Do you wear make up every day and if not, why not?

[purplepeony]

Can't get my head around why so many bright, lovely women don't use a bit of slap and would rather face the world with grey, pale, or sun-spotted complexions when 5 minutes with a bit of slap would transform them.

Don't we want to look as good as we can all of the time for as long as we can?

(And don't say you haven't time- I can do full war paint in just over 5 minutes.!)

Yep full face everyday.

I look like death warmed up otherwise.

TheButterflyEffect - I think that the OP cannot understand why anyone thinks differently to her. Perhaps if more people explain themselves, the OP might see another point of view. [I own no makeup!].

woodyI really don't think about it ever, I only wash it with soap in the bath, no other skincare

OMG [shock}- stop that now! washing your face with all the muck that has come off your body?

SG what you don't seem to get is that once outside your front door people will look at you.
It is nothing to do with it being a job [ confused]

I am a bit sick of all this "my mind is on a higher plain" type of post, and the polarisation that all make up is applied badly/like a clown, or that everyone looks better with none on.

No one has convinced me so far that my OP was misguided- in fact it has just confirmed my thoughts that 90% of British women don't give a toss about their skin or how they look.

the all of Mumsnet would be in one place...

other people don't look at me when I'm outside - i have 2 children and I'm pregnant - I'm Invisible

and i really really don't see how putting stuff on your skin all day can make it better. just not. Pores work better without being blocked.

purplepeony - whatever do you think has come off my body - I am not a mud wrestler . I wear clothes and wash them in the washing machine so all my body has on is a bit of sweat, not much, and compared to the volume of water in the bath, it's really no problem [unless one of my kids has a wee in the bath and even then, I couldn't care less]

My mind is not on a higher plane...my mind is on a different planet to yours (I don't mean a better one!), I just mean that this stuff does not occur to me at all, ever. I honestly don't get makeup, I grew up with lots of brothers, am a tomboy and always have been. I have a DS and a DD and my mother and SIL have offered to provide fashion and beauty advice to my DD if and when she requires such things. They are greek to me, honestly I would have better luck learning greek than trying to select and apply makeup and trying to fathom what it was all about.

Seriously, people are just different, that's all.

it doesn't make my skin better...it makes it LOOK better. its all an illusion

#it's just an illusion oh oh oh ah ah#

Oh, and apart from thinking that most people look better without makeup, I'd look a bit of a pillock with makeup & fancy clothes sitting on a tractor .

he he. i wash my face in the bath water...naughty step for me!

Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. I have never wanted to always be so made up all the time that people really notice if I don't wear it. Sometimes I just don't want to. Sometimes I trowel up and think, actually I looked better before (though admittedly those days are less frequent ).

It's horrible to judge people who don't wear it. Some people genuinely don't look better with it on.

I don't know ANYONE who doesn't look better with slap on, even just a little. ANd if you think you don't, you're deluded

I often can't be bothered. Plus after I have worn make-up my skin needs a week to recover! - blotchy, flakey, spotty... and that's any make-up, even the stuff that is supposed to be kind to your skin.

Plus I hate the fact that women are supposed to paint their faces or they are failing in some way. What's wrong with your face just how it is?

If you're pretty, you don't need it and if you're ugly it doesn't hide it, so what's the point?

does it matter either way - isn't down to the individual to choose?

Takver, I wore eyeliner and eyeshadow throughout ten years of farming and driving tractors. It's just part of who I am. Gave up on foundation at that point though, as I washed my face whenever I could get the opportunity. Oh, and actually I gave up mascara too, after it melted when I was burning some rubbish on a bonfire .

If I'm going into town even if its only the supermarket, I tend to wear a little bit. If my only plans for the day are the school run, I don't wear it, whats the point?

I don't actually look that different when I'm wearing make up anyway. People that always wear full slap look awful when they don't wear it, I don't want to look like them.

But HeQet - People don't fall into 2 camps like that pretty / ugly do they?

I don't think I am ugly, but I do think I've got awful skin, covering up a bit of that awfulness makes me feel more confident because I think it makes me look better.

Cyb, it's not about always looking better though. It's about feeling comfortable if you chose not to wear make up. If you look so much better with it on then you are automatically going to look crapper without it, so starts the cycle of feeling like you have to wear it every day. I think the OP has been wearing make up for so long that she has a warped view about how she looks naturally. If she wore it less often the contrast wouldn't so stark.

So don't be boring OP - mix it up a little!

Bump- please don't patronise. I am not about to give up make up in my 50s- and I do not have a warped opinion of how I look without it. If I answered my front door with out it, people would ask "are you okay?"

purple, same here. I feel so different without it, I can't think straight, like I have my shoes on the wrong feet.

Analyse THAT Bumperlicious!

I'm not trying to patronise purple , if you answered the door with no make up people would wonder what is wrong because they are not used to seeing you without it. I'm sure a stranger would think nothing of it.

I do think you have a warped view of what is attractive, or at least a very ego centric one, some people find natural more attractive. And as for the 'people have being doing it since the pyramids' argument doesn't make it any more superior or valid, people have been raping and subjugating women for thousands of years, doesn't make it valid.

I'm not saying it's wrong to wear make up, I do, probably half of the time, and I'm not sniffy about it either way, I just think you need to accept that your view of what is attractive is partly based on years of clever marketing by the fashion and cosmetics industry.

anyways, i wear make-up about twice a year. last year i got all 'oh, i'm getting older and maybe it's time to invest in a bit of slap' and toddled off for a lesson, spent loads of money etc.

i still only wear it twice a year lol. i just feel really awkward wearing it - as though i'm trying to deliberately draw attention to myself

tis v interesting though. my boss said to me about a month ago 'oo, i'd love to get hold of you and do you up properly, i don't know why you don't bother.' and then in the same breath said 'i wish i was more like you, not care what you look like'

so, i'm still at a bit of a loss as to whether she meant 'blimey, you're a right minger and scaring the customers, sort yourself out' or 'i can't believe how shallow i am/ how much money/ time i spend on looking like this'... and actually, i'm not sure i really want to know lol...

so, ambivalence really is my excuse. i feel a bit daft bothering to be honest. (potentially pointing to all sorts of subconscious esteem issues, but have managed very well in life despite them lol)