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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to wonder why some women don't wear make-up

608 replies

MeganCherry · 11/01/2013 16:00

I'm sure I will get flamed for this but -

I don't mean trowel it on every morning, 3 lots of foundations, eyeshadow, eyeliner etc.

I have quite good skin, so on a usual day I'll wear - mascara and a lipstick/glass. On a bad day I'll probably wear concealer too.

I think make up is about enhancing your features and making the best of them. Me after a sleepless night I look like a zombie, add some concealer and I look like a human being again.

I like to wear make up for me and not to impress my husband or friends or strangers. I just know that I look better when I'm wearing it.

OP posts:
ConfusedPixie · 11/01/2013 21:17

I too am of the younger generation where matte is supposedly the norm, hence my comment of other people's expectations of beauty and not wanting to conform to them earlier!

PiccadillyCervix · 11/01/2013 21:22

I envy people who are naturally good looking and don't need it, however I notice a lot of 'I don't need it crowd' often do need a bit of powder to stop the shiny beacon look!

No they really don't Confused

MrsHoarder · 11/01/2013 21:23

Because i'm not sufficiently bothered to spend 10 minutes of my time every day to make myself look a tiny bit better. Instead I aim to eat a healthy breakfast and try to read something informative rather than MN
And I don't like that big powerful companies try to con women into not leaving the house without expensive chemicals painted on their skin. Why are they publicly doubted for vaccines etc, but not something as pointless as makeup?

BigStickBIWI · 11/01/2013 21:25

The norm, IMVHO, is your own skin. Whether it's matte or gloss is something determined by the fashion media. People who want you to part with your money.

'Love the skin you're in' as I believe somebody once said/sang

SolidGoldFrankensteinandmurgh · 11/01/2013 21:26

I have always had make up and worn it sometimes. 30 years ago I had jobs where it was so thouroughly expected of me and my colleagues that our supervisors would tell us off for not wearing any (and no, we weren't working on make up counters). I associate having to wear make up with low status jobs: once I got a better job I stopped bothering (though I got told more than once that wearing it - and dressing more smartly oh and, of course, deferring to men - would increase my chances of a payrise).

Up until fairly recently I was an Avon rep, and would wear Avon make up in a 'natural look' way if I was going to see customers, because if you're selling the stuff you really ought to visibly use it.

These days I've gone back to what I used to like best - wearing make up for special occasions, because the sort of make up I like to wear is clubby make up in lurid colours and random bits of glitter. Have never seen the point of the 'natural look'.

As to men, I prefer a man in a bit of eyeliner. Though I'm not horrified by anyone's natural face. The impulse to decorate yourself is as old as human society, it's just the who and the how that varies.

BigStickBIWI · 11/01/2013 21:27

... and the why, SGB!

PiccadillyCervix · 11/01/2013 21:28

Piccadilly how lovely of you to be able to read my mind!
If you knew me then you would know how unlikely it is for me to follow the pack.I'm not overweight but I'm also not skinny. I was a ten stone ballet dancer much to the horror of the company.I honestly swear I wear make up because I like the way it makes me look. Maybe I have undeying issues with confidence but if that is the case I've found a cure.I also colour my grey because I went grey very young due to chemo. Damn right I didn't want to look forty at 27 that's no crime.You have. Very good point about the age thing actually I guess I didn't like what ageing was doing to me so attempt to cover up what I see as flaws.I am also totally happy to be make up free anywhere at all.I'm unsure as to why you feel so strongly about it either as I said earlier it can serve a very useful purpose.

I am genuinely befuddled. I have no strong opinions one way or the other what a stranger on the internet happens to wear or not wear Confused

I am an annoyed at the OP 's assumption that others should though.

You seemed to have an issue with that, then seemed to start some sort of debate with me personally out of 9 pages of posters saying the exact same as me, I then responded to your posts because I thought you were talking bollocks. I'd assume you have some sort of axe to grin but I'm a pretty frequent name changer and I don't think I have been to controversial in general under this name. So genuinely I am confused, I think maybe you got wound up as you thought I was calling makeup wearers tragic and you don't want to admit that you were out of line.

PiccadillyCervix · 11/01/2013 21:28

Piccadilly how lovely of you to be able to read my mind!If you knew me then you would know how unlikely it is for me to follow the pack.I'm not overweight but I'm also not skinny. I was a ten stone ballet dancer much to the horror of the company.I honestly swear I wear make up because I like the way it makes me look. Maybe I have undeying issues with confidence but if that is the case I've found a cure.I also colour my grey because I went grey very young due to chemo. Damn right I didn't want to look forty at 27 that's no crime.You have. Very good point about the age thing actually I guess I didn't like what ageing was doing to me so attempt to cover up what I see as flaws.I am also totally happy to be make up free anywhere at all.I'm unsure as to why you feel so strongly about it either as I said earlier it can serve a very useful purpose.

I am genuinely befuddled. I have no strong opinions one way or the other what a stranger on the internet happens to wear or not wear confused

I am an annoyed at the OP 's assumption that others should though.

You seemed to have an issue with that, then seemed to start some sort of debate with me personally out of 9 pages of posters saying the exact same as me, I then responded to your posts because I thought you were talking bollocks. I'd assume you have some sort of axe to grin but I'm a pretty frequent name changer and I don't think I have been to controversial in general under this name. So genuinely I am confused, I think maybe you got wound up as you thought I was calling makeup wearers tragic and you don't want to admit that you were out of line.

