I just finished reading a great post over at Dani’s blog, about how she’s stopped wearing makeup and is quite happy about it. I’m just so, so terrible at applying makeup, and I used to consider it a major failing of mine. But these days, I’m feeling more and more confident and happy about going around au naturel on a day-to-day basis.
I’m even worse at keeping makeup on than I am at applying it in the first place, and I never remember to touch up throughout the day, and I almost always end up with some sort of gunk in my eye and lips that are dying for a little lip balm. So overall – just wash-and-go is working out…okay.
I even have come to the conclusion that it’s not a terrible thing to be looking my age (I say, and you can feel free to throw this back in my face in three years when I am considering a face lift – just the same way I used to smugly say at age 25 that I was never going to dye my hair, I was going to (lazily) go grey with confidence, and now, oh, what’s that 25-year-old-self, I’m touching up my roots every five weeks, GAH). Anyway, it’s just easier, and I like that there’s not so much chemical stuff on my skin, and I like the fact that I like the way I look.
Guess this is what Frank Kaiser meant when he wrote his sweet piece on why 40+ women are awesome.
I’ll still be pulling out some makeup for special events, parties – for me, it feels like part of the whole dressing-up-fancy thing, and makes me feel like a grown up. And I’ll continue to have admiration of women who can actually apply makeup, and make it look good, and keep it looking that way all day (TELL ME YOUR SECRETS).
But I’m losing the part of me that feels pressure to put my face on before leaving the house. This IS my face. I like it.
TurtleHead 
I’m going to write about this. I’m a makeup junkie, you see, and I was thinking of doing a post about BB creams anyway….
Good for you – great for you. I also like how you’re confident documenting yourself through photos. So many of us (ME!) hate confronting ourselves in photos and then, of course, looking back on the very same photos I hated ten years ago, I realize I looked just fine – even pretty good! So, I like the no-make-up and I like the photo – Yay you!
Me too – I usually just hate photos of myself. But just like you, when I look at photos of myself from, say, 10 years ago – I look so cute! So I’m trying to get into the family shots a little more these days (like, maybe four or five times a year instead of just once a year – it’s a slow process). 🙂
Tricky one…I love wearing eye make-up! Admittedly I don’t get around to putting it on every day anymore, and I’m ok with that, but I still try to slap on mascara before I leave the house. By the way – your hair is looking good!
I have heard many times that mascara is the key to a simple yet polished look, but I find I personally can’t really notice when I’m wearing it or not. Maybe it’s the glasses? Or maybe it’s my brand? In any case I do find mascara to be the most mysterious of all makeup products :).
I like Maybelline Colossal Volume (it’s yellow) in Black and swipe, wiggling from the base, let dry for a few seconds, repeat. I have blonde eyelashes so maybe that’s why it makes a big difference for me?
I commented on Dani’s post about my lack of makeup, but you bring up a good point about grey hair. I have recently let my grey grow out. I waffle between loving it and worrying i look too old. But truth be told I love it. So it turns out I am a grey hair, non makeup wearing 40’ish year old. And I am happy with that! HA!
btw, my HA! was more of a “wow I hadn’t even realized this about myself” HA. And not a “Ha, i’m better than you Ha” 🙂 In case I came off as cocky.
Hee, you’d never seem cocky, Chantal! I love your hair – I definitely do intend to let mine go grey sooner rather than later, I’m just waiting for it to cross the 50% threshold – I figure I have maybe another three or four years to go. My biggest fear is cutting it all off to make the transition – maybe I will actually venture to a salon for some transitional colouring. MAYBE. 🙂
I just did that! As you know from the last time you saw me, I had quite the “grow-out” line developing. I went in and got lowlights which blended everything together and now I actually like my hair right now, the way it is, and the prospect of such horrific roots (can they be roots if they’re around your ears?) has been removed. Bring on the natural colour!
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I’ve actually done the reverse. I used to be a no make up girl, but now I rarely leave the house without it. To be fair it’s only a swipe of eyeliner and mascara, some lip balm if I want to spice things up. I think you look just lovely without it!
