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.!)

Chandon please don't exaggerate for affect (effect?).

No doubt had the OP not started a thread implying that I was a weird and deluded old hag for not wearing make-up, I would have stay completely silent on the matter. I would have pootled about unmade-up most of the time, feeling unsuperior, unpuritannical and happy in my straightforward choice.

Maybe if I looked as bad as the OP does (pale short eyelashes, purple eye bags and can;t remember the last horror) I would wear more makeup. Maybe I am lucky that I have dark eyebrows and dark eyelashes and no purple eyebags and a reasonable skin. Maybe its because I have good genes or maybe its because I don't drink and drink plenty of fluid. Or maybe I'm just lazy.

Maybe I would look marginally better with some makeup on more often but I choose not to because for the slight improvement I get it really isn't worth the extra effort every day day in day out, the extra cost, the extra worrying about whether I have smudged myself. I get up in the morning and brish my hair and its the last time I look at myself in the mirror (usually) until the next morning and I look pretty much the same when I go to bed in the evening as when I get up in the morning. I don't feel what I inflict on society is really so bad.

It isn't really so difficult to comprehend that, is it OP? I think you are really an Avon lady touting for business.

You know, people don't actually look at other people that much. And other people don't really care what you look like, unless they know you and are interested in your life and even then a lot of the time they will be too busy thinking about the amazing piece of gossip they have to share with you, or wondering if you can lend them some money, or contemplating what to have for lunch rather than doing a millimetre by millimetre analysis of your face. Passing strangers will not shit their pants or fall down foaming at the mouth if a woman leaves her house with NO MAKE UP ON! ANd the more people who happily get on with their lives without worrying overmuch about what they look like when it's not necessary to do so, the easier it will get for the more nervous and insecure to stop fussing about it as well.

yep - 2 hours without deododourant doesn't make you smell. what codswollap.

Haven't read beyond page 1 but

• No, I don't. Special occasions only when I want to look my very best. For day to day, my usual level of sparkle will do I don't have time in the sense that most people mean this - i.e. it is not enough of a priority for me to give time to it - no, not even 5 minutes! - on a daily basis.

The thought that no woman over 20 should be seen in public without make up is pretty shocking. The human form is actually pretty wonderful a lot of the time, and it is deeply sad (in the sorrowful sense of the word) that anyone feels that women's faces are so awful so much of the time that they need improving.

I don't doubt that this has been said many times already in this discussion, but given that the question's been asked, the answer can't be repeated often enough.

hatwoman no of course not. i just don't buy that whether you wear make up does or does not make you a feminist.

Blimey sisters, lets just agree to disagree shall we?

Diferent strokes for different folks.

"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.!)"

Because I can't be arsed!!

Really. Honestly.

I don't think I am a fabulous natural beauty, it's not that I don't think I need it, I just can't be arsed, not just with putting it on, but with taking it off at the end of the day, and with being careful not to rub my eyes all through the day etc.

I'm sure I'd look better with some concealer on the bags & shadows under my eyes every day, dammit I'm 41 and have a 6 yr old and a 3 yr old and I don't get enough sleep. I'm sure I'd look a lot more polished with some gloop on my face.

But really, why? Why?

What is wrong with my "real" face? Why should I have to paint a fake face on top of my own before I face the world.

So no, I don't. And deep down a part of me feels sorry for those women who feel they can't go out without a "face" on. What self-esteem issues does that betray??

Well to me it's all part of personal grooming. There is nothing wrong with my real face, but I choose to enhance it with make up, and when I am wearing make up it's still my real face.....

What's wrong with my hairy legs and arm pits? Nothing, but I think i look better de fuzzed.

Whats wrong with my mousy hair? Nothing, but i choose to highlight it as I think it improves what I have.

I don't think woman should be villified for either.

It is because we are so bright that we don't feel the need to hide behind a layer of gunk.

sungirltan of course wearing make up (or not) haslittleto do with whether or not yoiu're a feminist. but expressing the opinion - as the op did and greer never would - that other women should wear make up is pretty incompatible with feminism's central tenets.

I often wonder why so many women cake on the foundation with a trowel, to be honest. In my opinion, a lot of women look their best with no or very little make up on.

