You put up with men with no make up just fine don’t you?
I have weird feelings on this issue.
I am a woman who wears literally no makeup 99% of the time, and I like the way I look. I don’t have terrible skin but it’s not perfect or anything, but I don’t like the feeling of most makeup. When I wear ‘some makeup’ it is very light – lip gloss and mascara. I can definitely see the difference! I assume men can too, but my husband has proved me wrong a few times.
On the other hand, I had an exboyfriend who once begged me to wear makeup because he wanted to “show me off” to his female relatives. That did not go over well!
I’m guessing the OP is not male nor has ever been one, or played one on TV.
Males are quite literal-minded.
“No” = Zero, 0, nada, niguna, zilch.
If we meant “base only” (many of us do not kone what “base” is, exactly), we would say either “base only” or “minimal” or something else that can be plainly read.
The OP is a single mother of two.
How do you do that??
No makeup means no makeup. So as soon as any makeup is used it is no longer no makeup.
I suspect a lot of men mean “I prefer women who naturally have clear skin and nice features!”. Which may be true, but isn’t very helpful for those of us who aren’t naturally gorgeous.
Look, I’m not going to lie: If you’re plug ugly, then you’re plug ugly.
But if you are, make-up isn’t going to save you.
On the other hand, if you’re beautiful *with *make-up, I’ll bet that you’re also beautiful *without *make-up.
Maybe there are exceptions to that rule, but I can’t really recall ever running into any.
But most women are neither plug-ugly nor exceptionally beautiful. Most women are average. They have good features they want to emphasize, and flaws they’d like to deemphasize.
Most women are not trying to look like another person, they are trying to look like the best version of themselves- Like we look under great lighting when we are well-rested and happy. Think of the best picture you’ve ever taken and the worst one. It’s about being more like the former than the latter.
Have you ever seen the pictures of celebrities with and without makeup? The difference is striking. At least in photographs. Photographs might be less forgiving than real life.
My wife uses absolutely no make-up, IMHO doesn’t need it and would probably sock me in the kisser if I foolishly said she needed/should wear it. It’s just not fair (there’s a reason “mutt” is in my handle). 
You mean those where a paparazzi pic, with crap lighting, taken on a day when the celeb is suffering from a bad hangover, is juxtaposed with the most flattering picture from a professional photoshoot?
Yeah. Those are really representative of how real people look with and without make-up.
How about ordinary selfies? Are those also exceptional? Or how about ones that are not taken by paparazzi with crap lighting etc., but are well lit, posed, but not made up?
You might say that she doesn’t look “ugly” in it, but she doesn’t look gorgeous either. She just looks like an average woman.
Anyway, wear some make up you want to. Or don’t. I don’t really care one way or another.
(All I really want is a nerdy British girl who rides the London Overground for fun… But anyway, now I’m really digressing.)
I guess what I’m fed up with a bit is the conversation that goes likes this:
“Men only like women with make-up.”
“I’m sure you look beautiful without make-up.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you knew what I looked like without make-up.”
“Show me.”
shows me face
“You’re beautiful.”
“You’re lying.”
So now I’m the one who is responsible for unrealistic beauty standards for women, and I’m a liar to boot.
That conversation can piss off already.
Well, my wife uses the word to refer to foundation with complete regularity. Maybe it’s regional.
You’re personalizing an issue that shouldn’t be personalized, frankly.
The tone in his thread is that women must be irrational crazies for using makeup because no man on the planet cares for painted faces. And legions of women everywhere are reading this thread and rolling their eyes.
I don’t like noticeable amounts of makeup either, and like I said earlier, I don’t use much of the stuff on my own face. But qualities that are considered beautiful–clear, even radiant skin; smooth, full lips; and large, expressive eyes–can be approximated quite easily with a dab here and a dab there. As long as these traits as lauded as the ideal by society, women will try their best to mimic them.
Yeah. My husband always says I look really good with no makeup. The thing is, he gets noticeably more attentive when I am wearing makeup.
I have three levels of makeup. The most common is “work makeup.” This is visible dark eyeliner, invisible dark circle concealer, mascara, and lipstick. It does show. What it says is, “I am wearing makeup; I have made an effort.”
Level 2 takes about twice as long. It is carefully blended eyeliner, carefully blended eye shadow, mascara, concealer, and lipstick in a natural shade. This is the one where it doesn’t actually look like I have makeup on, but I look better…than with no makeup. This is what my husband likes to see.
Level 3 is going-out-at-night makeup. Same stuff as level 2 but more color and more glitter. Used rarely, but effective.
No one has ever told me I’m wearing too much makeup. I have had jobs where I was told to wear more. I was in a friend’s wedding and she also said to wear more.
Now, I am one of those people, light skin light hair, whose eyelashes and eyebrows are invisible without makeup. I also have dark circles under my eyes which, if something happens to one eye like say I cry it off because something got under my contact lens, the people who encounter me before I fix it ask me if I ran into a door or how the other guy looks. There are people who look a lot better than I do without makeup, including my husband and all my sons, all of whom have light hair and yet their eyelashes, brows etc. are apparent and they don’t look like they just got into a fight. But I’m sure a lot of it is a result of the beauty myth and different expectations for women.
“Most men wear no makeup”
“Wow, so many men apply base!”
Um, what was that?
She probably did something but I couldn’t spot it.
I don’t notice the makeup on TV presenters or stage actors. I’m not at all surprised if you put on sun-screen before you go out. I’ve known women who really do look better with makeup on. I don’t mind what you wear, and I don’t expect you to care what I think about your clothes or your makeup.
But “no makeup” means that I can see your pores, streaks, spots, and odd skin color. Literally, “none at all”. And I don’t mind that either.