I'm starting to prefer my face without make up.

[GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal]

This feels very weird to me - I've worn make up since I was 13, am early 40s now and am very rarely seen without it. I am pale, with weirdly light eyebrows and lashes considering I have dark hair, and always that I just looked a bit ill and undefined without it.

Other than a lot of black eyeliner in my late teens and early 20s, I've never worn a lot - typically I fill in my brows, use a light foundation or tinted moisturiser, some mascara and blusher. But since lock down I have rarely bothered - mainly because I find taking it off at the end of the day a chore.

However, I'm an actor, and have had to wear it a few times for play readings/recordings over Zoom, or self-tapes for auditions - and I keep getting distracted by how much I dislike how it looks! Mascara makes my lashes look too long and artificial and my eyes too big (they are big anyway - an agent warned me that they can make me look either "scared or scary" on camera!); blusher makes me look like a doll - I just don't like how fake it all looks. About the only thing I want to keep doing is filling in my virtually non-existent brows (I over-plucked in the 90s ). I've tried tinting them but it made bugger all difference.

No idea if this a permanent change for me - I guess it can't be, I have to wear make up for work. I've read on here a lot that as we age we need to change how we use make up, and had assumed that didn't apply to me as I don't wear that much of it, but maybe that's the problem? Suppose when this is all over I can go for a makeover somewhere and see how that works out.

Has lockdown affected anyone else like that?

I'm just wearing bb cream and mascara now as opposed to foundation and blusher etc .. although I do wear less in the summer anyway . I've also been drinking sooo much water and tea and my skin is definitely better / more plumped !!

I've seen a few Zoom type interviews with arty people and journos (e.g. one with Hadley Freeman about her recent book) where women are either wearing no make up or it's very, very subtle and I've noticed that they look different but good and that in some ways I prefer it.

I've had spells without make up before and, although I've gone back to it so far, I always make changes because the break gives me a fresh pair of eyes and makes me realise that some things don't look as good as I thought. I would say I look more polished with make up but in some ways, more interesting without it.

I had to stop wearing makeup when one eye suddenly decided to become allergic to eye makeup. At first I thought I looked awful and kept apologising to people for looking a mess, but now I’ve got so used to it I think I look weird and artificial when I do wear it for special occasions (I’ve now found mascara that my eye will tolerate if I don’t use it every day).

Same here, I had to give up mascara several years ago, hated the look at first but now, on the rare occasions I try it, I check the mirror, think, 'Yikes no!' and take it straight off again.

I've also stopped wearing foundation - decided my skin looked better without.

On the other hand, I've taken up lipstick (or at least tinted lip balm) that I never used to wear before so it's not entirely one way.

No. There's no way my face looks better without makeup. I look odd and washed out and more than completely ordinary without makeup, but with makeup I can really create a good look and I don't pile it on either (no contouring or HD brows or anything like that).

A lot of people look better - or just as good - without make up.

Gosh I wish I preferred my face without make up! I am not really wearing any these says. I look awful, but I have to say I love the feeling of no makeup.

I don't wear that much make up, and don't mind going without. I don't look as good but it's my face and I am okay with that. I have decided that I will only wear it when the occasion demands, like for office days at work or events. Wfh days and weekends I am going au natural. I have a zoom meeting later. I had been applying makeup for that at the beginning of this time, but now don't bother. I always look pudding faced on zoom so I have given up!

I don't generally wear makeup.

If you wear it every day people will notice when you don't wear it and ask if you're unwell.

If you wear it once in a blue moon people will get used to your face and say you look extra nice.

I don't wear it for a variety of reasons: money, extremely sensitive skin and also because I think it's sexist that women are expected to paint their faces just to be seen as acceptable.

I definitely prefer my face natural, but it has less to do with its actual appearance and more to do with what it represents; lack of artifice and authenticity. My DC love the novelty of me in make up, though, despite it only ever being a slightly smoky eyeliner, mascara and lip gloss.

CuppaZa Conversely, my face feels very odd without makeup! I don't feel like "me" without it on. I don't wear it to be socially acceptable to others but inwardly sighing about it. I am quite artistic so I like doing it.

I have friends who look lovely bare-faced and don't "need" it to look good, whereas I definitely do need it to look good. With makeup actually I can look better than just good (I can really be beautiful) but the downside is that I know it's not natural as such. It's a bit of a Cinderella feeling!

I've stopped wearing make up in lockdown and the occasional time I've put it on I havent liked it. I do tint my lashes and brows though. You could look into microblading your eyebrows?

