Make-up: Is it something you hide behind or is it something that enhances your natural beauty?
A common criticism that people have for the beauty industry is its focus on hiding behind make-up.It is true that the toxicity of the industry and its obsession with arbitrary beauty standards can lead people down very dark roads.
However, to those who treat make-up and fashion as art and an enhancement to the beauty one already possesses, the industry can be very different. In her manga, “Bless” Yukino Sonoyama delves into what beauty means to different people and how one can enhance it without losing themselves.
Through the two main characters Aia, a boy who wants to be a professional makeup artist; and Jun, who wants to become a model, the story of Bless takes us through many emotional ups and downs. It shows us that make-up is not something to hide behind. On the contrary, it’s liberating, creative, and a way to express your heart onto your face.
Bless
Story and art: Yukino Sonoyama
Publisher: Kodansha
Where to read: K Manga
What is “Bless” about?
The manga begins with introducing two teenagers, a boy named Aia Udagawa and a girl named Jun Sumisaki. They are in the same class of Aoiyama High, a school known for producing talented showbiz and beauty professionals. As first years are often overlooked in the school’s ‘Aoi Con’ festival, their classmates choose Aia, who has some modelling experience, and Jun, who is a committee member, to become the model and the make-up artist for the fashion show.
Unbeknownst to them, Aia actually loves doing make-up and once wanted to become a beauty professional despite being a model. On the other hand, Jun Sumisaki, the tall, awkward girl, has a knack for modelling. Inspired by Jun’s excitement, Aia takes up the make-up brush again and dolls her up for Aoi Con. Their massive success at the festival gives them the push they needed.
Aia joins a make-up academy called ‘Mirror’ at the insistence of professional artist and model Daiya, whom he has a close connection to. On the other hand, Jun goes to modelling casting calls to realise her dream of becoming a supermodel. But as fate would have it, Aia and Jun’s paths cross again, as they continue to inspire each other to strive for excellence.
The two protagonists of the story are filled with the vibrance of youth. Despite being laughed at by others or being rejected at first, neither Jun nor Aia give up. Even apart from each other, they are each other’s biggest motivations and sources of inspiration. As the story progresses, we learn more and more about them, as well as all the side characters who become intrinsic parts of their lives.
How can you “Bless” someone with make-up?
A few chapters into the series, Aia Udagawa is asked what his dream is. He answers that he wants to “bless” others with his make-up. But what does blessing someone with your make-up even mean? And is the only way to feel that blessing is by putting make-up on your face?
Fortunately, the answer to the second question is no. The manga never treats make-up as something one needs to hide behind. Rather, it’s a way of bringing your inner self to the surface so that you can be proud of who you are no matter where you are in life.
Whether you are a model, a high school student, a run-down office-worker, or a teenager who never felt cute in her life– make-up can be your armour to finally feel beautiful and confident in your own skin. Jun Sumisaki calls make-up the world’s thinnest armour that gives her the confidence to face anything life throws at her.
A word like “beauty” can have vastly different effects on people depending on how one perceives it. When it comes to the beauty industry especially, it can be hard to feel at one with make-up artists and models when we hear about the horror stories about what an obsession with unachievable beauty standards can do.
But the success of a manga like Bless comes from not trying to sell us on those beauty standards, but removing the stigma and negativity around make-up and beauty professionals. Each of the members of Mirror we see in the series has their different aspirations. Where Aia wants to bless people with his make-up and bring a smile to their faces, Joe wants to bring his eccentric visions to life on his models’ faces. M.M was inspired by his go-getter wife to pursue make-up as a profession and make her happy, Akiharu, on the other hand was inspired by his high-school senior who liked dressing up in women’s clothing and make-up.
Beauty can mean different things to everyone, and Bless proves that something versatile like make-up can be used by anyone to bring their vision to life. Instead of being restricting, make-up is freeing. It gives an awkward girl like Jun Sumisaki the confidence to become a model, dream of travelling the world, and showing off her beauty to anyone wanting to see.
In the age of social media, when comparing yourself to others’ curated timelines is making us all insecure, Bless shows us that make-up is not intimidating. Instead it gives us the freedom to look and feel however we want to. We also see that the make-up artists don’t just put anything on their clients’ faces willy-nilly. They have conversations with them and learn about their interests. Curating a look based on what the person wants is the most important part of make-up. Creativity paired with compassion is the way to bring out someone’s inner beauty to the surface.
The manga’s greatest ammunition is its art
In the Bless manga, we see how make-up can be both your armour and your ammunition against a world flooded with mediocrity. When everyone on social media is suffering from same-face syndrome, it’s important to show the younger generation that make-up is and always was a way of expression and not imitation.
Yukino Sonoyama passes with flying colours when it comes to showing her readers how beautiful individuality and creativity is. Her art is phenomenal and we can see how the make-up artists use their weapons of choice to bring their visions of beauty to life on the models’ faces. Whether you are a runway model or an awkward teenager taking her first photo at her coming-of-age ceremony, everyone deserves to feel beautiful and confident in themselves.
Sonoyama’s magic doesn’t only lie in showing different types of make-up, but also the expressions on her characters’ faces. Someone going from being devastated about the state of their face or skin to feeling confident within just a few pages is not uncommon in this manga. And every time it happens, I tear up a little thinking how beautiful they must feel after being taken care of by a professional.
Should you read “Bless”?
Yes. You should read Bless– not just because it’s a beautiful manga that can help you unlearn a lot of things about the beauty industry, but also because it will genuinely help you love yourself more.
In many ways, young people today, especially young women, are made to feel that putting on make-up is a type of deception. But Bless teaches you that your make-up is for nobody else but yourself.
With gorgeous art and a free-flowing storyline that makes you fall in love with every character that appears on the pages, Bless is a work in progress and I can’t wait to see where it goes next. Reading it is an absolute delight.
With Bless now being made into an anime which will air next year, I can’t wait to see all my beloved characters and favourite make-up looks come to life on the screen.
But if you can’t wait another few months for the anime, head to K Manga where you can read Bless digitally.