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?

It depends on the setting. At work, out and about: if it's not too in your face (fake lashes, orange tan, etc.) I barely notice to be honest or I think "she looks nice" and "I wish I had time for that"
When going to toddler swimming - yes there ARE mums there that were make up going swimming - WTF are you on about? and I WOULD think they have either low self esteem and/or are very vain. I mean seriously who wears a full face of makeup for swimming? Including eyebrows etc.

I don't wear makeup much. I love makeup (and I spend way too much money on it) and wish I had the time for it, but to be honest I'd rather get an extra 10min in bed in the morning.

if wearing a bit of tooty makes you feel more confident then you will definitely BE more confident.

i vary from full on smokey eye to neutral. still takes the same amount of time to slap it on.

i bet you look great :)

fwiw i dont think anything if i see someone witn no makeup or a full on contoured mug. i notice how people are

Because I feel if a make up wearer made comments that non make up wearers had deep psychological issues that wouldn't be very kind

Women are women's own worst enemies.

I wear make up daily and don't answer the door without it. Pale face, purple under eye circles, no eye lashes.

I don't care what anyone thinks.

Clearly you do care, Polly, or you wouldn't only answer the door wearing make up, surely.

I think full on eye make up, blusher and lipstick can be pretty cool - a statement.

But foundation - ugh. It looks so obvious and so so so bad on so many people. Thick and unnatural and greasy. I don't know why people use so much - I would much prefer to see imperfect skin.

I don't really think anything, OP. I don't really stare at womens faces so probably wouldn't notice unless it was really obvious or badly done.
I think make up should be a personal choice. It's your face, so you can decorate it however you choose.
My only problem with make up is when women feel pressurised to wear it, as if their own natural face isn't good enough.

I've worn make-up every day for as long as I can remember (now in my 50s). Not very heavy make up, I try to keep it quite subtle, but like PP, I look and feel better wearing it.

There is sometimes an assumption that women who wear make-up every day lack confidence, but I don't think that's usually the case. I wear it for me, not anyone else, it's just part of taking care of myself and looking my best, the same as conditioning/colouring my hair, etc. I don't care what other people think about it, and equally don't judge other women who choose not to wear make-up.

That sounds minimal to me. I wear concealor foundation powder eye kohl on upper and lower inner lid and mascara and abit of blush for colour and of course my benefit eyebrow. Sometimes i will put on liquid eye liner or abit of darker shaded to my lips) lip liner - rarely wear lipstick. However i no people who everyday, Foundation. Concealor. Eyebrows eye shadows bronzer lipstick lip liner then contour ontop of it then fake lashes and dont forgot that fake beauty spot above the lip ... i even no someone who adds in FAKE FREAKLES ffs!!!!

PS, OP, the only two times I ever remember having a thought about someone else's make up were

(1) when I was part of a group repairing drystone walls on an uninhabited, windswept island off the west coast of Ireland, where we were camping in a ruined village in windy, grey weather, and one woman was wearing full 'out on the town' makeup, complete with smoky eyeliner and corner flicks every day with her fleece and waterproofs.

and (2) I rowed at university, and we used to jog down from college to go out on the river at 6 am some mornings - one American girl used to show up every time with eyeshadow, pink lipstick, foundation and the full works. (She did once get drunk later on and tell us that she was incapable of leaving her bed unmade when she left the room, so that on nights when we had a 6 am training session, she used to sleep on top of the covers so as not to disarrange them, because her preferred method of bedmaking was time-consuming and would have made her late...)

I don't wear make-up and hate the idea of wearing it. Partly because I react badly to most things on my skin, but also because my mum used to not go out without her lipstick on, and from my teenage years she put pressure on me to "make an effort and put some lipstick on!" I hated this and it made me feel as if she didn't like how I looked. So I suppose I rebelled and refused to wear any at all. And now I'm the kind of person who likes the natural look anyway, in clothes as well as make-up, everything really.

I don't actually know whether my friends wear it, as I haven't noticed! I don't generally notice what people are wearing or how they look. (This has also been a bone of contention between my mum and me over the years, lol!) But if I see someone with a load of (obvious) make-up on I do notice, and I feel sorry for them because it seems like it's something they're hiding behind. And that maybe they're not being genuine, and that it's harder to get to know the real them. (Does that make sense??)

I generally think that people tend to look better without make-up on, even when they think that they don't. But live and let live, it's really up to everyone what they want to do, as long as they're not harming anyone, and wearing make-up fits into that category.

To this day nobody thinks I wear make up when nothing could be further from the truth. I wear a lot of make up. I just don't slap it on and make it look really subtle.

