I advocate suncreens, moisturizers, to stand tall, suck it in,and smile at your enemies also cleansing breaths, and equanimity.
I guess i am a little surprised at the notion that a clean bare face is somehow unprofessional? Does it also apply to men? What about unpolished fingernails, equally unprofessional?
I don’t use it as a regular night cream, I do use it as a mask. Put it over your face. Steam your face (usually sitting in the bathtub). Have for probably 25 years. As a Minnesota girl, ordinary moisturizers need a little help mid winter.
I wouldn’t say its “unprofessional” - I would say that given equal competence, people will usually hire/promote the “better looking” person (or sometimes the nicer one), and most people think most women look better in a little makeup. And that there are a ton of jobs I wouldn’t do without makeup. I don’t care if my dentist wears any. None on the sales rep I have coming into the office to sell me $500k worth of computer hardware would be unusual - and I suspect for her, career limiting. Not that I’d care, but I think a lot of her customers would.
Most people think most woman look better in a little makeup? As long as it’s not smudged under your eyes, stained on your teeth or delineating your jawline i hope, as we wouldn’t want the fairer sex to gross anyone out.
I hope men never feel the need to wear makeup off screen just to be taken seriously!
To wear makeup or not, it should be a personal choice and not be the first thing that gets a person judged as to whether or not they can do/deserve/are successful at, their job, because YMMV but that is what it sounds like some women do to other women.
You are right, but this is reality we are talking about, not the way we want the world to be. And at least in the Fortune 500 reality I’ve lived in for the past 25 years, women with WELL APPLIED makeup tend to be taken more seriously than their makeupless and equally competent female peers.
We can rant all we want to (and I’ll rant along with you) that corporate America shouldn’t penalize you for your weight, or makeup status, or your tattoos, or men with long hair, or people who don’t bother to wash their clothes or wear deodorant because they prefer their au natural smell. But the reality is that they do. Maybe super competent people go as far as they want to without playing the appearance game - but at a certain level, everyone becomes super competent.
I agree with Dangerosa that a little well-applied makeup is more professional than none. Heck, I think men would benefit from wearing some too!
The real, most compelling reason I wear makeup though, is probably because it’s fun.
I love makeup, and I also think it’s fun.
That being said, Dangerosa and Dung Beetle are right. In the real world, sometimes women are just expected to wear makeup in order to look professional. Sucks, but such is life.
:: popping some popcorn, pulling up a lawn chair ::
This isn’t worth ranking as the “best advice” I’ve acquired, but anyway… if you curl your lashes, the really cheap eyelash curlers you can get at the grocery store are not a good deal. I used them for years because I thought all eyelash curlers were the same, but this is not the case. The cheap ones pinch my eyelids and put a very sharp corner on the crimped eyelashes that is bad for them and looks terrible. I recently switched to the Tweezerman brand (which I think was $12, so not that bad) and they don’t pinch at all and put a very natural soft curve to the lashes. Excellent. They also come with 3 or 4 replacement pads, each of which last at least 4 months. (They recommend you switch them every 3 months, but seriously, I use this every day, and after 4 months the pad is still going strong.)
I was thinking of trying the touted She Uemura eyelash curler, but it’s $20 and does not come with replacement pads, so you have to buy a new one when the pad wears out. Psssht, as if. Also, the Tweezerman curler works so well I can’t imagine anything working better. So, yeah. 
I worked for a company that did data management & computer consulting. Our “home office” was pretty casual, but we also worked at some fairly conservative companies. One of my co-workers started wearing a little makeup because she kept getting inquiries about her religion. Some of them do forbid makeup. Since she was just an agnostic lapsed Catholic ex-hippie, she decided to stop those questions.
Don’t wear much makeup myself; any foundation usually gets sweated off in Houston. But if I forget my eye makeup, people ask me if I’m tired.
I’d look like a sick, drab old woman without hair color or makeup. WITH hair color and makeup, I look like a sprightly middle aged woman in fair health! Still find it fun, too.
Thanks for the tip!
I can’t say how common it is, but according to my freshman in college 19 year old little brother, the vast majority of his male friends use concealer on their zits routinely, and foundation all over if they’ve really got bad acne. They’re not applying eyeliner or wearing fake eyelashes, but they are going for an “even face” look. They don’t talk about it extensively, but they don’t hide it from each other either. My dad couldn’t stop cracking up about it when he found out - and yet, my brother remains steadfast, not the tiniest bit embarrassed. Less common but still present he says, is eyebrow grooming. The hairy ones (Indian kids, Italian kids, etc) pluck or get their eyebrows professionally waxed.
gallows fodder, does the Tweezerman curler get closer to your lashes at all?
You actually reminded me of my biggest tip ever - eyelash curlers are great, but they don’t really hold the curl. Heat does, though. Take out your eyelash curler pad, hold it close to your hair straightener till it heats up, put it back in, and curl. Makes a WORLD of difference. Don’t heat up the whole apparatus, we don’t want any burnt eyelids out there!
My hints for beauty…speak intelligently, be confident, smile, be clean and groomed, and touch me on the arm lightly.
Uhhhh…I’m a guy, and I guess this doesn’t really address the question. Sorry! Bye…
I agree (on both counts); one thing that will help for those who want well-applied makeup is to start with some decent brushes. If the ones in department stores are a bit pricey for your needs, look at your local craft store for soft bristled brushes-- they come in the same shapes, but are significantly cheaper and work just as well. Your only issue may be that the handle is much longer than you need; if that’s the case, trim it down to a more manageable size.
I don’t wear makeup all that often, but when I do, I start with some primers (Urban Decay Primer Potion for eyeshadow and Smashbox Photo Finish for face) to not only even out the texture, but to provide a longer lasting look. UDPP is great because the eyeshadow sticks better and is less likely to move around after application, so there’s no more of this “faded everywhere but the crease and above” nonsense. Also, Photo Finish is useful if you are looking to have “flawless” looking skin all day-- it really fights greasiness and the makeup fading during the day.
As good as all of this advice is, it doesn’t help much for making good first impressions if it can’t be paired with a bit of confidence and friendliness; a lack of either will overshadow even the most professional makeup job with a tone of “mousy” or “bitchy”. If you’re going to an interview or important meeting, you’re probably not going to want either of those impressions, so if you can only work on one thing, the “vibe” you send when you meet new people is more important than well-applied makeup.
A blowdryer works, too - but it can get it really hot really fast, so test it on the back of your hand before you try it on your eye!
If you don’t use heated styling tools at all, run it under hot water. It’s not as fast, and you have to dry it off quick since it cools quickly too, but it does work.
I think that’s great. 
I’ve heard of the blow dryer on the eye curler trick but I’m kind of afraid to use it. Well, that and I haven’t gotten around to getting an eye curler. Someone upthread I think said that buying a cheaper eye curler isn’t as good–what are some good brands?
Question about mascara on curled eyelashes: How do you not get it all over your face? Do you just have to close your eyes until they dry? The few times I’ve used mascara, the second I blinked, I had black stuff all over my face.
If any of you are doing this to your eyebrows, I beg you, please stop. Such a cute girl, turned into a clown. And guys shouldn’t have prettier eyebrows than women.
I often have a bit of tissue on hand to lightly dab off any excess mascara/clumps. I am not wiping it off. I basically “blink” into it, if that makes sense. That way, it ends up on the tissue instead of the face.
