About this work
Applying makeup before a mirror becomes a daily act of discovery and transformation. Changes of color and angle lead to a final, vulnerable question about how the speaker may look at the beloved.
Parallel reading
日本語と英語で読む
Read the Japanese original and its English translation together. On smaller screens, each language follows in sequence.
日本語原文 Japanese original
何時ものように鏡の前で化粧する
化粧すると不思議ね
魔法のスイッチ入る
毎日、違う私を発見する
紅の色を変えたら
いつもと違う自分になれる
だからこそ色を変え角度変え色々と試すのよ
今日は、なりたい私に変身したかしら
私の顔ってどんな顔？
切ない瞳で貴方を見つめてもいいですか？
English translation 英訳
AI-assisted English translation. The Japanese original remains authoritative.
As always, I put on makeup before the mirror.
Makeup is strange—
it flips some magic switch.
Every day I discover a different me.
If I change the color of my lipstick,
I can become someone unlike my usual self.
That is why I try every color,
changing the angle again and again.
Have I transformed today
into the person I want to be?
What sort of face is mine?
May I gaze at you
with longing in my eyes?
Original wording, author credits, notes and source materials are preserved there.