to think 99 percent of people would look better with a bit of tinted moisturiser, lip balm like vasaline,natural mascara and v light natural blusher

[magicpixie]

most folk would look healthier, more groomed

not sayng they should do this, but that it would make them look more awake, brighter healthier

I like contouring. I always go for this "everyday" look. Only takes 5 mins to do.

So this is how I do it:

And this is the end result:

Gorgeous.

omg
I'm traumatised

BigRedBall - I remember a few years ago I was contoured and bought the compact at a big London dept store...

I recall thinking it was too much of a faff for everyday use so binned it unused after a while.

Even Boris Johnson?

I think my dh would find his beard got in the way tbh.
Could he exchange blusher and tinted moisturiser for eyeshadow,perhaps?

More proof that the OP does indeed mean men - even pretty ones look better with a bit of make up

I was thinking about this a bit more seriously the other day, and actually, I explicitly disagree with the OP.

I do know people who look like almost a different person when they put even a small amount of make up on - they just look somehow super refreshed and their features stand out much more.

But in contrast, I also know people who - for whatever reason - just look better without make up. Even when I am used to seeing them with it on, when they take it off it's like "huh. You really shouldn't bother with it at all".

They do tend to be the really disgustingly beautiful people though.

Bastards.

I look and feel better with my slap on, not saying I am done up like a Christmas Pud every time I go out the door but I usually have at lest bb cream and lippy applied. Like, sash said, I don't care what other people choose do, as long as they don't do it in class or scare the horses or whatever..

My lashes & brows are blonde so I have to wear mascara & eyebrow pencil or my eyes disappear... frustrating.

Robert Smith used to look nice in a bit of slap. Advancing years lend a Barbara Cartland edge to the whole business though.

Tim Minchin always looks a bit grubby to me (not in a, ahem, good way, either).

[/bitchy]

The only group here who have been run down is make up wearers. Except for the OP no one has made negative comments about non make up wearers

I think you have to bear in mind that

1. This is AIBU
2. Most people are responding to the OP, not each other, that being the nature of this kind of thread.

I have a friend who wears make-up as a mask because she does not have the confidence to show her own face. It obscures her own beautiful features, so the OP's prescription of tinted moisturiser etc would definitely suit her better in my opinion.

My objection to the OP is that it assumes only one standard of good/better - precluding pale skin, short/fair eyelashes and matt lips. I am thinking of someone who has those attributes, rarely wears any make-up, and is thoroughly, enviably beautiful. She also looks beautiful in full slap, but not better or worse, just different.

I also haven't noticed the correlation between make-up wearing and how presented the rest of the body is.

Even with the amount of make up the o/p suggests, We're assuming that shiny lips, long eyelashes, and rosy cheeks is "better", or more beautiful than the face in its natural state.

It's a social construct. My mother hates how pale I am and constantly tells me I look "better" and "healthier" with a bit of a tan. But that again is our current perceived beauty ideals.

In Victorian times pale was thought to be "better" than tanned. In some communities fat is beautiful, skinny is not.

Not putting it very well- but to me it is impossible to say that make up improves appearance- it just means we fit in with society's current opinion of what is "better".

It WOULD take one or two minutes to apply. But months to get rid of the resulting excema.

..and?

Your point being?

I would like all men who show their faces in public to be wearing a subtle smoky eyeliner. Not Kate Middleton harsh lines, the soft smudgy look. I try not to take it personally that so few bother...

Oh, and Vaseline dries out lips like nothing else. Beeswax is what you want OP.

Haven't rtft so assume this has been said but it can't be said too often: why should everyone try to move towards a homogenised version of accepted attractiveness? Bigger eyes? Shinier, arguably sexualised lips? Smooth even skin, hiding genuine colours tone and skin responses to life? We should surely be moving towards embracing diversity not a march of the clones..

NO they would look fake and unnaturally coloured (which usually means ill).

Unfortunately, you (and a lot of people) have bought in to the current culture's idea that is beauty.

You could written this a few hundred years ago as

"Am I being unreasonable in thinking we'd all look better with a thick layer of white pancake powder and a fake mole?"

It would sounds just as silly.

Or "Am I being unreasonable in thinking we'd all look better with a thick layer of highly toxic white lead powder... and a fake mole?"

Indeed.

Weren't the fake miles used to cover syphilitic sores?

Moles, that should be.

Weren't the fake moles used to cover syphilitic sores?

please let that not be true.

I think it's true. The sign of a prostitute was a woman wearing too many.