Yesterday’s NY Times’ Patents column concentrated on new cosmetic industry patents. Maybelline has patented their “lash building” mascara, which applies tiny fibers to eyelashes in order to plump them up. It contains “thousands of little tube-shaped rayon fibers about a half-millimeter in length” and is also supposed to lengthen lashes. In 2002, L’Oréal patented a skin lightening cream which is marketed to eliminate under-eye circles. The main ingredients are also used in laundry detergents to brighten colors, and in existing skin bleaching products for liver spots and scars. These two patented products have something more in common than being cosmetics. The mascara is being marketed to Asian women to specifically address our “short, stubby lashes.” And the skin lightener is touted in the patent as being “particularly effective on Asian skin.” They don’t just mean under-eye circles, they mean the entire face. It’s the westernization of Asian beauty as chronicled by the patent office.