What do you think of the "natural beauty/no makeup" movement?

[ZipperJJ]

@jsgoddess

I would almost certainly look better in expertly applied makeup. But I have no expertise, and have allergy problems, so I never learned. So, I’m doing the no makeup thing because I never learned how to do otherwise. That definitely just makes me ignorant, not superior.

Ha! You got in before me!

My mom tried to show me a little makeup but we have absolutely opposite skin. She’s got olive skin AND freckles and I’ve got pale skin and blotchy. She knows nothing of foundation and foundation would be the whole point of makeup for me. Plus she has no problem with allergies so she can’t tell me what brands to wear. Nothing makes her break out in cysts.

When I turned 18 I needed glasses and my eyesite rapidly deteriorated due to astigmatism. I’m blind as a bat without my glasses. It’s incredibly hard to put on makeup around my glasses, or with them off, or using various tricks to help me see. So for me, any attempts to do makeup (which I do try in earnest every few years) just make me more frustrated.

That being said I wish I was the kind of woman who wore makeup every day. I think the eye stuff especially really adds something. And my disgusting blotchy skin could use a nice layer of foundation. Maybe some contouring. But no…the one time I tried to do eye liner regularly, I ended up having to have a growth surgically removed from my eyelid.

I don’t think any woman looks horrid without makeup.
I think most women look “just fine” without it.
I think most women would look “just better” with well-applied makeup (myself desperately included)
I think most women who wear it look great with it.
I think some some women who wear it don’t do a good job of applying it.
I think most women who wear it daily look “worse” when they do not wear it, because you are not used to seeing them as such.
I think men who think women look better without makeup have no idea who is wearing makeup daily.

Hilarious sketch from Inside Amy Schumer about wearing makeup.

[wonky]

@ZipperJJ

I don’t think any woman looks horrid without makeup.
I think most women look “just fine” without it.
I think most women would look “just better” with well-applied makeup (myself desperately included)
I think most women who wear it look great with it.
I think some some women who wear it don’t do a good job of applying it.
I think most women who wear it daily look “worse” when they do not wear it, because you are not used to seeing them as such.
I think men who think women look better without makeup have no idea who is wearing makeup daily.

Agreed on all points.

[GrumpyBunny]

Are we sure this isn’t a “natural-looking makeup” movement that involves 27 products, all in shades of tan and beige, that make you look slightly better than when you started?

@FairyChatMom

I never learned to apply makeup and never really cared. I’ve played with it in the past, but for the most part, it’s not worth the bother to me. So I save money, save time, and life is good. Plus I can get up and out the door in under 15 minutes if I have to - under 5 if I showered the night before and someone else feeds the dog.

I can also be out the door in 15 minutes if I have to. I mean, nobody flees in terror at my un-madeup face.

But, I like how I look with a little makeup on. Soften the dark circles around my eyes, put on a little mascara, fill in the brows (they’ve thinned, WTH is with that?). Five minutes or so. I can ramp it up if I’m in the mood, or going out at night, or I can say the hell with it all if I’m just running errands.

I have options!

Now, what IS ridiculous to me is when people put on a whole face crammed full of layers of makeup when it’s not appropriate. No one needs false eyelashes, shimmer eyeshadow, foundation, blush, and contouring and lipstick with gloss if they’re going hiking or sailing or riding or camping. That just looks silly and inappropriate. And for god’s sake, don’t go with a complicated hairdo. Just put it in a ponytail and/or put on a baseball cap. Bonus: IME most guys find it *adorable *when their date/GF/wife/SO goes out without makeup and their hair in a ponytail through a baseball cap.

[AnaMen]

@Sam_Lowry

Pretty much everyone could do more work to look better, everyone just have different cut off points on how much work they want to do, and that’s okay. It’s not a disguise, it’s just trying to look like a better version of yourself.

There are benefits to wearing makeup, and sometimes detriments to not wearing it. I easily found this article about how women are sometimes discriminated against at work for not wearing makeup. I know I could find other articles and studies. It’s unfair, and should change, but I’m not going to think badly of women wearing more makeup and trying to work the system as best they can.

It isn’t about being to lazy to do the work. I already like how I look. What do I stand to gain by looking “better”? Better treatment by a boss? Screw that. I’m not contorting myself to please someone else and hope they throw me a 5% raise or something.
Well I would assume that’s because women know that they need to wear makeup, but many don’t know how to apply it, or how much to apply, or what colors and brands and styles would be best for them. And they think the penalty for wearing zero makeup is worse than the penalty for wearing mediocre makeup.

