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  • Archive for February, 2007

    Philosophy of Beauty

    Beauty is an integral part of our lives. For ages, philosophers have been wondering how to define beauty and ugliness. Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? How does the ancient concept of beauty compare to concepts of beauty in contemporary aesthetics and society?

    Beauty is an integral part of our lives. For ages, philosophers have been wondering how to define beauty and ugliness. Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? How does the ancient concept of beauty compare to concepts of beauty in contemporary aesthetics and society? What is the role of beauty in our images/perceptions of bodies, and how does this motivate critical feminist theories of beauty?
    Until the 18th century, beauty was the most important aspect of aesthetics. Socrates thought you felt pleasure from objects that were intrinsically beautiful. He found pleasure in simple geometric shapes, single colors, and musical notes. Plato, however, believed that beauty was an ingredient property within things. Relative beauty exists only in comparison to ugly things. Plato thought that beauty was defined by a property of the whole object.
    As described in Plato’s Philebus, the measure of beauty was structured and related to intelligence. Beauty is symmetry and exactness. Aristotle believed that there was no absolute beauty, but that it was based on perception. As a general term, the Greeks perceived beauty as interchangeable with excellence, perfection, and satisfaction. Plotinus believed that beauty did not include symmetry. However, “beauty is that which irradiates symmetry, rather than symmetry itself.”

    In the 16-17th centuries conditions of beauty became specific and formal. The beauty was supposed to “arouse” the appropriate response, which was pleasure or delight.

    In the 18th century Addison came up with a statement that “the taste is not to conform to the art, but the art to the taste.” Focus of what beauty was changed based around a person’s reaction to what the object was. Beauty was no longer the main concept in aesthetics. There were now other factors involved, basically referred to as the aesthetic perception.

    A significant realization in aesthetics was sublimity. Beauty was described as an experience of “joy or cheerfulness.”

    However, with a more general meaning of today, beauty is defined by an individual response to an object.

    The modern philosophy of health and beauty requires a wholeness of the body, mind, and soul. Therefore, while taking care of your body you have to cultivate the inner beauty, trying to achieve the harmony of body and soul. The physical beauty is a combination of healthy eating habits, massage and regular exercise. Beauty look comes from within and it requires good health condition.

    If you are stressed and are feeling miserable and unhappy, no beauty treatment will be effective. Cristina Carlino, head of the Philosophy cosmetic company, is convinced that an unhappy person will never feel or look beautiful. Only happiness smoothes out the wrinkles and puts the thoughts in order. Happiness, according to beauty professionals, is more effective than a deluxe beauty treatment.

    However, some people tend to go to another extreme - a constant self-criticism, which causes a low self-esteem. To look better these people have to take it easy on themselves and get rid of negative thoughts, and then the body and soul will come to harmony.

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    Beauty - a world of perfection

    We live in a world that strives for perfection. We tan our skin using artificial light, we starve to lose weight to look more like emaciated cover girls and have cosmetic surgery on everything from toes to noses - all in the name of beauty.

