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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To do my make up in Pret?

272 replies

user1457213512 · 04/08/2017 07:55

I'm in Pret for my morning coffee. Didn't make the time to do my make up before I got the bus. Would I bu to do it here, discretely, in Pret? I was about to do so but then realised I've seen this classed as unreasonable on mm not before, and now I'm scared! Well not really, but if it's a massive faux paux I won't do it.

So as not to drip feed... All the benches outside in the high street are wet.

OP posts:
LaurieMarlow · 04/08/2017 09:17

Go for it. Give people something to talk about. Wink

Floggingmolly · 04/08/2017 09:17

who gives a fuck what anybody else thinks
Seriously? How bloody aggressive Hmm.

Yukbuck · 04/08/2017 09:17

Tacky is the wrong word to use!!
I probably wouldn't notice to be honest.

I don't get how people do it on trains and buses tbh because it's so bumpy I'd be making mistakes. I have once had to apply makeup on a train but went in the toilet before it started moving. It was a 10 minute changeover and I was only doing basic foundation, powder, mascara.
But doing it discretely in pret, I would not bat an eyelid. I'm sure it's very common in busy places like London.

Foxyloxy1plus1 · 04/08/2017 09:18

Make up- OK, but I mind people combing/brushing their hair near food.

LilaoftheGreenwood · 04/08/2017 09:18

I'm Team Slap (though I'd go and use the big bathroom mirror anyway).

I'm always fascinated by how we divide on this though. Does anyone think there could be a biological or anthropological basis, like for some people the disgust reflex is being triggered by some aspect of make-up that the rest of us are just Confused by?

It's the way people are using words like "unhygienic", there must be some instinctive response going on there.

NoLoveofMine · 04/08/2017 09:19

You might think, that woman is a bit disorganised leaving the house without makeup

Whilst I agree there's nothing wrong with it, there's nothing "disorganised" about a woman leaving the house without make up. Make up is an optional choice not a necessity for women to be seen in public. Apologies if you meant disorganised if the woman in question actually wished to put it on rather than in general.

TheAntiBoop · 04/08/2017 09:19

Would you do your make up at the table while your flat mates are eating their breakfast? If yes then go ahead and do it at the table. Otherwise go to the bathroom

NoLoveofMine · 04/08/2017 09:20

If men used make up in anything like the same numbers women do (which there's no reason they shouldn't but that's another issue) I doubt there'd be much of an issue made about it being applied in public.

LilaoftheGreenwood · 04/08/2017 09:20

I remember being on another of these threads and was about to say sarcastically "It's not like she's changing her tampon on the train" and blow me if one of the "Make-up is tacky" camp didn't just pip me to the post and say "What next? Changing tampons in public?" There has to be something deeper going on here.

Anyway, thanks OP, always a goodun Smile

PigletWasPoohsFriend · 04/08/2017 09:21

As long as there isn't powder flying everywhere.

TheAntiBoop · 04/08/2017 09:22

I had a colleague who would moisturise his face three times a day at his desk. Really gloopy noises and after a couple of days the guy he sat next to told him to do it in the toilets as it was getting on his nerves.

So men do get it too!

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 04/08/2017 09:23

Would you do your make up at the table while your flat mates are eating their breakfast? If yes then go ahead and do it at the table. Otherwise go to the bathroom I do exactly that every morning while I'm eating breakfast.

Nocabbageinmyeye · 04/08/2017 09:24

She's not asking you to smell her fanny 😂

MusicForTheJiltedGeneration · 04/08/2017 09:24

I wouldn't want to see a man putting on a full face of make-up at a café table either so I'm not being misogynistic. I also wouldn't want to be at home and have someone sit down at the dinner table to put on their make-up.

Having said that, I'd much prefer it to the men and women who clip or file their nails on the tube, yuk. The best one was a bloke who whipped out one of those tiny shavers and did his ear hairs. Got to love the Northern Line in the morning ...

inkzooka · 04/08/2017 09:24

I rarely wear makeup, but I'd never do it in some grimy bathroom where other people I don't know have definitely had a shit at some point that day Hmm

GameOldBirdz · 04/08/2017 09:24

NoLoveofMine

SizeSevenShoes · 04/08/2017 09:25

Music Fundamentally misunderstood misogyny there, well done

NoLoveofMine · 04/08/2017 09:25

Blush and thank you GameOldBirdz.

HerOtherHalf · 04/08/2017 09:26

It wouldn't bother me in the slightest. I doubt I'd even notice.

NoLoveofMine · 04/08/2017 09:27

I wouldn't notice or care if I somehow did.

LaurieMarlow · 04/08/2017 09:27

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

inkzooka · 04/08/2017 09:29

Of course not you disorganised, tacky slut.

Pretty much sums up my experience with MN as a childfree person :/

PelorusJack · 04/08/2017 09:33

I wouldn't do it. I don't think I'd care if someone else did but I'd wonder why - I guess that means I'd harbor a very low level of judginess 🤷🏻‍♀️

MusicForTheJiltedGeneration · 04/08/2017 09:33

Music Fundamentally misunderstood misogyny there, well done

It was in response to earlier posters saying there is underlying misogyny in disliking women applying make-up at a table. I was saying I wouldn't like it if a man did it at the table either so it's not "underlying misogyny" in my case. I don't think it's me who has misunderstood.

GameOldBirdz · 04/08/2017 09:41

Misogyny is a broad social structure in which women are valued less than men. Through this structure men's and women's behaviours are policed very differently based on men's higher social value. This is why men are not policed when they get their tops off at the slightest hint of sunshine but there has to be a law saying women are allowed to breastfeed in public. It's not about your (or anyone's) perspective on whether a behaviour is acceptable for both men and women to do, it's about a broader structure in which women and men are held to very different standards.