It isn’t about being too lazy to do the work. I already like how I look. What do I stand to gain by looking “better”? Better treatment by a boss? Screw that. I’m not contorting myself to please someone else and hope they throw me a 5% raise or something. I don’t care to participate in this system where women are supposed to think they have to wear makeup, constrictive clothing, or painful shoes, and that they are never pretty enough to deserve to be treated like people, but that they must try their best to maximize their appearance-potential anyway.

No one needs to wear makeup, so no women “know” that they have this “need.”

When I wear makeup, it is a disguise to gain entry into a social group so I can observe the mandatory makeup-believers up close or to please someone I care about by “dressing up” for their event.

[GrumpyBunny]

@stillownedbysetters

I have to wear some makeup, at least a little bit. I’m a natural blond which means fair complexion, pale eyebrows and lashes, and just generally beige all over. My features disappear in the beigeness unless I do something to make them stand out.

Strawberry blonde here with the same problem. I have very light brown eyelashes and eyebrows (I dye the eyebrows). In the winter, it’s worse, because I’m just light beige, with nothing defining the eyes. Brunettes have it better in this case.

[Honey]

@Mops

As a man I am all for it - it gets rid of the ‘I’d love an after dinner stroll for digestion but no, I’d have to put my makeup on again’ argument.

If a woman is messing up more than just her lipstick while eating, she needs some intensive etiquette lessons. What do these women do, bury their face in the plate?
I like wearing makeup and mine has skin care ingredients in it, as well as a high SPF. So, it’s actually good for my skin.

[Aangelica]

I used to do the makeup thing when I was in my teens and early 20’s, but the older I get, the more I’ve tapered it off. At this point, I’m not totally sure I even own makeup.

Mostly, what makeup is largely designed to do is even skin tone and introduce contrast. I’m one of those with white-white nearly translucent skin (why yes, I do fry like bacon in even mild sunlight!). This means that unless I’m sick, I always have pink cheeks and there’s a noticeable difference between my lips and my skin tone. When I’m sick, I look like I’ve been dead for a week though. I also have coal black eyebrows and eyelashes - both of which are naturally thick and bountiful. (This is sort of annoying when eyebrows aren’t in style, for the record). I pretty much have Snow White coloring already. This coloring also means that the line between “understated yet attractive makeup” and “carnival hooker” is VERY, VERY THIN in my case. As I’m not at my best in the morning, it’s pretty easy for me to end up on the wrong side of the line.

Since I already have a lot of contrast going on from my normal coloring, and because I’m fortunate enough that my skin tone is pretty even, I’ve quit using makeup entirely. Granted, this was aided by the fact that I have a few odd contact allergies (to metals), which made finding makeup that did not cause hives to be tricky.

There’s precious little non-industrial levels of makeup can do to improve my looks anyway - the things that prevent me from being beautiful aren’t really the sorts of things makeup can do anything about My features are. . . to put it politely, “strong”. You could probably plow a field with my nose =D I like my face, but it’s not the sort of face that’s much affected by the presence (or absence) of make up - other than making sure one doesn’t cross into Carnival Hooker Land.

[FairyChatMom]

@ZipperJJ

I’m blind as a bat without my glasses. It’s incredibly hard to put on makeup around my glasses, or with them off, or using various tricks to help me see. So for me, any attempts to do makeup (which I do try in earnest every few years) just make me more frustrated.

You just need a stencil that fits on your face and you run a roller over it! Sorry - I’ve got stencils on the brain - I just finished stenciling 10 souvenir towels, and based on the way a couple came out, I don’t think a makeup stencil would work anyway. But if such a think existed, I might consider doing myself up once in a while.

[Minnie_Luna]

I have worked hard on my skin care regimen and my skin looks better at 39 than it did at 30. I don’t need a full coverage foundation, just something sheer to even out the tone. As long as I am sleeping well, I don’t need concealer because I don’t get dark circles. I like the way eye make-up makes my eyes look. I like the way it enhances my features.

I don’t need to wear make-up, I do it because I want to.

One day I might want frosty pink lips, the next I want matte red. I might just want a little gloss another. It’s my choice, not yours.

I could be a bitch and say I think that women who judge the choices other women make are pretentious bitches, but instead I’ll say that I feel sorry that some people think make-up is a “disguise” or “hiding”. It can be a very freeing and empowering thing for a woman.