I tried doing this when I turned 40 – I felt like it was time to start polishing things up a little bit before leaving the house – but I kept forgetting and then I’d wipe it all off while rubbing my face and then I started to panic about how old all my makeup was (like, at least a decade, most of it) and it was just so much easier to throw in the towel. LAZINESS FOR THE WIN. I’m sure my husband is so pleased :).
I basically said the same thing over on Dani’s blog. I tried, but then kept forgetting. Interesting about the grey hair though. I am currently going through a hair crisis where I can’t die it because it’s so dry and brittle, but the grey is out of control and looks terrible because of the roots and i am considering going super short pixie cut to get ride of the dead dyed hair… but i need a good hair dresser. oh the joys of growing old. 🙂
I’ve been leaving the house more often than not these days without eye makeup (I still can’t part with a bit of colour on my lips though). It’s very freeing.
Go you. Truthfully, I have never worn makeup to look younger anyway, only to cover up my zits, and not much of it for that anyway. So I’m with you. And I think you look fabulous. LOVE the glasses. (Yes, it’s entirely possible that I’ve seen them fifty times and you’ve worn them for years – I’m unobservant).
I applaud you, my friend! Me? NO CAN DO. Despite the non-stop harassment I get from my sister and husband about “what step are you on??!” during my morning ablutions. This face requires enhancement. Several steps of enhancement, in fact, although I will not admit in public how many steps.
You look amazing all fresh-faced! I’m going the exact opposite direction! After not wearing makeup for 24+ years, I’ve found that I’ve started adding concealer and mascara daily (and I’ll admit it, mostly because of the selfies – those are some dark circles I’m battling!)
I often have the circles too, just got lucky with that selfie above I guess. Although, now that I look at it more closely, do my eyebrows look grey to you? EEEEEP. This is why I am selfie-adverse!
I have been peering at my face intently in the mirror and wondering if it’s time to go back on my 25-year-old-self’s declaration that I was never going to wear foundation. Instead what I’ve been doing is using an eye pencil in the morning (just along the bottom lashes, as I learned to do in the ’80s), plus I keep a tinted Burt’s Bees lip balm in my pocket and use it all day. I figure my glasses count as eye make-up, too.
I used to be super-high-maintenance as a teen and 20-something (we’re talking 3 shades of blended blue eye shadow, the works). Now I’m lucky if pouf on some face powder and blush. I think it’s a combination of lowering my standards and appreciating the real me. And the trick for a fancy night out? Book a make-up application at Sephora…it’s “free” (as long as you walk out with $50 worth of products) and you’ll look like a star. I did this last weekend for my first-ever gala, felt beautiful and have a fancy new body lotion to enjoy.
P.S. You look great…and your hair is super-not-frizzy!
Listen, I know your face very well, and I know make up very well, and I can say with authority that you do not need make up. (Neither does LittleSis, by the way.) I’m saying that partly to be supportive but also partly because the things that make up fixes/hides, you DON’T have: bad, uneven skin; dark baggy circles under the eyes; pale colouring; thin brows, etc.
It’s not that make up doesn’t look good on you; it’s just that you don’t need it.
(Me and SocialButterfly, however, do need it. People actually point out my rosacea and my dark eye circles they’re so bad!)
I fully support your decision!
You sound very similar to me.
I never learnt how to properly apply make-up either.
I then made it one of my goals of my second mat leave to “figure it out” – given I’m now in my mid 30s and figured nature is going to start needing some help soon.
Suffice to say, despite buying some Arbonne products, I still can’t properly apply eyeliner – so I’m still walking around happy and make-up free. And fine with it.
Maybe one day …. I do colour my hair now – so there’s that 😉
Enjoyed this!
Most days the only makeup I wear is foundation and lipstick, but on weekends I almost always go without makeup completely. I also make an effort to stress very strongly to my kids that I wear makeup “for fun” and not because I feel that I need to cover myself up with stuff in order to look acceptable.
That said, I do toy with the idea of giving up makeup altogether. I kind of find it weird that there’s an expectation that women need to wear makeup in order to look good, but men’s natural faces are just fine.
Also, makeup’s so damned expensive. I’d rather buy books or music than eyeliner any day.
I missed this before – thanks for the linky love and I’m so glad the conversation continued over here. I feel so liberated now that I’ve formally opted out of makeup now! I went to an event recently and didn’t even think about applying any before I left the house, and it was great!