For women who wear no/minimal makeup (seems to be a majority here), have you always felt that natural was better?

When I started high school, I wore a ridiculous amount of makeup. I definitely had raccoon eyes goin’ on.
As I got older, I wore less and less, until at one point I was only wearing foundation.
When I finally had enough confidence in my skin, I shed the foundation.
But..
Then I shaved my head. I have to wear a lot of eye makeup again, just because I hate being called “sir.”

I grew up in S FL with no air conditioning, so no make-up seemed more practical and comfortable. I have also never cared for how exaggerated my features look with make-up.

When I was a teenager, I wouldn’t leave my house to take out the garbage without full-on makeup and hair. God forbid someone should see me looking any less attractive than I could be! The older I got, the less important that seemed. I no longer care what the majority of people think of my looks. It’s just not a fundamental part of who I am, you know? I readily admit that I look better with makeup than without. It even gives me an extra spring in my step when I wear it. It’s just that I have other things to do with my time that I value more than looking pretty. These days, I rarely wear any makeup at all, and put my hair in a ponytail nearly every day.

My concern diminished with age. It was fun when I was younger of for an evening out occasionally, but I find as one gets older you look younger without make up than with.
Lipstick is the only thing I do wear and thats because lip gloss makes my lips swell and my lips tend to get dry otherwise.

Like many others, I wore full makeup as a teen & into my 20’s. By 30, I was wearing minimal eye make up & foundation. Now I haven’t worn it in years. I wear a good moisturizer with at least an SPF 15 every day, and sometimes a tinted lip balm.

A formal event would be a mineral-based powder & light lipstick.

I love that this is my face all the time, even first thing in the morning. I’m just me.

No makeup in my teen years. ;) I’ve been looking into it recently, though…right now my morning regimen consists mostly of moisturizers and facial scrubs and that kind of thing, but I hate how uneven my skintone is and I’ve been thinking about using concealer or tinted moisturizer. I don’t think I’d ever really wear mascara/eyeliner/lipstick on a daily basis (maybe tinted lip balm, like @netgrrl), especially as I’m phobic about stuff near my eyes and I always thought outlining them would look ridiculous on me.

As I get older, I care about my appearance more. I think it’s a good thing, honestly—saves me from being a complete slob.

Putting makeup on is such a drag. I just never got into the habit of putting on all that makeup. I only wear a bit of eye makeup and lip gloss. It’s worked fine for me and I don’t plan to changing it any time soon.

As a guy, I am going to chime in with my preference.

I prefer when a lady uses makeup to enhance her natural beauty or no makeup at all. Large amounts of the stuff, just like a lot of perfume, truly is off putting for me.

When I reached an age where I wanted to start wearing makeup, I was given whatever I wanted (youngest of 9, 8 were girls), and told, go in the bathroom and experiment. If you want to wear it, then learn to put it on so no one can tell you have it on. When you can do that, you can wear it to school.

I put on my eyeliner, eye shadow and mascara when I’m camping!. It is just part of my morning routine. So I definitely would feel naked without it.

@faye You had me at eyeliner…:)

@plethora smiles.

As an older woman, I find that almost all makeup makes me look like a whore. So I avoid it, with the exception of eyebrow pencil, since my eyebrows have gone strangely white, and some eye shadow, which makes me look extremely beautiful. You’d be amazed at the difference.

I experimented with makeup in my early teens, when I was finally allowed to wear it. I tried it, I wanted to like it, but I never did. I don’t like the way foundation feels and honestly, I can’t stand the way makeup accentuates my features. I pretty much look like a clown, or a hooker.. and either way, I don’t look like me, nor do I look anywhere close to publicly presentable in my eyes. It’s shocking to me when I look in the mirror after someone gives me a makeover (even those with skill cannot make me look good), it’s like, Oh, god, get this shit off me!

I could use some concealer for my rosacea and maybe tinted lip gloss or whatever, but other than that, I don’t really need makeup. I have good color, good skin, thick eyelashes that are a total stand-in for mascara or eyeliner, and rosy lips that perfectly complement my skin tone. So, I figure, why mess with nature?

@MissAnthrope GA for “thick eyelashes that are a total stand-in for mascara or eyeliner”. Love it.