BoulevardOfBrokenSleep · 11/01/2013 21:36

Grin at Hecate and her Andrew Lloyd-webber/poison ivy combo.

I am also a make-up shunner, in the 'can't polish a turd' camp.

Mainly cause I have eczema on my face, so foundation sticks to the dry bits and slides off the oozy bits, making a really quite eye-catching patchwork spectacle. I've always felt it's better just to leave it the fuck alone, and grow a very long fringe....

PurpleStorm · 11/01/2013 21:37

Because I don't want to.

And OP is very unimaginative if she really couldn't think of a single reason why other women might not wear make-up every day.

And I very much doubt that the OP could really be mistaken for a zombie if she didn't put any make-up on.

MrsHoarder · 11/01/2013 21:40

Also the reason the no make up types are so het up is because the thread started with the assumption that we are doing something wrong.

Do you wonder why men have such fab eyelashes? My pet theory I'd that they don't cost them in paint them pull it of every day, weakening the lashes and pulling them out

LurcioLovesFrankie · 11/01/2013 21:41

'Cos I don't give a shit?

And 'cos at my age it would be like gilding a turd and I'd end up looking like Barbara Cartland.

Can I turn your question round? I watch some of the very pretty young women at work carefully applying makeup in the mornings (we cycle to work and have changing/shower facilities there). In my opinion they look no more attractive when they've finished, because, guess what, they were beautiful to start with (and, more importantly, nice, intelligent, interesting, thoughtful women with whom I have really good conversations). And I wonder "why do they bother?" But of course, it is (as has been pointed out by many upthread), their choice, and if it makes them happy, who am I to stick my oar in?

seeker · 11/01/2013 21:42

Ask yourself the question- "would a man feel he had to do this?"

Generally speaking, if the answer is no, then don't do it either.

dashoflime · 11/01/2013 21:43

I can tell you why I don't wear makeup...

Around the time I should have been experimenting with it (13-16) I had no money and I didn't feel like I could ask my parents for make up because they also had no money.

So I never experimented and I never learned to apply it, or what suited me.

And now it just feels too late. Apart from anything else, my mannerisms don't lend themselves to make up. I touch my face too often, so I would probably smudge it.

And now, because I've not known how to do makeup for so long it's just built up to this big impassible thing in my mind. Sounds really rubbish written down :(

JugglingFromHereToThere · 11/01/2013 21:52

You're not really missing anything IME lime - but I'm sorry if you feel that maybe you are, and especially if you feel you missed out. You could always give it a go ? Enlist a friend's help maybe ?

JollyToddles · 11/01/2013 21:54

Those mentioning shiny faces....

You do realise that you still sweat while you have make up on? However the sweat (which is supposed to be leaving your body) hits the make up and gets stuck.

Yuck.

AGlassHalfEmptyNoLonger · 11/01/2013 21:58

dashoflime I was never interested at the time friends learnt, and again it built up into this huge thing, so I found even if I wanted to, I couldn't. Just before Christmas I went to an evening Boots laid on, with No7, doing step-by-step demonstrations which we then copied. I now feel comfortable enough to put make-up on in a way that suits me, and though I am not perfect, and I am looking to meet up with someone who teaches others to wear make-up for a few sessions to learn other tricks, I no longer have the fear I did - at 34 I can finally wear make-up :) But saying that, I still don't wear it every day, for many of the reasons others have already said, it is just nice to know if I want to, I can.

thixotropic · 11/01/2013 22:05

Because I look like me, but with a Crappy painted on face ...

Plomino · 11/01/2013 22:07

Because when I get up at 4am to go to work , I consider I've done well if I've got a matching pair of socks on. Putting my slap on at that time , would be tantamount to putting my 4 yr old in charge of it . No. Just no.

MummytoMog · 11/01/2013 22:07

Because I don't need to. I whack a bit of mascara on for super smart days at the office and some eyeshadow and benetint for like super smart evenings.

I have skin like an angel. No shit.

dashoflime · 11/01/2013 22:14

Juggling and A Glass: yes, I keep playing with the idea of enlisting some help.
I might one of these days.

Mumsnet is actually a huge help because I can see on the Style and Beauty boards, loads of people asking fairly basic questions. So, that slightly breaks down the perception I have of makeup being this thing that everyone else knows how to do and not me.

I had a makeover in a beauty shop once but I left looking not really like myself. Like I was in drag or something

TheBrideofMucky · 11/01/2013 22:29

My younger brother wears concealer. Better concealer than me in fact and DP's brother straightens his hair and lift weights to look vood in his tight t-shirts Grin

I am 26 so perhaps it's a younger thing but the pressure to look good at all times and hide perceived "imperfections" is definitely felt by men now too, it's not exclusively a female thing anymore.

LeucanTheMopsis · 11/01/2013 22:29

An unlikely source, but this mentions some of the evolutionary reasons why women wear makeup. shagability

LeucanTheMopsis · 11/01/2013 22:30

... but has nothing to say about why men currently don't.

GirlOutNumbered · 11/01/2013 22:39

I don't wear it unless I am going out in the evening for drinks or a meal. I am too lazy and I enjoy looking different for a night out, makes it feel special!