Beautiful Vs. Hot* (written 2005-2008)

Beautiful Vs. Hot*

Yes, there is a difference –

Hot, being more readily apparent,

is much easier to spot from a distance,

yet can lose appeal in close-up.

While beautiful may not be as

noticeable from far away, it

is undeniable up close.

Men, the dumber sex,

are more likely to be attracted to the hot

than to the truly naturally beautiful.

Though women can appreciate both,

they usually lean towards the beautiful.

Yes, truly beautiful women

can also be hot,

depending on the outfit

or hairstyle or make-up,

but someone who can be hot

is not necessarily beautiful.

Hotness is more about the clothes,

hair, make-up, attitude.

Hotness is attainable.

Hotness can be achieved by anyone,

but not stunning beauty.

Beauty is in-born.**

(And then there are those

who are anointed as beauties

simply because they’re famous,

but take away the fame, and

you have very plain women).

The women who seem

to be the most naturally

beautiful (to me) are: Indian women (who

are the most beautiful women in the entire world,

though, in contrast to Bollywood’s ideal, 

I much prefer the darker-skinned Indians to the lighter-skinned!),

Polynesians, South Asians, Persians, Filipinas, Arabs, and Latinas,

because these women have

brown skin (which looks better without

foundation make-up than does white skin,

which almost always

requires some sort of foundation, thus

not naturally beautiful), 
can grow long black hair, 
which I think is the prettiest hair
(though I also love natural red hair!),
and have dark eyes and

strong dark eyebrows,

which means they don’t

need eye make-up.  Beauty

is more about the eyes

than almost anything else

(most important

are the facial features

and how they fit

together, but

beautiful eyes

do me in everytime),

and strong eyebrows

and dark eyelashes

are vital to beauty (for me).

(Pretty is what people usually

mean when they call a

woman beautiful.  Many

women are pretty, very

pretty.  But truly beautiful? 

Universally beautiful? 

That is a rarity.  As

it should be).

Hot women need cosmetics,

Beautiful women don’t.

Hot women have to

work at being hot and

when they don’t try,

they can be unhot.

But beautiful women are

always beautiful.

Beautiful women are.

Hotness fades.

Hotness dies.

Hotness takes effort.

Beauty lasts.

Beauty lives.

Beauty is.

Screen Legends:

Greta Garbo – not pretty or beautiful in the traditional sense, not hot, but an interesting face

Jean Harlow – Hot, not beautiful

Jane Russell – Very, very, very Hot, not quite beautiful, though certainly striking

Betty Grable – Hot, not beautiful

Rita Hayworth – Hot, not quite beautiful, though certainly Pretty

Yvonne deCarlo – Hot, not beautiful, but Pretty

Lauren Bacall – Beautiful, and almost hot, but not always hot (though in “To Have and Have Not” she was smoldering)

Grace Kelly – Beautiful, exquisitely beautiful, not hot (I normally don’t find blonde women beautiful, as I like dark eyelashes and eyebrows, but her face is so beautifully formed, ah that face!)

Brigitte Bardot – Very very, very, very Hot!  Very Pretty, but not beautiful.

France Nguyen (Vietnamese actress who played the Polynesian Liat in film version of “South Pacific” – I know she’s not considered a legend, but there are so few Asian movie stars or Polynesian movie stars, which is ridiculous because they are such beautiful women) – very Pretty, almost Beautiful, not really Hot

Audrey Hepburn – Pretty, but not beautiful (to me -- even with those eyes), not hot

Jayne Mansfield – Hot, not beautiful (but her body was beautiful, as was Marilyn’s)

Tuesday Weld - Hot, not quite beautiful, but very Pretty and Crush-worthy!

Dawn Wells – Pretty, not hot, not quite beautiful

Tina Louise – Hot, very Pretty, not quite Beautiful
Sally Field – Pretty, not beautiful or hot (but another childhood crush!)
Stevie Nicks – Hot, but not traditionally pretty or beautiful (she was my first celebrity crush – I fell in love with her when I was in first grade and saw her photo on my parent’s Rumours album cover – I recognize that she doesn’t cultivate an image of being “hot” but I consider her hot, and this is my list of beauty and hotness)

Debbie Harry – Beautiful and Hot – that face! Wow! (also when I was in first grade, I was in love with the song “The Tide Is High,” but had no idea what the singer looked like – if I’d known, she and Steve Nicks would have tied for the title of my first celebrity crush! Also, the best compliment I ever got was when I was in high school and a guy in one of my classes told me I looked like Debbie Harry – I’m not worthy! – since then, I’ve been told I look like Daryl Hannah, Kim Basinger, Sharon Stone, Molly Sims, but never again like Debbie Harry. Also, I understand when we’re told we look like celebrities, we don’t actually look like them, but there’s just enough of a resemblance, even if it's just hair color, to make the comparison))

Marilyn Monroe – Very, Very, Very Hot, Blazing Hot (subject of my first sexual dream), but not beautiful at all, not even truly pretty, even after the nose job and chin implant, but oh-so Hot and Sexy!