    We live in a world that strives for perfection. We tan our skin using artificial light, we starve to lose weight to look more like emaciated cover girls and have cosmetic surgery on everything from toes to noses - all in the name of beauty.
    In a world where everything can be modified for the sake of perfection, nothing seems real anymore. It seems we are so obsessed with what we want to be that we don’t want to know who we are. We forget that having a charismatic personality and a healthy dose of self-esteem is really beautiful. So, what is the real price we have to pay for beauty?
    Beauty is about being your unique self and not being afraid to preserve your own integrity. It is about being supportive to those you love and to those who need you. It is about being the first to laugh at yourself when life doesn’t go exactly your way. It is about recognizing your faults and realizing that it is these little flaws that make you stand out. It is about standing up for what you believe in. It is about not being afraid to say, “I love you.” It’s about having sympathy towards others. It is about having pride and not settling for less than you deserve. It is about realizing what you want out of life and fighting for it.
    Unlike your appearance, these qualities will always be yours. Why is it that we still let something so ephemeral define who we are and what we are worth? Why are we all following the same beauty standard? If we give up all of the things that make us unique as an individual, we become nothing but a part of the crowd. We become mediocre. We become faceless. We become ugly.
    The ugliest things in life are those that are artificial, that have no soul. Being raised in a society that promotes unrealistic standards of beauty, falsities are advertised and praised everywhere. As a result, we’ve created an artificial model of what beauty “should be”, that has nothing to do with reality. Are these false standards just distracting us, aiding in leading us further from the truth? We have become a society that just follows someone else’s lead. Is that what life is really about?
    What influences us in our decisions to overhaul or upgrade our looks and wardrobe from time to time? Printed press and TV media sell a certain image by request of fashion corporations and easily influence people. We became a walking ad signs for companies that use us a free promo material. We are being convinced that we are incomplete if we are not wearing Gucci jeans or are not buy an Estee Lauder cleanser, and we are just following the rules of the game.

    The dictionary defines beauty as “the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit.” It’s up to you to agree or disagree with this definition. Nevertheless, in this eternal pursuit of beauty and perfection don’t forget to be an individual. Be confident with who you are. Don’t let some small parameter of what you should be define you. Wear a short skirt or walk barefooted in the rain, laugh out loud or cry - don’t be afraid to do what you feel like…

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    Nail Design Review Is Interesting For Professionals And Amateurs

    A detailed nail design review is capable of making it plain to observe the tremendous array of nail patterns that have been created by the fruitful imagination of professional nail art specialists. The development of nail art is still in progress and new nail patterns and decorative techniques like those of nail gems usage, are continuously being introduced.

    It is plain to see that the variety of nail patterns is truly tremendous and can safely be interpreted as a sign of progress of nail art. This is the aspect of the general nail art process that lies on the surface, but certainly there is much more to it. The landmarks of development of nail art are very fascinating for many due to a variety of reasons. Nail art is much more than a subsidiary direction of the beauty industry, it deserves individual treatment and has developed into an absolutely independent sphere of activity of beauty professionals. It used to be customary to combine the services of cutting hair and nail care. But there exists a pronounced tendency nowadays, the tendency of separating the two spheres of activity as completely independent branches of art. If we take into account the breathtaking multitude of finger nail patterns now present and you will realize how much information can be extracted from a detailed nail design review.

    Nail art has been capturing the hearts and fascinating the minds of people for a long time now and the long history of its popularity has contributed to the appearance of a great variety of nail patterns. This factor has made it next to impossible to give a full and detailed nail design review. It is only possible to differentiate the decorative techniques that are most widely used, such as the application of nail gems. Dwelling on the subject of nail design review it is necessary to point out that nail work is now widely regarded as a form of art in its applied variety. Judging by the great interest people still take in the sphere of nail design review, nail art is not likely to lose its appeal in the near future. Bringing it under the spotlight of attention the nail art process proper has to be mentioned that nail art professionals operate with materials of a variety of textures. Besides, the amazing variety of colors and shades available needs to also be taken into consideration, to say the least of the diversity of techniques applied. And all of this is done for one purpose - in order to make you take pride in your nails that others will be willing to feast their eyes on.

    Speaking about the point of nail design review it seems reasonable to briefly touch upon the technical side of the matter. At the earlier stages of development, the process of nail creation used to be much more time consuming and costly, while now it is actually available at a reasonable cost. That’s why along with speaking about nail design review it needs to be pointed out that nail art has acquired a very democratic character nowadays. Besides, it seems safe to claim that the future will witness even further innovations and constructive modifications both as regards the diversity of nail patterns as well as the procedure of nail creation. New materials and techniques will be introduced as well additional decorative elements that will be used in the quality of spice for nail art creations along with nail gems. So let us enjoy the present state of things as regards nail art and be looking forward to pleasant surprises.

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