Word Clouds

I typed in two beauty articles from Elle, Cosmopolitan, Look and Company magazine into wordle.net. The website generated the word clouds; the bigger words were used most frequently in the beauty articles. Below the word clouds I noted down the top 15 words used. Many of the words were of equal size which reflected they were only used once, thus I randomly selected words to complete my top 15.

Elle

Top 15 words used: new, tan, St.Tropez, complexion, instantly, firming, foundation, BareMinerals, skin, use, two, tightens, guaranteed, CC, activating

Top 15 words used: beauty, make-up, Clinique, Estee Lauder, wants, eye-shadow, iconic, moisturising, advanced, purifies, cosmetic, excitement, collectable, repair, trust

Cosmopolitan

Top 15 words used: new, beauty, now, skin, benefit, versions, gorgeous, right, Kate, just, pigmentation, irresistible, Givenchy, instantly, Nivea

Top 15 words used: foundation, coverage, skin, provide, light, brush, perfection, mattifying, perfect, tone, powder, applied, feel, best, right

Look

Top 15 words used: CC, beauty, two, oil, hair, Marchesa, new, time, Armani, stunning, hair-nourishing, regrowth, skin-softening, minimiser, love

Top 15 words used: launching, skin, like, show, eye, metallic, foundation, grunge, new, Burberry, backstage, Mulberry, beauty, models, essentials

Company

Top 15 words used: eye, Dior, season, look, lips, shadow, new, cheeks, model, eyeliner, version, pencil, lipstick, eyelids, catwalks

Top 15 words used: brown, light, happily, colour, foam, natural, mice, rocking, hair, Clairol, Cara, effect, give, model, Garnier

My immediate thoughts from looking at the lexical choices of each article, reflect that there is a focus on brands and how they will benefit the woman. For example, in the first Elle word cloud 'BareMinerals' and 'activating,' are used. BareMinerals is the name of make-up brand and the progressive verb 'activating' demonstrates what one of the skin products could do to a woman's skin. Thus, showing how the articles have a focus on selling beauty products. Also, I noticed 'new' and 'now' is commonly featured in many of the beauty articles, advising the woman on what's modern and fashionable at the moment, with a focus on keeping women up-to-date. Nonetheless, these are only my immediate thoughts and I will do a detailed discursive analysis of the beauty articles for my proposal.