Elizabeth Taylor – Absolutely Beautiful and Very Hot (so stunning, she can’t be missed, but the beauty is true in long view and in close-up, with and without make-up, truly the most beautiful woman who has ever lived -- when I see pictures of her I get so overcome that I cry)

Today’s Actresses/Singers/Models:

Pamela Anderson – Hot, not beautiful

Jennifer Lopez – Hot, not beautiful (but one of the sexiest women who’s ever lived)

Shakira – Hot, not beautiful (but another contender for sexiest woman)

Cindy Crawford – Definitely very Pretty, but not sure about beautiful?  Definitely Hot, though!

Julia Roberts – Very Pretty, but in an unusual way, not beautiful, but with the right look, can be quite Hot (as in “Pretty Woman”), but not always

Courteney Cox –Very Pretty, not quite beautiful (but almost!), not hot

Salma Hayek – Beautiful, not always hot, though sometimes

Christy Turlington – Beautiful, not always hot, but (the most?) beautiful face -- even though she’s blonde, her features are so perfectly formed, quite breath-taking

Robin Wright – Beautiful, not hot (beautiful face even though she’s blonde)

Michelle Pfeiffer – Beautiful, not always hot, though certainly can be Hot (beautiful face even though she’s blonde)

Tia Carrere – Hot, not Beautiful

Jessica Biel – Very, very Hot, not quite beautiful, but Very, very, very Pretty

Gisele Bundchen – Very, very, very Pretty and Very Hot, not quite beautiful

Eva Mendes – Very, very, very Pretty and Very, very, very Hot, but not quite beautiful (in fact, compared to Angelina and Elizabeth Taylor, it really is quite difficult to call other women beautiful)

Alicia Keys – Pretty, not beautiful, not hot

Gwen Stefani – Hot! Not traditionally pretty or beautiful, but so hot

Padma Lakshmi – Beautiful and Hot

Rachel Roy – Beautiful and Hot

Catherine Zeta-Jones – Beautiful, no question, and Hot, no question

Angelina Jolie – Very Beautiful and Very Hot (the closest you have to an Elizabeth Taylor in this day and age)

Discuss amongst yourselves.

*    (I myself am fine with being neither, though I was called pretty and sometimes beautiful (though never hot!) when I was younger, but now I’m too old, and I fully admit that I am neither, and, in my advancing age, I enjoy being plain, actually, but in other women, I appreciate Beauty much, much more than Hotness).

**  Also, please note this beauty of which I speak differs from the natural beauty we all have as humans – look at any human face and you will see nature’s hand at work in carving a beauty that can’t be replicated nor improved upon with plastic surgery – the natural beauty of the human face, which every human has, is quite remarkable. Now, not all are going to be model-beautiful or actress-beautiful, or attractive (and we all have our own taste of attractiveness) and that’s okay – the natural beauty of all humans is different than the beauty I am describing of the women I find attractive.

*** Also, please keep in mind that the actresses/models I've included are generally considered to be pretty, beautiful and/or hot, though this is certainly not an exhaustive list of all the pretty, beautiful and/or celebrities. These are who immediately came to my mind.

**** Also also also, please remember that I think all women are beautiful just by virtue of their being women.  This beauty is different than the beauty I speak of that all humans have. The beauty of women is a special category because there is a reason women have long been referred to as “the fairer sex.” This doesn’t mean women should be objectified – not at all. But women are inherently more beautiful than men are.  Yes, all humans are beautiful, and all women are especially beautiful, but taking those as givens, my list of beauty vs. hotness is my preference and merely my opinion of beauty and hotness in regards to what attracts me.  For example: All flowers are beautiful, but roses are more beautiful than daisies.  And of roses, I may prefer red roses above all.  This isn’t a perfect analogy, especially for me, because I don’t really care to receive flowers as a gift because I don’t think it’s practical – I’d rather receive chocolate or something I can actually use, but just trying to have an analogy for my list.