Make up

[ettieb]

Do you wear make up every day? I do...I know I look better and younger when I wear it and feel so much better. I know so many people who don't wear make up on a daily basis who look stunning when they put make up on to go out. Why wouldn't you want to look the best you can all the time? It doesn't need to take a lot of time...5 mins for basic eye liner..mascara.. blusher and lipstick...I have a friend in her 60s and if we go out she wears lipstick and mascara and looks 20 years younger! I also would wear make up if I'm just at home hanging out with my DP...I want to look my best for him. I find it baffling that people will do their hair and make up to go out with with work colleagues but don't do the same on a daily basis for their partner...

Lol no, I genuinely do think I look fine, and I am certainly not unattractive.

I just don't buy that we all need to wear makeup to somehow make up for imagined deficiencies in our faces that aren't really there.

If YOU want to wear makeup regularly then that's cool. But don't imply that all women who look a bit like you are ugly just because you can't see the beauty in yourself.

You should honestly try loving yourself a bit more. Your skin is not flawed. It's perfect.

You should honestly try loving yourself a bit more.

I fucking adore myself - especially when I’ve put my eyebrows on and don’t look like an alien.

Maybe it's because they don't place as great a premium on physical appearance as you do? I don't wear makeup all the time because a) it's bad for the skin, b) it's a waste of time and headspace for something that doesn't matter to me, c) DH and I have been best friends and lovers for 26 years and absolutely nothing depends on whether or not I am wearing pigmented grease on my lips; we like each other's faces as they are, d) even if he did prefer it, I don't owe him any obligation to "look my best" all the time, as I am his wife, not a doll or a wall poster.

My problem is I'm a 90s indie kid. The whole point was that as looked like we had made zero effort but just naturally looked cool and beautiful.

Unless it was black eyeliner, that was allowed.

I blame Winona Ryder.

I just don't think 'made up' faces look attractive.

I'm not criticising people who do, but that's my reason for not being that bothered.

Oh God, I didn't realise that you mistakenly wrote the word 'pallid' when what you meant was 'silver'! Bet those huge, solid black eyes and massive forehead really turn heads though! 😂

Like I said arguing for the sake of it.

Can we stop suggesting that those of us who do wear make up have husbands that don't love the "real us" or that make up wearing makes their love conditional, please?

I focus more on a healthy lifestyle for the benefit of my partner - that really makes a difference to how l look. (Especially lack of sleep!) It's also something we both admire in each other and encourage each other to do. I like to wear eyeliner and mascara sometimes but that's as far as it goes....

I kind of see foundation etc. like sparkly Christmas tights - you just wouldn't have them on for a Tuesday afternoon. And it's only my opinion so I never say to anyone's face but I usually find less make up looks prettier.

I certainly don't think that, but was referring to the OP's suggestion that we should want to wear makeup for our husbands. It's in her first post.

Of course women wear it for other reasons; so do I, occasionally.

@Greensleeves perhaps not and I'm sorry if that was not your intention, but lots of the comments on this thread are along those lines.

I'm not saying that OP is right at all, but I am fed up of reading comments that suggest that people who don't wear make up show the "real them" to their loved ones and are loved and respected in their own right because the implication is definitely that those of us that wear make up aren't!

There are general beauty standards which are universal

They're not universal though, are they? They differ from country to country, from generation to generation. What's considered beautiful in say, South Korea is very different to what's considered beautiful here, or in the US.

Yes beauty standards vary but the things I suggested were universal were

clear skin, healthy hair, bright eyes, a healthy weight

These characteristics are very generalised and yes most countries beauty standards will subscribe to them to some degree.

I mean the opposite of blemished skin, unhealthy hair, dull eyes and grossly overweight or underweight are not particularly prized in many places, although there maybe a few exceptions.

None of that has anything to do with make-up, though, which is what this thread is about.

I wore some mascara on my wedding day...and have since developped an allergy to it, so I dont even wear that anymore. I think I look stunning with no make up and like a kid who's gotten into her mum's make-up when I try to put make-up on anyway.

Firstly, I have no interest in looking younger - I'm very happy to be getting older and wiser and happier in my (wrinkly) skin. I don't want to look like a 20 year old anymore and I am suspicious of a culture that tells women they should.

