978 (= lipgloss + very, very dim lighting)? And how can I disguise the fact that I’m hungover, have had five hours sleep and possibly just threw up in my bin (eyeliner + blusher)?

(As an aside, here is the greatest parody of beauty double standards ever).

If you want to give what you’re doing a name, you could tell fellow-me-lad about “lipstick feminism” - that’s the official (but admittedly not great) term for third-wave feminists (that’d be us) who think wearing a bit of slap and/or embracing traditionally feminine stuff, including sex positivity (reclaiming the word “slut” for example, as on the 2011 global wave of Slutwalks) is like, “a thing”.

Or you could say that to you, make-up is a form of self expression that allows you to be creative, and express who you are, and is basically an art whose practitioners should be praised and admired (ref Japanese Kabuki theatre, the New Romantic movement and fierce drag queens everywhere).

Viewed differently (or done differently) makeup can be rebellious. It can be transformative, part of a movement. Rather than conformity, it can be an act of defiance.

*No one has said this since 1987.

What do you think? Is a love of make-up on some level bound up with a need to please men - or can we reclaim it under the terms of third-wave feminism? And is it possible to re-frame the whole thing as a rebellious act of self-expression - as Anna-Marie suggests? Let us know your thoughts, below.

'Can I be a feminist and still love make-up?'