One thing I know about beauty is that it matters. If it didn’t, the global beauty industry would not be worth hundreds of billions of dollars. But what exactly is beauty? Is it makeup?, is it flawless skin or a particular skin tone?, is it perfectly constructed facial and body features? is it a natural genetic gift? soulful radiance? or a combination of all?

Everyone wants to be desirable but desire lies in the emotions of the desirer. For those who invest heavily on cosmetics, beauty is makeup. Those who detest blemishes and fine lines believe beauty is skincare and those who make plastic surgeons richer perceive beauty as possessing the perfect nose, lips, breasts and whatever features that can be reconstructed and altered.

If beauty was flawless skin, Winnie Harlow would not be a model. If beauty was a skin tone Lisa Manobal, Halima Aden and Priyanka Chopra will not top TC Candler’s recent list of most beautiful faces all at the same time.

According to TC Candler, presenters of the annual international 100 Most Beautiful Faces of the Year, it’s selection criteria includes ‘grace, elegance, originality, daring, passion, class, poise, joy, promise and hope’.

This means that beauty is multi-dimensional. There’s a physical, mental, spiritual and social aspect to it yet the focus is solely on the physical. Beauty is the radiance emitted from a soul filled with love, the confidence exuded and the authenticity of being in your element. Notwithstanding, beauty can be accentuated with cosmetics. But you cannot accentuate anything until you recognize and acknowledge it’s existence.

Beauty is a feeling. It’s an aura and the more vibrant it feels, the more beautiful it looks.

Beauty’s recipe is authenticity, love, kindness, and confidence. Authenticity embraces the uniqueness and diversity of beauty. It brings you to terms with the fact that you are not this person or that person but your own version of YOU is just as valid. Love is manifested in self-care and acceptance. Kindness to blemishes on yourself and those on others is the magnetic force that attracts others to you. Confidence is mental makeup.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and the beholder is you. The beholder only sees what he/she perceives as beauty. Redefine your beauty till the world adopts your definition.