I know it’s Saturday and thus an officially unfavorable blorghhging time, but I seem to have gotten sick [again, I know] and must take advantage of a sudden surge of power to write, so!
Next week, September 20 – 27 is No Make-up Week. A whole little network of interpeeps will be sharing their thoughts on this subject across the ‘wub, myself included. I also won’t be wearing any make up, which is actually perfectly normal for me these days, so halt your squeaks of terror, please. As for you, you’re welcome and encouraged to participate however you like, be it by simply not wearing make up, writing about your experience with make up, etc.
Why is No Make-up Week important? It’s just cosmetics, who cares! Well, I’ll tell ya, lots of humans do, and not just because it’s pretty and fun. It’s likely that we all know people who will not leave their home without it, others who become ostracized for wearing it, and folks who are just plain repulsed by it. Obviously, I am the last person to tell anyone make up is bad, but I do believe it’s healthy to examine anything we decide to need or love or fear. So, I’m looking forward to No Make-up Week and talking about some facets of what I find to be a fascinating subject. Skin care, boys and make-up, boys in make-up – these are some of the things you can expect to see here. And worry not – I’ll make up for it with a new tutorial or somesuch, when NMUW’s over.
Ooh! No make-up Zo is cuuuuuute! Participating in this week’s experiment is both tempting and terrifying to me.
I have a pretty complex love affair with make-up, though I do wear so much less than ever before – my goth adolescence included a full face of b+w, spackled on with a palette knife. We shall see if I can bear baring my eyelash wisps and uneven skin tone to the world at large, eh? Horrors!
THE LAST PHOTO IS SO CUTE OH MY GOD FUCK SHIT BALLS WHY IS IT SO FUCKING CUTE O LAWD
Uh… yeah. I almost wish I could partake in this without feeling overwhelmingly insecure. I need makeup to feel like myself and actually have some kind of expression (I have no eyebrows). Have fun with it yourself, though! And get well soon!
I used to wear lots and lots of makeup, wouldn’t leave the house without it. Almost two years ago, I decided to give my skin a break and got used to being without makeup.
Now I’m makeup-less more often than not and it’s quite glorious! So I hope you enjoy your no makeup week, even if it’s not such a shock. :)
To see how beautiful a woman really is make is not needed. Zo you dont need to wear any at all.
oh my god look at you with no makeup and SMILING!! Too cute! You’re gorgeous all natural :) but you don’t need me to tell you that ;)
I stopped wearing makeup a year ago and it has been so impactful to my life. The first bit was hard but it just made me realize how vain I was that I felt bare without makeup. Now I prefer how I look without it because I would rather have an uneven skin tone, baggy eyes and all the rest than to present myself to the world as someone who thinks that looking attractive is important enough to spend time and money on. I enjoy the soft and boyish eyelashes now, I think it looks so much more natural than when girls have dry thick mascara on.
The only make up I wear just about every day is eyeliner, eyeshadow, and sometimes mascara. About once every 2 months, I’ll decide to wear some foundation for a couple of days and then grow tired of my face feeling extra oily (being a waitress will cake on the nastiness).
Even though I only wear make-up around my eyes, it’s amazing how different I look without anything. My freckles stand out more with no make-up; the dark circles under my eyes are more noticeable; and people just tell me that I look like I don’t feel good even if I feel fine. I’m 22, and my boss tells me I look like I’m 12 sans raccoon eyes… Then again, I sort of look like an angsty 16 year old with my usual make-up. I suppose I need to experiment one day and find a pleasant, charming middle ground.
It makes me sad that some people can’t leave the house without makeup.
Partly because it implies that they aren’t good enough “as they are” to face the world.
Partly because of the unnatural act of covering the skin in chemicals and suffocating substances, no matter how “natural” the product is, every day.
But mostly because they can’t do what I do in the morning: wake up, take a 5 minute shower, throw on some clothes and run out the door :P
i wonder if the blogosphere will embrace no make up week as no photoshopping your face week as well.
i am all about big, dramatic eyebrows & rosy cheeks but i’ve got naturally tiny brows & pale skin so i’m obviously a big make up fan. i feel off-kilter without my ‘brows on’.
my man, on the other hand, loves my make up but thinks i look prettiest with a freshly washed face. i adore the fact that he told me that, especially since he thought it might hurt my feelings somehow! XD
I positively squeed when I saw the picture of you smiling. You’re beautiful, lovely. <3
As for me – I usually only wear makeup when I'm heading out on the town for an evening. Usually it's just a bit of moisturiser, a cream that stops my face from becoming too shiny during the day and a slick of mascara.
I try to wear makeup only to look like less of a greaseball. Because my face is an oil factory, uh-ohhh~.
I like your nonmakeup pics! They almost look so young ;o;. Super adorbs.
A week showing off my skintone is actually half red and half golden yellow? BROKEN CAPILLARIES ALL UNDER MY EYES? Well then, don’t mind if I do :D
I know it’s been said before, but you look so cute, even without makeup.
When I was 15 I refused to leave the house without loads of black eyeliner smeared around my eyes, time went on and I realized “whoa thats way too much” so I toned it down drastically. Now im 20 and I pretty much never wear makeup. I have tons of eyeliner and eyeshadow but anytime I decide to “paint myself up” I feel like it just doesnt look good and I feel like my face doesnt hold make up well. Its sad because sometimes I like painting myself up for a nice night out, but when I put it on I just dont like how it looks.