I don't wear make up. I would never notice if someone wasn't wearing any make up but I would notice someone who is wearing too much.

I've never been a make up person. I think I was 27 when I first bothered with just powder.

That being said, for whatever reason I'm surrounded by make up artists and I think it's bloody fantastic!

I love good make up on people and being around confident make up wearers has made me more outgoing with my own "look" and I'm having fun with eye shadow and lipstick. It's not something I feel the need to do all the time, but it's fun.

So no. I don't judge...unless you're orange...

minge I wouldn't think you had different priorities to me at all. What I would feel is that you were obviously holding it together much better than me and that not only was your baby wonderful but you even had time to put on makeup.

But that's because in my head makeup takes an awfully long time to do which is partly how I justify not doing. It's not that I'm too lazy to spend 10 mins doing makeup, it's because I'm too lazy to spend two hours doing it

Definitely wouldn't judge you, might feel a little awed that you managed to look that put together while looking after a baby/ toddler. Would probably envy your skills with the eyeliner and feel slightly shabby in comparison (but not enough to make me feel bad as such).
The only thing that would matter to me is if you were a nice, genuine person and I bet you are . I'm also socially anxious and would probably sense a bit of a kindred spirit!
There's a really wide range of normal when it comes to makeup and we all have our own habits and preferences developed over time so I really think most people wouldn't give it a second thought.
It's not very nice if people say you look 'tired' without eye makeup but I think we just get used to seeing people a certain way. I remember when a friend of mine got first contacts, I thought her eyes looked smaller (not that I said that!) but it was just not what I was used to seeing iyswim. Soon got used to it and she looks fab btw!
I'm sure you look lovely with and without makeup. Maybe instead of wearing a heavy layer of foundation you could experiment with a good concealer (Laura Mercier is excellent) and something lighter to smooth out skin tone, a bb or cc cream. And just a softer eyeliner, and go from there.

I don't judge the person. I do judge society.

They are probably wondering how you have the time to put it all on. I wear make up every day, couldn't really leave the house without some. I've got good skin but I'm so pale and feel I look awfully tired without any mascara. I just wear a light foundation, bit of blusher and mascara and fill in my eyebrows. Sometimes liner and eye shadow. Probably spend about 5 mins putting make up on but I feel so much better for it. I work alongside about 20 females and there's less than a handful that wear make up to work, to each their own and all that.

I wouldn't notice if people wear it or not - but then I don't notice what people are wearing either

I do tend to think they are insecure if the make up is heavy.
To me there is enhancing (eg mascara, subtle foundation) and there is disguising (a mask). The latter would make me think - you don't think you're good enough without it. The former-I wish I had the energy to bother with. I do look more polished, less pale with a touch of make up but I'm too lazy and would rather be in bed
Also some jobs carry an expectation of glamour eg hairdresser ought to have decent hair. I work in the public sector. I just need to look neat and abide by regulations. Heavy make up in my job would undermine my work I feel

I never wear makeup ( unless I am
Going out which I rarely do) , I always think most people look great with make up and I admire their skills, I only wish I could apply make up like that , and often envy people who look so great .
Me I am dowdy lol

I think if it's done well it looks really nice and wish I could do it - although if it's bad (one of my friends has recently bought a too dark foundation and I haven't been able to brig myself to tell her yet) then I'll briefly think oh dear and then revert to worrying about how fat I've gotten recently Really though most people are too busy thinking about other things to judge you xxx

I don't believe I suggested that make up wearers had deep psychological issues? I'm sure OP looks lovely.

I just hate the caked full face look.

I'm friends with a lot of women that wear full make up and I love them and think they're beautiful. I just personally do not think full make up looks very nice.

But hey, we all wear different clothes, like different music, different lifestyles. That's great, it's a diverse world. I was just honestly answering OP's question as everyone else has done

Many people had suggested make up is a symptom of low self esteem and insecurity.

I wouldn't dream of making such a shallow assumption

That's not the same as not liking make up.

I associate TOWIE style make up with low self esteem because inherent in the idea that make up makes women look better is the idea that women as people don't look good and they need to be something different in order to look good. I think it's very understandable that women should feel this way. Research is showing time and time again that the pressure on girls and women to "look good" (and "good" doesn't mean look like women, it means paint something different on you, it means a mask) is associated with low self esteem.

It may well be that women who wear make up everyday are more confident because they are meeting their expectations of how they should look. But that isn't self esteem, that's an external confidence based on their ability to meet an arbitrary goal set by society.

I only very occasionally wear make-up. I try not to judge women by how much make-up they wear or don't wear as it seems an extraordinary way to make any kind of assessment of someone.

I try not to judge men by the makeup they wear either.