Total agreement with pps on here who say it’s more about confidence and how you carry yourself and how self-assured you are when presenting yourself, rather than makeup. I hardly ever wear make up, and when I do, it is the slightest hint of eyeliner and a touch of mascara and that is it. My hair is of the fine wavy type that takes only a little humidity in the air or a small breeze to turn it into a wild unkempt bush of frizz. I generally wear clothes that I’ve owned a long time and don’t follow fashion - so probably look well-worn rather than smart and ‘new’. And I’m in my mid-forties with a well-worn face to match the clothes.
However, for my job I am used to presenting in front of large groups of professionals, interacting with senior directors in a daily basis, and can very easily appear calm, self-assured and ‘in charge’ regardless of whatever crap I’m wearing or whatever the weather has done to my hair.
This was very apparent recently during a visit from my 27 year old stepdaughter, when we went out shopping and to a restaurant. Despite me looking like I’d been dragged through a hedge backwards, and her looking immaculate in heels, designer fashionable clothes and lots of makeup and perfectly styled hair, it was always me that was approached first by shop assistants and waiters. There was clearly something in the way I made eye contact, carried myself and spoke to people that showed that I was the primary person out of the two of us to approach.
It could have been that we were together and the age difference suggested a mother-daughter dynamic. But as pps have said, I’ve also never felt ‘invisible’ when waiting for service. Yet my stepdaughter frequently complains that shop assistants ‘ignore’ her.