Almost none of the women in my family wear make-up. I do. It’s my way of being different. You can pound sand if you think I’m hiding or disguising myself.

[Broomstick]

@Hugosvoice

I love makeup. I love wearing it at home even when I am not going anywhere. I love my pink shiny lip gloss and the long, full lashes mascara gives me. I love using 3 shades of eyeshadow and my perfect eyebrow pencil. I love my glittery bronzer which smells like coconut.

I will absolutely support the right of any woman to wear make-up so long as she absolutely supports the right of other women to never wear make-up.

@Hugosvoice

Wow, nice shitty judgmental attitude there.

Those who choose to wear makeup aren’t “hiding behind cosmetics”.

It’s no different than comments I’ve heard in the past about women who don’t wear cosmetics “aren’t even trying” or similar. It’s a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t situation.

Let me guess, you’re one of those women who think other women who dress scantily have “no self respect”, right?

SOME types of scanty attire really are self-disrespectful. Other types are classy.

Likewise there are good and bad make-up applications, and depending on other grooming choices you can find women without make up who look great and others who look like hell.

@monstro

But dayum, are people being unnecessarily judgy! I have to wonder if some of the women who are so anti-make up are speaking from a perch of privilege. If a person doesn’t experience the scourge of acne or facial scars, maybe they have the luxury of thinking make-up is “dumb”.

On the other hand, after I acquired a facial scar I was told that if I didn’t give up make-up I’d acquire more of the same.

While I totally understand the impulse to hide scars, insisting that people who are scarred MUST hide that fact from the rest of us also says something unflattering about how judgmental we are as a society.

@Sam_Lowry

There are benefits to wearing makeup, and sometimes detriments to not wearing it. I easily found this article about how women are sometimes discriminated against at work for not wearing makeup. I know I could find other articles and studies. It’s unfair, and should change, but I’m not going to think badly of women wearing more makeup and trying to work the system as best they can.

Or you can find anecdotes…

I know my refusal to wear make up has hurt me in the work world. I know that because I have been told that directly. The fact that I gave up all make up on the advice of a doctor (actually, more than one, and some of the dermatologists i.e. skin specialists) makes no impact. I’m told to wear it “just occasionally” or “just for the interview” or whatever. No, I’m sorry - I finally got my skin problems under control and I am not going back, because when I DID wear make up I was constantly told my bad skin was holding me back and why couldn’t I get my problem under control? I did - by no longer wearing make up. But that’s not acceptable, either.

In my case, I decided the hit I’d take by not wearing make up was less than the hit I had been taking for a face that was all too often oozing and bloody and broke out with sores and rashes (honestly, I would have been happy with skin that was just blotchy for quite a few years).

The problem isn’t people thinking badly of women who wear make up, it’s that the disadvantage of NOT wearing make up is so very overwhelming. It’s like being female and bald. It can seriously hurt you in a lot of professions.

Well I would assume that’s because women know that they need to wear makeup, but many don’t know how to apply it, or how much to apply, or what colors and brands and styles would be best for them. And they think the penalty for wearing zero makeup is worse than the penalty for wearing mediocre makeup.

^ This.

@AnaMen

No one needs to wear makeup, so no women “know” that they have this “need”.

No one “needs” to have a white-collar professional job either but if you’re a woman getting one without wearing make up is going to be a LOT harder.

[AnaMen]

@Broomstick

No one “needs” to have a white-collar professional job either but if you’re a woman getting one without wearing make up is going to be a LOT harder.

Sounds like a good part of the screening process to avoid working for sexist employers.

[HoneyBadgerDC]

I think make up plays an important part in a womens life and helps her portray herself as she wishes to be seen. Very little, none, or as much as they feel like using is fine with me.

[Broomstick]

@AnaMen

Sounds like a good part of the screening process to avoid working for sexist employers.

Did you read the linked article?

The majority of employers, both male and female, are that sort of “sexist”. While I agree the bias is a bad thing, the fact is that it really is out there and really does have an impact on a woman’s life.

If you make that part of your “screening process” you’re automatically crossing off a majority of employers from your list of potential ways to make a livelihood.

[Voyager]

@Broomstick

Did you read the linked article?

The majority of employers, both male and female, are that sort of “sexist”. While I agree the bias is a bad thing, the fact is that it really is out there and really does have an impact on a woman’s life.

