Cultural Beauty

Shreya Sakar (she/her)

Editorial Team Member

Eyeliner has been a tradition in India for centuries. From portraits of deities on my grandmother’s walls in Kolkata, to posters of Bharathanatyam dancers I looked up to at my dance school, I’ve always associated eyeliner with Indian beauty. Growing up in America, however, I never enjoyed looking Indian. Instead, I spent countless hours and dollars at Sephora experimenting with makeup, trying to find a remedy for my Indian face. Yet no contour could mask my Indian nose, and no concealer could camouflage my brown skin’s hyperpigmentation. My mother's advice, “You don’t need makeup, just some eyeliner for your big brown eyes,” was particularly frustrating. While I’d seen eyeliner everywhere, it felt alien compared to the makeup tutorials from the white influencers I followed, wondering why I couldn’t look “pretty” like them.

When my Bharatanatyam teacher announced it was time I learned traditional makeup, eyeliner included, I was hesitant. To me, Indian makeup accentuated the ethnic features I tried desperately to hide. In the mirror, however, I was shocked by how eyeliner transformed my face and brightened my big Indian brown eyes in a way that made me, for once, like how I looked. I realized the features I’d tried so desperately to conceal were what made me beautiful. All I needed to do was turn to my culture to find the beauty that suited me. 

My family, culture, and background have shaped my lived experience by teaching me the importance of self-acceptance. Meeting fellow American-born Indians who have yet to discover the beauty in our culture makes me thankful that I’ve learned to embrace and appreciate it. Through my journey, I’ve learned that our backgrounds are not something to be hidden, but are integral to who we are. In embracing my culture, I’ve found a sense of self-worth and belonging that I, for so long, thought was out of reach.