I think makeup can be a good thing, but most girls don’t know how to put it on. Racoon eyes aren’t hot. Cakey face is not hot. In that case, obviously no makeup is better.

I have always felt good about my appearance without wearing makeup.
But I don’t wear it because it makes me break out, and it makes my face feel weird, and my skin I guess you could say feels heavy. I don’t like being weighted down so no, no makeup. Plus I don’t know how To really put it on, except for eye liner and mascara.

I’m ugly without make up, not much better with, but better. I like to wear make up, I like to look good.

Putting on make-up is part of my daily routine, and I’m rarely seen without it. I put on make-up when I’m not really planning on seeing anyone that day, and have even been known to retouch my make-up on the beach or up a mountain. I feel fine when I’m not wearing make-up, until I catch sight of myself in a mirror! I’m just so used to seeing my face made-up, and so is everyone else. Sad but true.

There is one photo of me without make-up where I think I look great, but it was taken whilst travelling around Europe one summer so I have a deep tan and shiny blondy hair, and not a care in the world. Wish I could recreate that look, these days I’m looking more like a gaunt wrinkly panda!

I cared a lot about makeup when I was in high school and didn’t want to be picked on for being different and because I wanted a boyfriend. Somehow, I thought that the perfect peach blush or teal mascara (this was the late 80s) would make things fall into place for me. At least, that’s what Seventeen Magazine implied.

When I hit college and got older, I realized that beauty and confidence has very little to do with makeup and more to do with what I already have inside of me. Plus, the older I got, the more I felt clownish with makeup on. I was never going to look like a model, and a pig looks better without lipstick if you know what I mean. So while I will put a little of the less-garish stuff on when I go to a wedding or something, I don’t bother otherwise. It gives me more time and money for other things more important than maintaining the illusion of beauty and cooperating with the marketization of my gender.

I haven’t always felt that natural was better, it came about as makeup styles changed and I didn’t want to have raccoon eyes or look like a tart. I also have a difficult time wearing most makeup because I have super-sensitive skin. I’m talking cracking and bleeding if it doesn’t like something. So my foray into full-face was short. I usually just wear a bit here and there.

For a long time I needed to hide behind the makeup because who could possibly love this hideous creature who lived behind the mask? Turns out she wasn’t hideous, she just hadn’t seen the sun in a long time.

I have always preferred natural. Even in high school, I felt like I would be hiding and pretending to be someone else if I were to wear make-up. I am also fully convinced that most women look better without make-up than they do with it. Fortunately, my man has repeatedly expressed his appreciation that I don’t wear it, so it is incredibly unlikely that I will ever start. It seems like such a waste of time, money, and energy for something that doesn’t really matter.

It’s not even really a decision I’ve made. I just have never worn makeup, so I don’t really know what I look like in it. Without having the image of myself with make up on to compare to, I don’t feel ugly without it. And I’d just prefer to keep it that way because putting on makeup would be another hassle to deal with in the mornings, and as long as I don’t feel ugly without it, I may as well not spend the money/time on it, you know?

But, I’m lucky enough to have skin that doesn’t require foundation or anything.

I used to wear very heavy eye makeup and wouldn’t leave the house without it. Then my boyfriend mentioned how beautiful he thought I was without it and from that day on I started to wear less and less makeup until it got to the point wear a little bit of mascara is all I wear now. It saves me time and, whilst I like wearing eyeliner if I am going out for a special occassion, I do think that less make-up tends to make me look a lot fresher. My skin has been much healthier since I stopped wearing so much makeup too.

in my opinion, if you have a couple zits or your skin is red in spots, or whatever, that looks better than a pound of makeup where you can tell that the person is trying to cover something up. too much makeup looks cakey, fake, flat, and in my opinion, just bad.

if my skin is really clear, which doesn’t happen all that much but does a lot more in the summer, i don’t wear makeup at all. especially if im going to be outside…theres just no reason to. i love that.

i wear sunblock every day (the kind made for the face), eyeshadow, eyeliner and mascara. sometimes i wear blush, but usually not. if i don’t wear makeup i feel very white and i think i look pretty white without it.