I generally do not wear make-up. I hate not being able to rub my face, especially my eyes. The only make up I wear on a regular basis is lip gloss becuase my lips get chapped easily. Exeptions are interviews and when I’m performing. I wear make-up at interviews because I’m trying to make the best first impression possible and there is a perception by some people that a woman who doesn’t wear make-up is sloppy or lazy. I wear make-up when performing so that facial expression can be seen at a greater distance.
I think that women should wear makeup if they are good at it and they like it. (If they don’t like it, they aren’t likely to take the time to make it look right, so who does it benefit?) I wear makeup for special occasions and for work because I’m pretty good at using it to just make myself look a little nicer. But since I stay home with the kids now, I don’t bother with it. I mean, my husband prefers me without and I don’t think that the lady at the grocery really cares, right?
And I think kniz is right… most of us non-makeup-wearers don’t care what he thinks, right? 
It’s really easy to overdo makeup, or do a bad job of applying it. Plus the formulations of makeup differ, so that you can end up with something too cakey or oily, etc., and decide that makeup itself isn’t for you, rather than learning that you just didn’t get the right kind.
If you look good without makeup, go for it - though I’d recommend daily sunscreen regardless of whether you wear makeup, to protect your skin and keep it looking nice. If you have a couple of things you’d like to take care of with makeup - blemishes, pale eyelashes that make your eyes seem smaller, dark undereye circles, faint lips that disappear into your face - then use the minimum amount of products to take care of it. If you have rosy cheeks, don’t feel compelled to buy blush. If your eyelashes are dark, ignore mascara. And so on.
At my last job, I almost never wore makeup aside from a little powder for oilyness and concealer for blemishes/dark circles. I wear a little more now, but not all the time. I don’t wear it at home, and usually don’t when I go out shopping. My first college roommate was the “must put full makeup on before I step out of my room” type, and I just can’t imagine being like that. Plus I know someone who spent literally hours in the bathroom getting ready (even while guests were at her house, waiting to see her). These days she’s still like that, but she managed to ravage her skin and hair with overdoing the tanning and hair bleaching - some people go overboard in a quest for “beauty”.
I work at home. I’m doing well if I get out of my pajamas and/or take a shower in a given day. So no, I do not wear makeup.
I didn’t wear it when I did get up and go to work everyday, either. It just seemed like a waste of time, both in the morning when you have to put it on, and especially at night when I’m tired and have to take it off. I used to wear basic makeup back in high school/early college. Sometime in my early twenties I quit and never looked back.
Mr. Athena likes it just fine. In fact, he’s told me many, many times that he thinks I look better without makeup than with it. He’s not anti-makeup, either - in general, he likes a nicely made up woman.
I don’t usually wear make-up. Occasionaly I will wear mascara, I like that.
I never put anything on my skin, powders and what not, because I can see it, I am too “disturbed” others will too!
But, for an interview, I will have some make-up on my eyes, and maybe even a little lipstick. I’d say use just a little for interviews.
Everyone should make the most of what they’ve got. If adding a little blush, lip stick, or mascara makes you feel more confident or more attractive then do it.
I’m pretty disinterested in makeup, but I started a new job a few months ago, and I started wearing foundation and eyeshadow. VERY subtle. I wouldn’t wear the eyeshadow at all, except once I put on foundation, I’m freakishly pale, and a bit of color helps. I look younger than I am (24, but I could pass for 19), and I think it makes me appear a little older - but probably only because people consider it normal for adult women to wear makeup at work. My best friend is a Mary Kay lady and taught me how to use the stuff last year. She tried to get me to wear lipstick and mascara and whatever, but I drew the line. I wash my face as soon as I get home, and I don’t wear makeup at all when I go out. It’s just a part of the work uniform, like slacks and sweatersets and loafers.
In regards to an interview, I think you should go the way that would make feel the most confident. If you are comfortable and more confident about yourself au naturale, then by all means, do it. If you feel you would be more confident with a few touch-ups/highlights, then go for it. Bottom line is, the potential employer will notice if you feel self-concious or lack confidence. If she/he is going to be swayed based on what you look like…there’s a chance you might not want to work for him/her right?
Personally, I don’t care whether a woman wears it or not. But if worn it should be tasteful. I can’t help it, but when I see a woman ‘plastered’ with makeup (I’ll qualify that with a word picture …everyone think Tammy Faye Baker) shivers, I get the feeling she [the woman as well as Tammy Faye Baker] is trying to hide something. Maybe it’s something physical (self concious about some facial feature, shape etc.) or maybe it’s something psychological (repeatedly told she was ugly as a child, or something deeper).
Mrs eNiGma will either go without it completely, or wear a wee bit around the eyes and on her lips. She’s truly beautiful either way 
Shucks… plnnr…ya beat me to it That’s what happens when you have nice concise answers. LOL
For interviews, if I have to shave or wear a tie (even or especially if I don’t have to shave or wear ties once I get the job…), you have to wear makeup.
I vastly prefer the no-makeup look. Fortunately for me, B doesn’t use it much. Unfortunately, she wears it if we’re going to any sort of public event where she wants to (feel she) look(s) better.
Makes playing with her face a lot less fun:(
I don’t like makeup at all. It can look nice if appplied well, but I don’t know how to do that and I don’t really care enought o learn.
There’s a couple of girls at school who are simply plastered in makeup. Thick foundation, enough eye stuff to outdo a raccoon, lipstick, lipliner, and lip gloss, blush, all that. (my favorite is Pearl, who wears nude lipstick and uses black lipliner. Heehee! But she’s pretty nice, so it can be overlooked.) And then they carry all the little tubes and compacts around in their purses, and fix it whenever they feel the need to.
