A 'No Makeup' challenge

[pony mom]

I've decided to go outside my comfort zone and not wear any makeup for at least one week; if all goes well, maybe a month. Mind you, I don't wear much to begin with, but I have splotchy rosacea skin and small hooded eyes and tend to look like a 12 yr. old boy (I'm 44) without anything on my face.

So, nothing except sunscreen, maybe mascara, and lip balm (or I'll chew my lips to shreds). I work in a salon/spa, where appearance is everything so I'm not sure how it'll go over but I'll give it a shot; I've warned a few people already. I'm tired of spending time putting it all on, only to have it sorta fade or drift out of place at the end of the day. I also realize I'm probably only putting it on because I'm not comfortable with how I look without it; why should I give a crap what other people think?

I know many of you women here don't wear makeup most of the time. For those of you who don't now but DID wear it regularly, what made you stop? Was it an easy transition? Did anyone notice or comment? Do you feel you're being treated differently?

Friday evening I'm meeting a friend and we're going to hear some live music, which is something I would normally fix my face up for. My hair or clothes won't change, but I wonder how self conscious I'll be. BTW, when I'm at the barn with my horse, I have a bare face too---it's not like I ALWAYS wear makeup.

Anyone care to join me??

[Sad Eyed Lady]

I have never worn much makeup at all, but on work days, church etc I would use a little blush and some eye makeup. Well, since I have been have so much trouble with ocular rosacea I have stopped wearing makeup. I love the freedom of no makeup, and not having worn much anyway it is not a big change. I still use moisturizer after washing my face (with Dove soap), and lip balm is a MUST! My addiction as I posted on these forums once. I have tubes stashed everywhere. Like you I would chew my lips to shreds too, they are so dry.

[kally]

I have ocular rosacea and haven't been able to wear makeup for about 12 years, before that I wore all of it. Now if I ever wear a tad of foundation and lipstick people are amazed. But I think I look fine without makeup. I look lovely with it, but that is just not possible.

I am helped by living in a small coastal town where lots of ladies have grey hair and minimal makeup.

[SiouzQ.]

Actually I am going to do the no make-up/no jewelry thing when I go on my road trip next week to The Badlands and Black Hills of S. Dakota. I will be camping the entire time and I am really looking forward to the freedom! I have been reducing the amount of make-up I wear anyway to just some light concealer to cover blemishes and some mascara on the days I work. I also lightly darken in my brows. I just wear the stuff to enhance my natural looks and always try to make it so I look like I 'm not wearing any make-up at all. Really the big thing for me is when I decide to stop coloring my hair ~ I'm not there yet but I do think about it!
So go for it! I already have a healthy glow from being outdoors riding my bike and hiking; I always look my healthiest best and most natural self after one of my road trips!

[Wildflower]

I haven't worn any make-up since my DD's wedding 10 years ago. I just don't like the feel of it and I look fine without. My DH prefers my natural look as well. I do wear moisturizer daily, curl my eyelashes and put on some clear lip gloss when I leave the house.

[kally]

I DID stop colouring my hair about a year ago and it looks quite nice.

[ApatheticNoMore]

This thread was like some reminder "woah women actually wear things called makeup an put it on". Yea I often do get lost in my own little world that way (avoiding much media helps :)).

But really occasionally so do I, if I notice my face looks reddish or splotchy or just generally bad I'll put a little powder on, but the thing is I don't think about it. I don't' do it as a ritual every morning, I don't do it because I'm going somewhere special (although interviews - hmm ok I might, and I have done it for dates), but mostly I just do it as some kind of almost reflex action if my reflection looks bad. Yea I NEVER really got into the makeup thing.

[Wildflower]

Yeah, I don't color my hair anymore either, not for many years now, and I love my grey highlights. :) Hated the hassle of coloring it too. Just call me lazy. ;)

[herisf]

I used to wear light makeup (eye shadow, eye liner, mascara, lipstick) back when I used to work in an office. Over the years I started to dislike the feel of makeup, so I slowly moved to clear mascara & lip gloss. Now that I work in surgery and wear a mask most of the time, I use nothing but a lip moisturizer (the masks just suck it off, so I use chapstick). However since I have dry skin I still use sunscreen and an overall face and neck moisturizer. If I'm breaking out somewhere (I have eczema) I'll use my prescription ointment wherever needed. The less I wear the happier my skin is.

[Rosemary]

I haven't worn makeup in over 20 years. I like to look like myself.

[Mrs-M]

No makeup here either. Thanks to a medium olive complexion I require very little in the way of artificial anything. Lip moisturizer is my best friend. We're joined at the hips!

[pony mom]

shalom poet and Kally--Yikes!! Sorry to hear you have ocular rosacea. For some time I would often get styes in my eyes and was terrified that it was the start of it.

My day at work went fine. No one ran away in horror. The best part was when I was in the bathroom washing my hands in front of the mirror. I automatically checked to see how badly my eyeshadow had creased and Ta DA!! There wasn't any!!! It was a bit of a shock when I would glance in a mirror and not see my eyes (very small, need eyeliner) but luckily I don't have bags or dark circles so I can get away with this for awhile yet.

Thanks for all your comments. Funny thing is that I'm usually envious of women who go without makeup and it's only me who cares how I look.

[happystuff]

No makeup here or hair color. I like the way I am and that covers how I look. Although some might point out that I don't have to look at myself - ROFLOL!

[kib]

A few weeks of media saturation here, and I have to admit that even with the makeup I wear, I'm not at all "keeping up" with the trends in makeup these days, which seem to put Tammy Faye Baker to shame. These Lashes! They all look like they've got black caterpillars on their eyelids. My thought of the week is that I'm so out of this loop anyway, what's the point of worrying about it at all. So yeah, lipgloss in hand, I will join you.

[pony mom]

Since my workplace is all about beauty and looking good, I was informed that I can't help out at the reception desk if I'm not wearing makeup. That's OK, I don't really like doing that anyway.

Today I found an issue of People magazine that had photos of celebrities without makeup (not bad candid shots, but nice ones). They all looked pretty nice. When I flipped through the rest of the magazine and saw makeup ads, photos of Jessica Simpson, Courtney Cox and others, they looked really scary and freaky to me. How can looking so unnatural be normal?

[Tiam]

My complexion is so ruddy with so many red spider veins that I will never be comfortable without.

[pony mom]

Tiam, Everyday Minerals has a great green powder to tone down the redness. In fact, when I wore that under my powdered mineral base, I looked quite pale and pasty and had to use blush. I think Physicians Formula has something with a green tint as well.

I'm now on week 2 of my no makeup trial and although my face is still kinda splotchy, I'm getting used to it. Not seeing it covered up and looking pale and then seeing it uncovered helps too.

[Blackdog Lin]

I tried my own personal no-makeup challenge about 6 months ago, and was semi-successful with it. I was down to only wearing mascara as eye makeup anyway, and now 6 months later proudly go out and about daily with totally natural eyes. And not having to buy eye-makeup remover, or staining all the washcloths, or worrying about raccoon eyes every day, is just absolutely wonderful! I should have done this years ago.

But giving up the foundation and blush, well, I just couldn't get used to it. Blotchy complexion. And customers kept asking me if I was sick. :)

But I hope/plan to retire in 10 months, and then watch out! Gonna stock up on tinted moisturizer and try to get used to my natural face.....

[Tenngal]

two things that help transition to light makeup are tinted moisturizer and eyeliner pencil (the kind you just draw on and smudge). Those two along with lip gloss go a long way.