I do wear makeup, by the way, but not every day. I don't think it's good for the skin - I like that fresh, clean, no make-up feeling - and I refuse to be one f those pathetic creatures who can't go to the corner shop without mascara on.

i dont wear it everyday..i dont feel i need it and i like to wear it now and agin. If im going out somewhere special i do. And getting four kids ready in the morning doesnt give much time for sorting myself and not to mention my dp doesnt think i need it either, he doesnt mind either way and is shocked when i do because it doesnt take me long because i dont like to wear much..dont bother with foundation. I used to have self esteem issues because of my ex..he used to call me fat, and put me down a lot. But my new dp has changed that and made me feel good again..im nearly 33 and ive had 4 kids and i think as so does dp that i look pretty good and i think thats down to the fact that i dont smother my face with make up and i wash and moisturise every day.

'Gosh, I just love the way you lot get so worked up- does it never occur to you that sometimes some of us post just to get you all whipped into a frenzy- it never fails, either!
'

PP you seem to be the only person getting worked up about this, all the 'OMG' and 'I am gobsmacked?' 'are you serious?', hardly anyone else is really that bothered one way or another.

CherylsLeftCashley well said..i see these women with orange lines around there jaw lines and they look far worse than me..and im not wearing make up..i think some women are so pretty that they really dont need all that slap on there face..less is more in my view. When i do wear make up its, bit of mascara, light eyeshadow, bit of eyeliner and touch of blush on the cheek and some clear lip gloss.

ohhhhh. all the women in the public eye who wear make up have massive self esteem issues. k

I frequently wear jeans, crocs,a fleece and my dad's old anorak when I'm not going anywhere other than school run and the park. I only put any effort into my appearance (as opposed to just sniffing the armpits of things and having a quick wash) when I'm going out either to play or to meet someone I might be touting for work from.
Far too much of the sort of thing women are 'supposed' to do about their appearance is stuff that either takes time that could be better spent sleeping or reading or MNing, or involves avoiding good things like chocolate, booze or jumping up and down excitedly in the moshpit.
(I have rosacea and no, I'm not doing anything about it. It's harmless. I'd rather have a funny face than spend the rest of my life in whining self-denial).

"pathetic creatures who can't go to the corner shop without mascara on."

Thats a little harsh!

I don't.

a) can't be bothered

b) I must think I look ok, I suppose, which must make me either vain, or deluded, or both...

c) I don't really care what other people think if I don't wear it - i.e. I genuinely wouldn't judge someone either way, and would be utterly bemused if someone judged me for it

d) like another poster, the last time I wore it I felt self-conscious, I guess. Not because I have self-esteem issues, I think, but just too, uhh, "showy", if that's the right way to express it. I like to look good in nice clothes, etc., but I don't particularly want to draw attention to myself in a "look at me" sort of way. I'm happy for those who notice me to do so naturally, if you like. Wearing make-up, even light make-up, felt like too much of a banner sign of "Here I am, trying to be seen". Wearing make-up is inherently part of an attempt to conform to a societal consensus about what constitutes the attractive or beautiful. Nothing wrong with that. Plenty of things we do that are culturally normative, etc. However, for me, to try to make myself beautiful if I am not (and again, I think I look ok, but I'm no Natalie Portman) just feels like such an effort, and such a delusion. Etc. Hmm, not expressing that well, but it's late and I should be doing other things... I'm not saying that this is how it feels for people who wear make-up every day, btw, just how I felt.

Actually, I've just realised what I want to say: I find that - for me - wearing make-up isn't "making the best of myself" (or really, in my opinion, of anyone, though if people want to wear it, that's cool), it's always already falling short of the societal norm of beauty that we're being sold. Unless you are beautiful already, in which case you probably don't need make-up in the first place...

Phew. God. Really must work now...

I don't want to put the cat amongst the pidgeons but.............The trouble is that men are weak, pathetic creatures who can be very easily be distracted by someone who appears to be making more of an effort than their darling wife.

I speak from bitter experience.....if we turn into slummy mummies the outcome isn't always good!

2old4thislark: If my DH leaves me because I don't wear make-up (which is what we're discussing here; I'm otherwise reasonably conscientious about my appearance), then I truly would say "good riddance". If I could only "keep my man" by wearing make-up, well, then my relationship wouldn't be what I thought it was. And my DH wouldn't be who I thought he was.

This is unlikely as, thankfully, my DH doesn't like make-up and tells me I am beautiful ( fool) as I am. I don't believe that I've married a "weak, pathetic creature" (gee, is the answer to misogyny and sexism necessarily misandry?)

LOLOLOL. Despite my lack of slap, I don't think I quite qualify for 'slummy mummy' status yet!

Always wear make up - look a lot better with it!

my dh is kind of neutral about my make up but he does make faces at me slobbing about in a tracksuit with a hole in the bum like i am now...i think i might be a slummy mummy already!