To ask: if you don't wear make up regularly, what do you genuinely think when you see someone who does?

[Mingewithafringe]

Really interested to hear people's views on this as it's something the socially anxious person in me has always wondered.

I wear a lot of make up by most people's standards. It stems from my teens where I developed bad skin and was just desperate to cover it. It's a lot better now but I have scars and patches that I feel insecure about.
So as well as a concealer and powder foundation, I also fill in my eyebrows daily, wear liquid eyeliner on my top lid, kohl pencil on my waterline, mascara, bronzer and either matte lipstick or a tinted lip balm. Without the eye make up I look tired or ill (people have actually said that!)

This is most days unless I know for sure I won't be going out that day. I have applied it for so many years that it only takes me about 5/10 minutes to put it on in the morning, and the amount of money I spend on make up has just become one of those accepted expenses, although I don't actually spend a lot because aside from my foundation, the rest is usually affordable stuff like Maybelline, Bourjois etc

I go through phases where I just hate the fact that I feel like I have to wear it and so I try to wean myself off it e.g. By not wearing eyeliner or by going for a subtle/minamalistic look. But I just don't feel confident and end up reverting back!

I have always wondered what ladies who don't wear make up are thinking when they talk to me. If I walk in to a room, 99% of the time I am wearing the most make up out of any woman. So ironically, I wear make up so that people don't think "look at her scars", but now have developed this insecurity where I feel that when I talk to someone, all they are thinking is "jeez how much make up is she wearing, it's a toddler and baby group for crying out loud"!!

Am I being silly?

Assuming it's applied well, I would probably feel pretty frumpy and ugly by comparison. I really like wearing a bit of makeup, but generally only have time for mascara.

I think most people are too busy worrying about themselves to think too much about other people!

I wish I was disciplined enough to put make up on every day!

I wouldn't think much so long as the makeup was appropriate for day wear and not too heavy or showy. If you went out every single day with really sparkly or smokey eyes like you were going to a nightclub, or with way too much too foundation in an unnatural colour and really bright/heavy blusher I'd think you're a bit bonkers with terrible tacky taste, but I don't judge people for always wearing make up, far from it.

However you sound like you are really stuck in a rut and unable to see past one particular look. It will in time look dated and age you. Totally agree.

I never wear any makeup. What I probably think, when I see you, is how lovely you look.

What stevie said.

I just cannot be arsed to go to that effort unless it's a really special occasion. But I often look at people with make up on and think how lovely they look.

I notice, but in a way it's usually to think how pretty it looks (unless it's very badly applied or garish). In which case, I'd feel bad and want to secretly tell them that they're prettier without it. I never would actually say anything! Unless there was a splodge of mascara on the brow bond or something, an obv mistake, that could be wiped away, and they'd have to be approachable for me to say anything...

I feel I must wear makeup when I go out, and accept that this is in part about me being in a work/training situation alongside very much younger people, and trying to compensate a bit for that.

I was in a rut and watched a few videos on better makeup for my age, and I'd be likely to be looking at your makeup trying to see what you'd done and how you'd done it - research/interest only, not judgmental.

I wonder how they can be bothered. I'd rather have an extra few mins in bed.

I wear a small amount if I'm going to work or out but other than that I don't bother. I'm always quite impressed if someone is well made up, it's not something I've ever been good at!

I sometimes wonder this too OP.

I wear makeup everyday and very often get comments like 'You look so glamorous but where do find the time'? I can't understand that as it probably takes me only 5 minutes in the morning I usually get the feeling that the comments aren't exactly a compliment.

I hardly ever wear it.

If people are just wearing a bit especially on a night out I think it's nice (I wish I knew how to do it!), but too much I think looks ridiculous. Especially when people wear a thick black eyeliner every day. Surely the point is to make you look special for nights out etc - if you wear it every day what's the point? Foundation to cover spots is understandable though. But in general I think excessive make up is a sign of insecurity.

I'm far more busy feeling paranoid about my own looks to notice. Honestly.

I sometimes think it's a pity they aren't confident enough not to cake their face, but that's only people who overdo it. It's amazing how many people overdo it though! Being able to see someone's make up is a bad thing.

I also increasingly think makeup is like a shackle on women. But that's a whole other topic.

I wear make up most days and I tend to notice made up people more than I notice who wears none because I think too much can look out of place day to day.
I will bet you don't look tired or ill without sell that eye make up on but you will look different to normal so people say something as comment. I'd maybe try and wean off the eye liner a bit and update your look. Go to a department store and look at the women working at the counters and see whose look you blue and approach them for some help.

You LIKE not blue

I don't think anything of it tbh. It doesn't really enter my how much make up somebody is wearing or not when I talk to them.

I feel jealous of people who don't wear make up to work etc. I always wear some, not loads but I feel better with it on. I'm not ugly or got bad skin or anything so sometimes I do get annoyed with myself and wonder why I do it. I just prefer to so that's my answer really. Vanity I suppose.

I rarely wear make up, a mix of CBA and a vague protest against being conditioned to look/weigh a certain way.
I actually look better with a tinted moisturiser and mascara, they give my aging face definition.
I do judge the drag queen look, looks daft to me but I'm aware it's none of my business.
Like a PP said, make up out of context (fake eyelashes at the swimming pool etc) would make me feel the person had insecurities.

Full make up to me is for a special occasion like a wedding, and after a few hours I want to hack it off because I am not used to it!

But I do like to see people well made up, in a subtle but not tarty way if you understand me!

I just don't have the patience, and have woken up far too many times with the Shroud of Turin on my pillow when I was a bit younger!

I just brush on a bit of highlighting powder, a dusting of blush, a nice shiny lippy and that's it. Nothing else.

My DD (21) is very into watching those make up tutorials on Youtube. She got me to watch a couple with her this weekend and I was fascinated by the effects you can achieve. I don't wear make up all the time and when I do it tends to be a tinted moisturiser and some mascara and that's it, but one of the girls I watched had very blotchy skin and red under her eyes, then she used primer, concealer, under eye concealer, foundation, bronzer, stuff to make your cheekbones look more pronounced etc etc...the end result was amazing. I can see why she wore make up, not because she looked horrible without, but her confidence changed dramatically and it made her feel good.

I haven't worn makeup for months. I do go through phases of wearing makeup but when I do it's rarely more than a bit of tinted moisturiser and eyeliner. Basically I cba. If I actually notice another woman's makeup it's usually because I think she looks really good. Occasionally I think someone's overdone it a bit, or picked a dodgy colour, but I give it about as much thought as I do if I see someone wearing clothes I think are unflattering- i.e. very little, and I certainly don't judge them for it! Generally even if I don't like someone's makeup I have nothing but admiration for anyone with enough willpower to get up early enough to do more by the way of getting ready than a quick face wash!

Tubby. Me too. I don't trowel it on but even when I wear less eyeliner I get loads of comments in work about how tired I look and if I'm feeling OK. Feck knows what the reaction would be if I went out in public not wearing any

I wear make up every single day. I like the way it looks and I enjoy putting it on. Nobody needs to feel sorry for me or worry that i'm insecure. What a very passive aggressive way to slate those of us who do wear it regularly.

I don't wear makeup because I'm honestly too lazy. But i do get a bit envious when i see someone who has put the effort in. I saw a woman on the tube last week and thought wow she looks very well put together.

I think, fuck, they look so much better than me. I wish I could be bothered to do that.

It's their choice just like it's my choice not to, I don't tend to think about it.

It makes me wish I knew how to wear it well.