Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 ··· 11 12 13 ··· 24 25

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:

PretzelTime · 11/01/2013 22:43

evolutionary reasons
Wow I could never guess that women wear makeup in order to appear more attractive!!1

Some men currently wearing makeup, probably because of evolutionary reasons:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12215138

DoodlesNoodles · 11/01/2013 22:51

I don't wear make up because,

I can't be arsed
I think I am quite pretty (not stunning but pretty enough)
It bleeds, runs, smudges.
I don't like how it feels
I like being low maintenance
I like to think I am setting a good example of a happy confident women to my teenage DD (who also never wears make-up)

If I were very fair I might wear a bit of mascara and, maybe, if I had thin lips I might wear a bit of lippy. I would also wear concealer if I had a blotchy spot.

I do dye my hair sometimes but I don't mind the grey bits and I like to wear nice clothes sometimes

I do get a shiny forehead and if there were a product that I could use that would stop it, I would use it.

OP, you mention that you wear make-up for yourself, does this mean that you wear it if you are at home on your own?

SirBoobAlot · 11/01/2013 22:58

Because when I used to wear it every day, I was even more paranoid about my appearance than I am now.

I have shit skin due to PCOS, but you know what? Fuck it. This is my face. No, I don't particularly like the way I look, but I'm not the one looking at it every day. And I'm not going to make myself look materialistically nicer to please other people any more.

LeucanTheMopsis · 11/01/2013 23:00

Pretzel, there are difference between cultural and evolutional reasons you know. There's a feedback loop, yes, but they have separate intentions - adopting social norms, against shag-me-now-I'm-on-heat. A lot of comments have talked about our specific cultural expectations of 'normal' - I just think it's interesting to remember that normal or not, it's very specifically developed to give out the one, compelling, message.

greencolorpack · 11/01/2013 23:02

I don't know enough about makeup to wear it confidently. I blame having a feminist mum who raised us androgynously. And I've got by in life without needing to fix my lack of knowledge.

PretzelTime · 11/01/2013 23:07

Leucan
I don't think I understand your posts. It's getting too late.
I'm sad I'm not Wodaabe though, those men are some fine hotties

Morloth · 11/01/2013 23:09

I think I am actually just going to go with 'I can't be arsed'.

I really can't, I don't see the point and as for the 'it only takes 5 minutes', there are many other things I would rather do in those 5 minutes.

People sweat, people age, it really doesn't matter.

babyicebean · 11/01/2013 23:17

I wear it for work and because its heavy and takes an age I can't be arsed with it the rest of the time.

ThinkAboutItOnBoxingDay · 11/01/2013 23:19

Because I'm worth it.

MysteriousHamster · 11/01/2013 23:21

Wear it when I have time to apply it. Most of the time I don't because it's not a priority as I think I look vaguely human without it, so applying it is low on the to-do list.

PiccadillyCervix · 11/01/2013 23:21

greencolorpack, genuine question because I can't tell if you are joking by your post but do you resent being raised that way/by a feminist mum?

ginhag · 11/01/2013 23:24

Nope, sorry. Couldn't give a fuck.

ArielThePiraticalMermaid · 11/01/2013 23:27

Hello Gin. Knew you wouldn't wear make up, you old hag.

garlicbollocks · 11/01/2013 23:28

Pretzel, thanks a million for that info! Have just watched a few clips on here. Yes, I wouldn't mind being a Gerewol judge

Leucan, bollocks will be talked, by scientists and pundits, to support any fashionable view. Unfortunately real life tends not to bear them out. The Wodaabe men, and the Papuan New Guinea ones, dance in their weird outfits and lavish makeup specifically to get laid. I'm not seeing how their get-ups simulate sex. What about the Elizabethan fashion for rotten teeth and the 19th-century vogue for women to look terminally ill?

It's just fashion ... yes, it always has something to do with sex, status and prestige. It usually has rather more to do with selling products. Contemporary experts will tell you how 'evolutionary' it all is, but human nature is more subtle than they're making out!

Anyway, if blusher's supposed to make you look sexually aroused, why isn't it also desirable to have a blotchy neck & chest and to break out in a sweat?

ginhag · 11/01/2013 23:34

Akshully Aries (mmwah n facelicks) I do sometimes wear make up. There's goth in these yer veins y'know

greencolorpack · 11/01/2013 23:57

PiccadillyCervix, yes I do. She raised us to sneer at the neighbours kids who wore pretty pretty dresses. In telling us what she sneered at it was a very clear message to us what we shouldn't want to do ourselves. And she fought tooth and nail against letting me have a dolly. I liked dollies, so shoot me!

PiccadillyCervix · 12/01/2013 00:00

if she hadn't been sneery or had been more inclusive about things you did like do you think you'd still resent it? sorry not trying to grill you,might startomorrow t a thread in chat tomorrow

Disappearing · 12/01/2013 00:02

YABU, I can't be arsed with make up.

littletingoddess · 12/01/2013 00:04

YANBU, each to their own. However, my skin has never been clearer (and I never had spots as a teen!) since I stopped wearing make-up. It also means that I spend less time getting ready in the morning, or when we're going out.

greencolorpack · 12/01/2013 00:10

No I think I would be a happier dd to my m if she had been less sneery about things and just a bit more nurturing and interested in me as a person.

My dad is a real chauvinist dinosaur, parents were divorced so if we wore jeans and jumpers he sneered at us for not wearing the pretty pretty dresses. He was always trying to get us to dress as girls.

Awkwardness abut not being feminine was hardest to cope with at university as I was living among my peers. But it's got easier since then. I've just never really been able to relate to girly girls.

Trying to raise dd a bit more conventionally/positively and not slagging off how anyone dresses, to my kids.

marriedinwhite · 12/01/2013 00:10

OP - are you OK? I don't think you've been back and have only skimmed this thread.

FWIW I wear make-up almost every day and have done since I was about 14. Not a lot but a light foundation, bit of powder, bit of blusher, bit of mascara, and bit of lippy. It makes me feel better and it makes me look better and if you don't mind me saying I have very good skin.

Love it, makes me feel better and am pleased that dd 14.50 is experimenting with eye liner, maxcara and lippy.

marriedinwhite · 12/01/2013 00:11

Oh, and my make-up routine takes about two minutes. x

Longdistance · 12/01/2013 00:18

I used to wear make up everyday in my last job, as had to look presentable.

I had my dd's, and gave it up really, as

a) no time,

b) I live in Oz now, and it'll melt off my face in the heat,

c) I didn't need it in he first place as my face is blemish, and wrinkle free at 36,

d) can't be arsed

e) I only wear it now when going out for a night, as dh reckons I'm naturally beautiful

sparklingsky · 12/01/2013 00:18

I am attempting to stop wearing it since starting to react to products. It can take weeks for my skin to heal. I dont look great without it, but I dont have much choice....

PiccadillyCervix · 12/01/2013 00:19

sounds shit green :(, thank you for answering me though :) I'd prefer my daughter to not wear make up but that's because I hope she feels beautiful without and not feel pressured to look a certain way. won't make her feel bad if she does though

Flip

1 2 ··· 11 12 13 ··· 24 25