A Girl's Girl
What Would Rachel Do?
“My friends are everything to me… I’d die for them, I’d kill for them, I’d never fuck their boyfriends.”
“You are a girl’s girl,” I whispered to Rachel. It was like we had discovered who A was in Pretty Little Liars on episode three or, we had finally understood the diagnosis our therapist gave us in the eighth grade. Rachel was the idyllic girl’s girl. It was a revelation, a discovery; we were Marie and Pierre Curie.
In actuality, we were two blueberry mojito pitchers down in a happy “hour” that somehow turned into a eight hour excursion. After walking home from the bar (and back to the bar because Rachel forgot her credit card and then we stopped at the wine store and then the bodega), we sat on my roof and studied the collection before us: a slice of 7/11 pepperoni pizza, bodega tortilla chips, old salsa jar from my fridge (technically my roommate’s), a cheese and salami snack-pack that you get at gas stations, four Juul packs, one tube of regular pringles, and a bottle of rosé that we got because the label looked like a nipple. No, we weren’t scientists anymore. We were gatherers. It was primal to us women.
I puked the next morning at work.
With our snacks ready, we started the show: @rachelllove18’s “Winter Frost Tutorial” on Youtube. Ten years ago, Rachel created a masterpiece: an eight minute makeup tutorial video set to 2010 wispy-voiced indie songs. No voiceover, just great transitions and vibes. Her caption:
“Rachel, you were a better makeup artist at 13 than I am at age 22,” I admitted.
Rachel laughed, yet she did not deny it (I’ll analyze that later).
“I began my love for makeup… well, I was quite the Youtube Girly back in the day. Probably around age 10 or 11 I took a fascination to Michelle Phan, a famous makeup artist. I just watched her and adored her videos and I would be in my room with my Claire’s makeup and I would try to emulate what she was doing and I just loved it. There was something about … well, fashion and my insecurities with my body. I did not take creative liberty with my fashion choices and I found that makeup was something that I could take on as my own and could indulge in creatively that didn’t really expose my insecurities.”
Drunk or not drunk, I felt enlightened. There is too much pressure on young girls to be stereotypically pretty (thin, clear skin, no body hair, etc.) And with the rise of social media’s influence on America’s youth, well let’s just say the girls are not alright. After all, The New York Times just reported record levels of sadness in teen girls; one-third have seriously considered attempting suicide. Although fashion has appeared to make strides in inclusivity (e.g. plus-sized models, birthmarks on magazine covers, and an expanding range of sizes), there is still much more work to be done to feel included in fashion when there are still tags stating “one size fits all.” New flash, it does not.
An eyeshadow palette on the other hand, well the world is anyone’s for the taking. Rachel capitalizes on that. We laughed while watching her puberty-plagued past play dress-up for a fantasized “winter frost” event, but part of me felt heartbroken for the 2023 middle-schoolers. Innocence is lost when your social media presence is intrinsically tied to your self-worth. The question “why can’t I look like her?” is endless while scrolling. If Rachel and I had never been on Tumblr during it’s #thinspo era, we would probably have a better relationship with our self-image today.
That’s why I am obsessed with Rachel’s current makeup account: @byrachelcbodenger. Her first post was an old selfie – probably age 13 – captioned “Okay starting off strong.” Her face was painted like a tiger (I think?) with fake fangs included of course. But since that post on November 29, 2022, Rachel’s face blesses my feed at least once a week, usually more, with a new makeup look that never fails to shock me. Some are easy to digest: heavy blushed cheeks, string winged eyeliner, and fake lashes. But the majority of them go far beyond Euphoria-age inspiration. Her selfies belong in a museum.
Rachel’s friend Olivia suggested she start the page to express creativity and find a passion that brought her joy. “Last year when I was living in a terrible apartment, I just found myself doing these makeup looks with very cheap shitty makeup. For those three, four hours that I was doing it, it really just brought me such joy that other things could not.” The shitty makeup she refers to? Clown makeup on Amazon. But, she is a ride or die for the Maybelline Fit Me Collection, almost exclusively using their foundation, concealer and powder. Make-up doesn’t need to be expensive, she claims. After all, she still uses her 2011 Naked palette. Don’t worry, she is aware that makeup expires, but tells me “don’t listen to them.” Who is “them”? I have no idea… probably skin doctors and scientists. I trust Rachel more.
My favorite look-to-date was posted on April 5th called “face collage.” Using eyelash glue, Rachel spent five hours mounting random objects in her bedroom onto her face: dice, pushpins, a miniature saxophone, hair clips, safety pins, the list goes on. I didn’t recognize her. But the point is not to appear feminine or beautiful, at least to meet societal standards. Rachel believes that makeup transcends men’s understanding that it is just a cheatcode to camouflage women’s insecurities and flaws; “It’s just as much an art as like a fucking painting, excuse me.”
Rachel puts on makeup for herself (and her 179 followers). She does not do it for men (except maybe on a night out because who doesn’t?). We have all heard the Twitter discourse on why you should take women swimming on the first date. Male podcasts claim that women only post online for male validation and come to think of it, they don’t know women who have hobbies. While that is proof that men need to stop making podcasts, I also think that it is time to start embracing makeup as an art form. Trying something new, whether its’ a blue eyeliner or a purple lip, makeup is a beautiful way to explore the creativity in you, to explore the vastless possibilities that your personality can be visually represented.
“I always try to do something different… like I ask myself ‘Who am I going to be tonight?’”
So grab your palette, and do whatever the fuck you want. If you need inspiration, ask yourself, “What would Rachel do?” The best advice always comes from a girl’s girl.