I feel inspired to try this no make-up week. Shouldn’t be that difficult since I spend most of my days without. You look simply adorable without make-up by the way.
Aaarrggh! That skin of yours is perfection! I would love to go without more often, but due to a sort of blotchy, scot-irish-welsh complexion, I require Bare Minerals to be seen in any public setting. You’ll have no problem this week, and hope you feel better! :)
Ever since my early teen years I’ve been more or less a makeup junkie. Only a few years ago I was completely unable to leave the house without a full (and I mean FULL) face of makeup. Earlier this year I finally landed my dream job working for my favorite cosmetic company, and I am required to wear a considerable amount of makeup every time I work. In doing so, I’ve become far more appreciative of days I don’t wear anything. Even right now, I’m getting ready to venture out into this beautiful September afternoon with nothing more than moisturizer on my face, and it feels liberating and wonderful. As much as I would love to fully participate in No Makeup Week, I still have to work… so I will be there in spirit!
hmmmmmm…this is a tough one for me.
i never used to be a make-up junkie. sure, i loved dolling up for discos and the such but i wasn’t the girl that HAD to put on a full face of make-up to go and buy a pint of (soya) milk…
about 3 years ago that all changed when i lost all of my hair over about 6 months. and i mean all. everything gone. my journey through alopecia has been that of trying to look as “normal” as i can (well as normal as a goffick chick can, right?)
i’m a teacher in a school and students are NOT reserved about asking questions about your appearance and i’m not keen to talk to them about my condition – i’d like some of my life to be personal…
sometimes i’d just like to go out without my face drawn and glued on, mostly cos i’d like to achieve that sunday dossy feeling again…
one day, maybe…
http://twitpic.com/2pymrz/
secxx
ps. this post isn’t meant to sound as melancholic as it might come across – i’m really rather happy with my lot! :-)
:-) I used to wear make up all the time! working in theatre, night clubs and just day to day, but about 10 years ago now I stopped wearing make up don’t know why just stopped, recently I had to put make up on for a dance performance and oh my god I was like a child playing with my big sisters make up box, I looked like a clown it was awful! I never realised how much of it was practice makes perfect… I have to say I am a little better now after watching tutorials and things online and playing a bit with it the performance make up doesn’t look so bad now but oh my… no make up suits me soooo much. Have fun with your no make up week, the pics you put up look stunning!
I’m 24 and only started wearing makeup for the first time around two or three years ago. My older sister was a fiend for the makeup and that kind of put me off wanting to try it for a very long time. Even now, I’ll usually only wear it when I go out for social things, but the difference in appearance is immense. Sometimes I wish I was less lazy and could bother waking up earlier to make myself look nice every day, because my skin is wrought with funny dark patches (mainly around my eyes, and mouth which gives the appearance of facial hair) and broken blood vessels.
I am definitely participating in this and I will carry around a makeup journal. I did something like this in college with hair and makeup but it has been a long time and I like the idea of evaluating things that you love/obsess over every once in a while.
you look great with out it btw!
Um, yeah… You can go ahead and do the no-makeup thing, I’ll be a vain loser and continue to wear it. I’m almost 6 ft. and of a large-ish build, not to mention my short hair (ugh I HATE it!) so I kind of have a not-that-irrational complex about being mistaken for a dude.
Seriously. It happens when I’m wearing DRESSES.
I love this experiment. I often partake in it myself for odd days and they seem to snowball as I like the look of waking up completely fresh and clean rather than the risk of slight panda eyes, making my wake up not as wakey uppy as it should be!
I don’t necessarily notice people treat me differently when I am sans makeup, but I feel different.
I have failed as it’s Monday and am already wearing makeup before reading this blog. Doh!
Plus – SMILES! I like seeing Z smiles. The last photo is clearly cuteness to the extreme!
I decided to see if I can last a whole week without wearing ANY make up.
I normally paint my brows and eyemake up on very darkly. Thou my make up is quite extreme it very rare that I get a reaction from a customer.
Today being day one, I rocked up to work with NO makeup on excepting I’d hardly get a reaction. Wrong. I was surprise by how many customers comment on how strange it was to see me with no make up one, especially no brows. A number of them thought I slept in and was running late for work. I also got told I look like a little kid without make up, I’m actually 30 but most customers think I’m 22 with make on. The funniest reaction was from a little kid who asked me “where are my eyebrows?” I told him I’m not wearing them today. His reply was “oh are you going to wear then tomorrow?” When I told him no. he yelled out to him embarrassed Mum “She don’t wanna wear her eyebrows”
It’s a little bit sad that I can’t participate in this (aside from sighing over how pretty Miyavi is) because I was never taught how to wear makeup as a kid and never owned any until about a year ago. After online tutorials I do simple stuff for special events and it makes quite an impact because of the fact that nobody ever sees me in it. Every day I’m all natural, not even moisturizer, even if that means showing off the huge bags under my eyes.
All of the ladies in this post look lovely bare, and while I appreciate the artistry of good makeup and wish I’d actually had someone take me under their wing earlier in life, at the same time I wish women wouldn’t feel so compelled not to be seen without their “face” on. You’re good enough on your own!
Being a gal that normally wouldn’t step out into the real world without eyeliner and eyeshadow, its been hard, but my friends and work peeps love the idea and are supportive, strange how something you dont notice anymore seems to attract more attention than actually wearing makeup. And you look adorbs in all the photos. :)