I was watching an interesting show on the “Animal Planet” network called “Total Zoo” about life as a zookeeper and was struck by how many of the female zookeepers/animal handlers have obvious acne scars, skin redness, sun damage and just generally what you would call “rough” skin compared to what you normally see (or more accurately don’t see) in the everyday business world, because a lot of women use makeup to cover skin flaws like these and it’s interesting to see women (at work) without makeup.
At first it was kind of jarring because it’s not what I am used to, but as I watched I thought about just how weird smooth, flawless skin would normally be in real life.
So I ask the question, do you think women are sexier with, or without makeup and why do some women obsess over makeup? Why is it so super critical to have not just clean and healthy, but cosmetically “perfect” skin. Is perfect skin really that important in attracting a mate or maintaining social status? Is it a resource demonstration akin to a man’s buying an expensive car, to show that a women has the time and resources to make herself “perfect”?
I dunno about all that other stuff you said, but having a smooth, clear complexion is pretty much universally considered to be an important indicator of attractivness. That’s accross cultures, not just North America or Europe, either.
A smooth clear skin is a sign of health, as is thick, glossy hair, bright eyes, rosy cheeks.
However any skin with a thick layer of fluoro orange junk isn’t going to be attractive.
I remember a really interesting article in a girls’ magazine (probably 10+ years ago so it’s not going to be on the web) where they put two different styles of make-up on this model. One took them about 5 minutes - it was a bit of lipstick, mascara - she looked nice, like she was about to go out for the evening. Noticeable make-up, not heavy.
Then they spent an HOUR doing her a “natural” look. Spending ages using more brown and taupe shades, more natural lipstick, foundation, brown mascara. All far more subtle, but it took forever.
All they guys they interviewed preferred look (2). Even though it had taken way more fuss, and loads more make-up, it looked like she was wearing less, and “more natural” and they preferred it.
In all the years I have been on earth I have NEVER heard a bloke - male friend, bf, relative, colleague, whatever - make any sort of comment like “her make-up looks nice” or anything like that. Nearly every guy says they prefer “no make-up”.
However I’ve also observed that they often don’t realise a woman is wearing make-up, if it’s well done and subtle. So when they’re saying (a) looks nicer than (b) because she doesn’t have such thick make-up on, they may not realise that (a) spent just as long in the bathroom and looks a bit washed-out without her warpaint.
I have seen Mrs. Bdgr in makeup exactly one time, the night of her prom, and she looked horrible. I think she looks great without any makeup, maybe I’ll post a link.
It’s funny, I wear makeup whenever I leave the house. Eyeliner, mascara, foundation, lipstick. But the only time people notice I am wearing makeup is when I have lipstick on (I would wear the whole shebang except the lipstick when I used to go to work as a mechanic).
All I did different (after work) was add lipstick, and people would say, “Oh, you’re wearing makeup today!”
Every time I mention that I (generally) prefer the appearance of women without makeup, some cynical person usually chimes “you actually mean you like the ‘natural look’, don’t you - you actually like women with makeup that has been done very subtly”
Prevented from wearing eye make-up with a stupid eye-infection, I’ve been amazed that (a) no one has noticed the difference in my appearance, (b) when probed, they were surprised to hear that I usually wear (IMO plenty) of slap.
So I must be doing it subtly enough!
Not being able to wear it though is quite liberating, though scary at first. I feel like I have “broken through” some barrier. However I will NEVER break through the must-wear-concealer barrier or the must-carry-lipbalm barrier.
It depends–some women benefit from make-up, and if you’ve seen candid photos of celebrities, they look very different than when they’re given the full glamour treatment.
I personally prefer women who don’t need it (or don’t feel they need it). So much make-up is overdone. Mrs. AG doesn’t use the stuff at all (maybe a little lipstick) and I think she’s absolutely gorgeous, so there you go.
I’ve seen many attractive women with and without makeup, and certainly plenty of UNattractive ones in both states.
MHO is that almost any “flaw” can be made less noticeable by consmetics, if properly applied. But so many women imagine flaws that AREN’T THRERE, they end up troweling it on. Or, in attempting to “blur the line” between the end of the makeup and the beginning of real skin, they end up spreading it out, resulting in areas of higher and lower concentration.
So I’d say most women could be a bit more attractive, with properly applied makeup. Most women do not have the skills to do this, and most women end up looking less attractive as a result.
This seem to me more an IMHO question. Then again, I’ve always been a little fuzzy in the distinction between the two.
At college I knew a very good-looking girl who used to take 2 1/2 hours putting her makeup on every morning. I tried to persuade her she didn’t need so much. “I’d rather let you see me naked than let you see me without makeup on.”
She was correct in teh order of events… We started going out together, and eventually I did see her without makeup on, and she was even more stunning (without the slap, she looked very much like Debbie Harry). Eventually I persuaded her to go into college without the makeup. And everyone in the corridor who met her said “oh my God, are you sick?”
Well, as has already been said, the reason people (they’re women, aren’t they?) don’t believe you is probably because their experience tells them that most men can’t really tell the difference between no makeup and subtle makeup (they usually confuse the latter for the former).
I could share anecdotes, but you believe me, don’t you?
Anyway, thanks to a recent struggle through the hell of Accutane, I am at last comfortable without makeup (before I didn’t wear much; just foundation–to cover the acne–mascara, and lip gloss, but wearing foundation in the summer makes you feel like you’ve got a Fruit Roll-Up glued to your face)!
And because of the Accutane Struggle, I can now go makeup-less without some (well-meaning?) male friend wondering what happened to my face and why does it look redder and raw-er than usual? :rolleyes:
I never go out of the house without makeup on, but I am certainly not trying to look “sexy.” Just “presentable.”
I don’t wear much makeup—a pale pink lipstick (which I really do think brightens up my face and “pulls it together”), black mascara (carefully combed to avoid clumps) and a light dusting of transluscent powder, to avoid shine and even out my skintone. The only eyeshadow I wear is, occasionally, some pale powder concealer on my undereye circles; I never wear foundation or blush.
Men are lucky—they can grow beards and moustaches to cover parts of their faces they don’t like. The onlder I get, the more I wish hats with veils would make a comeback.
I don’t really understand a lot of women, even though I am one. I only wear make-up once every six months or so. I think I look OK, but I’m not too concerned about what I look like most of the time. But at the bus stop every morning, all of the other women are all decked out, hair and make-up and dressed up. We have to be there at 7:00 A.M. and I think those women must be crazy to get up that early to put on their faces to wait for the bus. I consider myself good to go, if I manage to brush my teeth in time.
I think it’s a self esteem issue. For some reason, maybe they don’t feel good enough about themselves to go around with out it. Maybe they are afraid of being judged because they might not look their best.