This all strikes me as being too damn much trouble.
On women, I prefer no makeup or subtle makeup to thick, obvious makeup. But I’m a guy, so my vote hardly counts.
Woman who’s been on about 30 job interviews in the last 3 years checking in:
I never wear makeup. I didn’t wear it to my job interviews. I wouldn’t want to work for a place that would equate not wearing makeup with not caring about my appearance. I looked perfectly nice without it.
I might, however, wear it if I wanted to conceal a nasty facial scar (like my sister does) or if I had circles under my eyes that made me look older, sicker, or more tired than I really was (like my mom does). Though it’s unfortunate that these things might be distracting or give a wrong impression, it’s not unlikely.
It’s also been my experience that women who don’t normally wear makeup but do so for job interviews don’t do a good job of making themselves up in a “business-appropriate” manner. In other words, they don’t have the skills borne of everyday usage and their application is clumsy. I had one friend who went on interviews looking like a two-bit hooker for awhile because someone gave her the bad advice that she wouldn’t look “polished” without makeup.
Ethilrist–why? I shave my legs before a nice interview (wax, actually). I wear pantyhose (the female discomfort equivalent of a tie). So why should I “have” to wear makeup when you don’t?
I go for the very subtle look. A tiny mout of powder, and some light lipstick. No mascara or eye makeup, I wear glasses and besides my eyes won’t stand for it. If I’m going somewhere nice, then perhaps a dark shade of lipstick to complement my colour. Nothing else.
You can’t tell I wear makeup, unless I am actually going out for a nice evening out.
As for its effect, i’ve noticed no ill ones, on the contrary, I always get more compliments (direct and indirect) when I’ve gone for the extremely natural look. Or is that just because I hang out with physicists, mathematicians and computer programmers?
As discussed in a previous thread, I am a former non-makeup-wearer, trying the make-up thing for my new job.
I’m going for the “natural” look–me, but more so. I’m very pleased with the effect that a light foundation has. It makes my coloration look even and my skin look smooth. If it’s “cheating” to wear it, then I’m a cheater. With light foundation, my natural rosy-cheekiness shows through, so I don’t think I need blush. I’ve got some lipstick that is exactly the same color as my actual lips. You might wonder why I bother then–because sometimes my lips are paler than usual, and it really washes out my face. Also, it looks more polished than nekkid lips. Clear mascara is fabulous stuff for me. You know how getting hair wet makes it just a little darker? The clear mascara basically makes my lashes look wet, so they seem just a little longer due to the slight darkening of the fine ends of each lash. I don’t know if anybody but me would notice the difference. I’m doing one product at a time, and I just got eyeliner and shadow today, but haven’t tried them out yet.
The hubby expressed consternation at first. He said I was beautiful without makeup, and why would I mess with a good thing? (Ain’t he a sweetie? Hardly an objective observer, but definitely a sweetie.) He has standing orders to tell me if my makeup looks unnatural or unattractive to him. He has an excellent eye for color, and I figure that he’s the world’s expert on my face, so his advice will be most valuable. I’ve also agreed to take it off as soon as I get home at night. Not planning to wear it on my days off, either–though I am wearing it now, before the job begins, for “practice.”
Overall, I feel more confident about my appearance and more feminine. None of my friends have stopped, stared, and asked, jaws a-dangle, “My God, Podkayne, are you wearing makeup!?!” so I’m guessing that I’m carrying off the “natural” thing okay so far, and I hope to improve with more practice.
i wear makeup when i want to look pretty.
not everyday.
why should i?
i’m clean, i’m neat, what would wearing makeup serve?
i have to get out of bed at 7:30 am every morning. the extra time would serve no purpose.
i don’t “need” to wear it. i’m 20, i have good skin, dark lashes and a tan complexion.
and quite frankly, if you think a woman doesn’t look “right” without makeup, it says a whole lot more about you than it does about her.
I think a small abount of makeup can be benificial. The only type of makeup I wear is a little pressed powder to control the shine. I agree with some others that a shiny face is very distracting. Almost as distracting as someone that piles on the makeup.
I think as long as you don’t go overboard, makeup is fine. I absolutely can’t stand it when women wear bright lipstick and a caked on line of black eyeliner. Yech.
I think women need to define themselves in terms other than how they look. I don’t wear makeup much - I just never think of it, because my looks have so little to do with my personality. I also think women shouldn’t feel the need to shave armpits or legs, or diet their curves into oblivion, but that’s a whole 'nother thread.
Shaving is a part of normal grooming for a beardless man. Wearing a tie is a part of professional dress which has its own analogues in female dress, many far more constrictive in design and application.
As an HR person, the last thing I care about is whether or not a woman has on makeup. I’m only going to notice if she’s slapped it on badly, plastered it on with a Tammy Faye signature line trowel or looks like a drag queen. (Note: I like drag queens, I’m friends with a few great ones. But their brand of makeup is rarely appropriate for the professional workplace. If I saw that on someone in an interview, I’d be a bit concerned.) I am going to notice if someone looks uncomfortable beyond the realm of the basic discomfort of an interview – meaning that they don’t feel right in their own skin or their own clothes. That’s going to make me wonder why they’re putting on a show of their physical presentation instead of coming in to wow me with their qualifications for the job.
In short: every day, do what works. Job interview: do what’s comfortable. Dress within the boundaries of what’s appropriate for the job, but wear something comfortable. If makeup isn’t your thing, forget about it. Be well groomed, well rested, well prepared mentally and professionally and leave the lipstick for another time and place.