The other part of the OP that interests me is the 'why wouldn't you want to look your best?' question. I think I look best in heels, shapewear, underwired bra, fitted and tailored clothes with my hair professionally done and yes, make up on but I don't do all that every day because it's not comfortable and I don't want to feel hot and restricted with sore feet all the time. Today I'm in a loose linen dress, a non-wired bra, I let my hair dry naturally so it's in wild curls - I did put make up on: I pencilled in my invisible brows and put concealer on my undereye shadows. I look like a hippy in a shapeless sack and Birkenstocks, though relatively awake and fresh-faced. I feel so comfortable and that is a trade-off worth making for me.

I have teenage boys and I do wonder what it is about our society that means they can go out with their faces just the way they are, but if I had daughters they'd likely be putting make up on. I don't think it's right, and I say that as someone who likes make up even if I don't do a full face every day. I especially love bright lipstick, though I suspect it's quite unfashionable right now.

I really love to get dressed up and done up - sometimes, so it feels special and fun. I'd hate it if it felt like a daily obligation. And I hate that it is a sexist expectation, even if I myself participate in it.

I wear it everyday as I look like a bloke without it lol

I used to think the same as you but have changed my perspective over the years (I’m 46 now.) I personally am not a barefaced beauty but I do love to see others with a more natural easy look on some days and made up on other days. It makes dressing up more of a thing. I think many men love the no make up look and appreciate getting the real deal. I love to see celebs without makeup. They look more vulnerable and real and I find that beautiful too. As a therapist I often work with women and the ‘mask’ they wear to hide their real selves and make up can be a big part of that. It shows confidence to show your imperfections physically and in other ways.

I used to. Pre covid but now i CBA

I dont care what others think

Actually the transformation is cool when I do go for it. Some people look the same every day. They're so glamorous all the time that they never have that wow factor for special occasions

I don't exactly embrace the makeup life. Sure, if I'm trotting off to work or a little cafe date, I'll slap on some makeup - but only a teeny amount. A smidge of tinted moisturizer, mascara, lip balm, and a minuscule bit of bronzer or blush. Going au naturel is way more appealing to moi. Really slathering on the slap just highlights every pore and adds years to my years. I tried Estee Lauder Double Wear foundation which everyone rants about and it made my skin look caked up! I like to have freshly washed hair, a clean simple outfit with a few more stylish accessories, tiny bit of makeup if any, spritz of light perfume. Job done ✔️

Most women who wear makeup don’t go out looking like Coco The Clown or The Joker ffs. All this nonsense about wearing ‘a mask’ is ridiculous.
Also this idea that if you wear make up you are deemed to be ‘superficial’ or ‘insecure’.
I wear makeup because I enjoy wearing makeup .
Some of the non makeup wearers doth protest too much. If you don’t know how to apply makeup ( to enhance) your best features then take a makeup course and leave makeup wearers alone

You know those children that you send out looking smart and tidy, and in five minutes they come back looking like they've been dragged through a hedge backwards?

That's me with make up.

Skin reacts to foundation/anything I put on starts to look chalky or papery. Eyeliner and lipstick get smudged or wear off. Perhaps good little girls are taught not to touch their face, or to keep checking and reapplying after meals etc, but frankly I've got better things to do with my time!

I absolutely love make up and I have a lot of it (I don't wear it all at once!). I always put make up on when I'm in the office, a full face but none of it heavily applied, ie tinted moisturiser that I can see my skin through etc, as whilst I definitely look better with make up on I don't want to look caked in it, and I think having a good skincare routine makes much more of a difference to how you look. I am perfectly happy to leave the house without it though, would never wear make up to go to the gym for example. Some wfh days I put some on if I know I'll be on a video call, but equally happy not to. Am on holiday at the moment and it's very hot so not wearing any, I mostly don't bother when on holiday.

Everyone has priorities in life - maybe to someone else they don’t care so much about looks. Maybe they prefer to spend the time and money used for make up for something else. Maybe they don’t have insecurities about the way they look to care. To each their own! It’s unfair to judge others or assume that your “standards” are universal. To some, you may be very shallow or superficial. Live and let live :)

what do you mean by “i put my eyebrows on”… don’t you have natural eyebrows?..

Hahahaha! I have pale skin and white-blonde eyebrows and eyelashes. Without mascara and eyebrow pencil I think I look like a boiled egg.