The make-up seems to empower the teenage girl as she does so in an elaborate fashion, with following each step like part of a religious ritual. In reality, make-up undermines her actual worth or beauty of the girls. Rather than feeling truly empowered, the fear of being left out lingers in their hearts. Make-up does never appear comfortable. The “manufactured” beauty is always painful. In the poem, the “dreaded tweezers” hint at the pain a girl undergoes to just shape her eyebrows. Her brows bleed, yet she has to look tidy as love is like a war for her.