If you make that part of your “screening process” you’re automatically crossing off a majority of employers from your list of potential ways to make a livelihood.

Did you notice that the survey was sponsored by a beauty products retailer? I’m having a hard time believing managers would be so openly sexist. Secretly yeah.

I’m sure it is true for some. It is not at all true for the engineers we hire.

[AnaMen]

@Broomstick

Did you read the linked article?

The majority of employers, both male and female, are that sort of “sexist”. While I agree the bias is a bad thing, the fact is that it really is out there and really does have an impact on a woman’s life.

If you make that part of your “screening process” you’re automatically crossing off a majority of employers from your list of potential ways to make a livelihood.

The majority of employers are sexist, no doubt. Why would that ever stop if we all just go along with it and bend ourselves to suit them?

Makeup is toxic. I’m not going to coat my face with toxins to please anyone for money, and no one else should have to either. I’m not going to go along with the idea that however I look is not good enough and I “need” to alter it to work somewhere at a job that has nothing to do with how I look.

[Voyager]

@TriPolar

I think a lot of women could do with less makeup, however I am suspicious about some of the pictures shown in newsertainment who still look like they’ve got makeup on, just less than usual.

Makeup does correct the sins of photography, so I’m willing to believe anyone who thinks she might get photographed in public would put it on. Just like everyone who goes on TV gets some makeup, even for high fashion shows like Jeopardy.

[Broomstick]

@Voyager

Did you notice that the survey was sponsored by a beauty products retailer? I’m having a hard time believing managers would be so openly sexist. Secretly yeah.

I don’t have a hard time believing it at all, but that’s based on my experience. I am certainly open to the notion that your experience is different.

I will also mention that it’s not just a matter of sexist men - I have heard those attitudes as often, if not more often, from women.

@AnaMen

The majority of employers are sexist, no doubt. Why would that ever stop if we all just go along with it and bend ourselves to suit them?

As someone who quite wearing make-up years ago I’m with you on the “don’t yield” notion but I do think that people should be made aware of the potential consequences of their choices, whether those consequences are perceived as fair or not.

Makeup is toxic. I’m not going to coat my face with toxins to please anyone for money, and no one else should have to either. I’m not going to go along with the idea that however I look is not good enough and I “need” to alter it to work somewhere at a job that has nothing to do with how I look.

Again, I’m totally with you on that, but that is not how most of the business world looks at the situation.

[Rushgeekgirl]

I think we need to work our way through the dyed armpit hair fad first.

[monstro]

@AnaMen

The majority of employers are sexist, no doubt. Why would that ever stop if we all just go along with it and bend ourselves to suit them?

Makeup is toxic. I’m not going to coat my face with toxins to please anyone for money, and no one else should have to either. I’m not going to go along with the idea that however I look is not good enough and I “need” to alter it to work somewhere at a job that has nothing to do with how I look.

I choose not to coat my face either. Not out of concern for toxins, but because like jsgoddess, I don’t know how to apply makeup so that it looks good. I’m afraid I’ll look like a clown.

But I’m curious. If there were affordable non-toxic products out there, would you still be opposed to being “forced” to wear them? I know I would hate this requirement. However, I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t suck it up and slather on makeup if it meant having a comfortable, non-menial lifestyle, doing what I enjoy doing. I already wear a monkey suit (e.g., not my normal paint-spattered raggedy attire) for The Man. I already comb my hair, put on deodorant, and try to always speak standard American English for The Man. I’ve even subjected myself to nasty side effects from toxic substances (i.e., psychotropic medication) for The Man. None of these things are things that I want to do (at least all the time). But I put up with them because it is wonderful being able to have money left over after paying all the bills. I enjoy not merely surviving.

No one should be “forced” to do anything they don’t want to do. And yet, we’re all being forced to do something we don’t want to do. I guess I feel like, at some point it becomes an “in for the penny, in for the pound” type of situation. If I’m already shucking and jiving, I’m might as well put on the burnt cork.

I know that makes me sound like a sell-out. But honestly, I’m not down with being poorer than I have to be just so I take pride in my personal fight against the patriarchy.

[wonky]

@monstro

I know that makes me sound like a sell-out.

I think it makes you sound like a realist. Makeup is not the hill you would choose to die on. Same here. If I had to learn how, I would learn how. It’s never been an issue, and I hope it never will, but I’ll get over it if it does.