Lostovoiced I remember a lady I used to work with. She never wore makeup, ever. One day she came in and I forget the reason why she'd done it but she had makeup on and she looked stunning. Transformed. Not just "there's someone wearing makeup" but really gorgeous. Of course everyone noticed, not in a "you're wearing makeup" kind of way but more "wow you look bloody gorgeous" kind of awe. It was though a new person had sat down in her place, she looked that different.

I remember thinking that if I looked that stunning in makeup there's no way I wouldn't be wearing it every day. It was quite the puzzle to 23-year-old me, that you could look that stunning but choose not to almost every day. Each to their own of course and there are millions of reasons why she wouldn't and nor did she have to, it goes without saying, but because she looked so very pretty I just wouldn't have been able to resist doing it daily, if I was her.

Me too Foals.
Unfortunately for me now, less is more. Having to wear PPE means I now go to work only wearing mascara and tinted lip balm - if you had said this to me 4 months ago, I would have laughed. I used to wear the full works every day but now I think I look fresher and younger without it all. I have struggled with acne and rosacea for 30 odd years but now finally have my skin clear, so for me it's such a sense of freedom to not wear makeup. Some mornings I'm giddy with joy at my reflection - I've even had a few tears of joy but also sadness at my lost decades to bad skin which adversely affected me in so many ways

I've only put it on once (VE day party). I've given up wearing for going to the supermarket. I look like shite, but given up caring tbh.

Same with nice clothes. I'm just in old chinos and ancient t-shirts. What's the point really. Nobody sees me.

"I would say I look more polished with make up but in some ways, more interesting without it."

I think that is it, @Floisme, I look more interesting without it - not necessarily better, but more interesting, more like the person I am in my head. With it I'm starting to feel I just look a bit...generic.

I'm still wearing nice clothes, though, @thenightsky, actually nicer than pre-lockdown. It made me realise I was saving all these lovely clothes "for best", but if this experience has taught me anything it's that we never know what's round the corner, so enjoy things now, while you can! So I put on pretty dresses, or nice tops and trousers, even if all I'm doing is going for a walk with the kids, because it makes me feel better.

@JMAngel1 Was it not wearing make-up that helped your acne?

I agree Greebo I'm not against make up - I'm a convert to lipstick - and I'm sure I'll go back to some of it. However I do think it promotes a certain uniformity that can get a bit bland. I guess one person's washed out is another person's distinctive and interesting.

And I'm all for wearing nice clothes every day, especially at the moment. That might sound inconsistent but for me, clothes are a source of pleasure whereas frankly I find make up a bit of a pain in the arse.

I am a serial make up buyer so have loads but haven’t worn any in lockdown. I’ve noticed that I very rarely get spots now. DD11 puts loads on & looks like a clown, bless her, so I have to tactfully get her to blend it in a bit. I think she’s a bit too young really but all her friends wear it & she enjoys experimenting.

I wore makeup yesterday for the first time in 10 weeks - I looked amazing (because my skin is in such good condition from not wearing makeup!!) but my god it felt awful

My skin felt greasy and sweaty and my eyes itched like crazy!!

@BubblyWater
If only it had been that easy!! No not wearing make up didn't get rid of my acne and rosacea. Here's what did

Rosacea - Soolantra - life changing
Acne. DIM supplement (this cotributes I would say to 90% clearance), no dairy, lots ofwater, ensuring open bowels every day (prune juice), yoga or pilates, no to minimal sugar.
I spent most of my adult life on and off antibiotics, roaccutane, spent thousands on skin care and it was all within my own power to clear it up with lifestyle changes.

@Foals

It's really interesting to see how everyone approaches make up.
Stunning every day sounds lovely but then when I think about it, its money, time and effort I'd rather spend elsewhere.

Not that I'm disparaging people who choose to wear it every day. Some ladies do amazing things with makeup. I was never very good at it, and my skin is bad anyway- I just decided "Fuck it, this is what I look like and everyone can just put up with it!".

Foals the thing is, if you consider someone to be stunning with make-up, aren't they just beautiful anyway?
Do you actually think of them any differently, when they wear make-up?

Perhaps when she was drab and average-looking, people didn't pay her much attention or think much of her.
That's the problem I have with make-up. People tend to treat women differently when they wear it, and it annoys the hell out of me.
I have friends who apologise to me for looking ugly if they're not wearing make-up, friends who literally won't leave the house without make-up, and also nonfriends who criticise other women for not wearing make-up.
I just see it as perpetuating sexist stereotypes., women being valued for their appearance above anything else.
I'm one of those!

What led you to DIM supplement @JMAngel1? I've just googled it and looks like it's meant to lower oestrogen levels, is that right?

I've tinted my eyebrows and lashes switched to bb cream and using a lip stain. That me now - not going back to the old ways. I think i look much fresher.