40° 24' N , 3° 42' E

The "salon" experience deserves its own sociological study in the Middle East (although the recent Lebanese movie hit Caramel introduced us to this), especially in the Gulf countries. One of the offers in many salons is to get make-up done, a process that goes far beyond (by far we are talking galaxies and parallel dimensions) Western standards of a makeoever.

I have really tried to do research on the cosmetics industry here in the Gulf to try to ascertain consumer demand but have a hard time finding studies on beauty standards, makeup aesthetics and market sector analysis.

In any case, I found a catalogue of famous makeup artists here in Kuwait. Below are some of their...creations. Yes, the first picture says "Kuwait" on the forehead. I am attempting to honor this month, as christened by Sarkozy, in the name of standards and perceptions of beauty/modesty, freedom/constraint, the secular/the religious towards Women in the Middle East.