I very rarely leave the house without make-up, I ‘d never buy an item of clothing that I thought didn’t flatter me, I try to wear my hair in a way that suits my face. I often fail.
One could say I had a low sense of self esteem or if, you weren’t tuned in to that way of thinking, you could think well, isn’t that clever, she’s putting her best foot forward, trying to make the most of what she’s got.
But if I did have a negative body image (which I do) there’s one thing that I’m sure isn’t going to raise it. Well there are a few, but I am quite certain that sharing a photo of myself without makeup won’t do anything to make me feel like I’m more beautiful.. Nor will seeing other people’s makeup free faces, as beautiful or natural as I am sure they are.
The Butterfly Foundation are hosting Makeup Free Me on 30 August to raise funds for The Butterfly Foundation which is a brilliant cause and well done them (I support any attempt to raise funds for organisations like this) . Celebrities often release makeup free shots (which are not free of good lighting and face placement), many bloggers and media outlets have hosted makeup free projects, the women of Sunrise on Channel 7 recently went sans makeup and Mamamia are hosting a makeup free promotion (seems I left in the nick of time) so maybe there are more people that actually understand this trend. I just don’t.
I find the idea of presenting your unmade up face in a bid to raise body image awareness a huge ideological jump and I would be happy for someone to explain to me just how it’s meant to work.
Is it helping anyone’s body image if we keep focusing on how people look? With our without makeup?
By rifling through hundreds of makeup free photos that are being scrutinised by thousands of other people are we feeding into the whole “looks are everything” issue? So what if you look great without makeup. So what if you look far better with a kilo of foundation on.
Seeing (and ultimately judging) other people without makeup on for a day is only focusing on how they look. I am quite certain you know when people are wearing makeup, they’re not trying to fool you. Just trying to look their best. There’s nothing real and authentic about going makeup free. Or is there something I am missing?
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I look at the galleries of makeup free woman and find the whole thing a little sad. It’s like a beauty contest but instead of the swimsuit competition it’s like some kind of “freak show”. For just one day or one photo I will wear no make up and take a photo to prove that…..And here’s where I get stuck. To prove what? That sometimes I do wear makeup and when I do it I feel that I look a little better? Like when I have my hair cut? Or buy a dress that I think flatters me?
How is it helping anyone to know that someone looks less radiant without makeup? We know that.
Some people look really good without make up. Some people don’t.
I am in the latter category and I am delighted to have makeup to help me hide the blemishes and even out the skin tones. I wasn’t blessed with flawless skin and big, clear eyes. I remember being old enough to wear make up as an important mile tone in my life. There was something I could do to give some colour to my face, some definition to my eyes. Some illusion of bones in my cheeks.
Nobody’s making me wear makeup just like nobody’s making me walk around in a pale yellow onesie which I imagine is the most unflattering outfit I could muster. I just wouldn’t do it. Even if you told me that dressing in clothes that don’t do me justice would stop body shaming.
Please know that I am not judging, or indeed, dissing anyone that has submitted a photo or is hosting a makeup free day. I totally respect what you are doing I just don’t understand it.
Can you shed some light? Can you tell me how not wearing makeup is going to change the status quo? Is wearing makeup to look better such a bad thing?
I am not sure of the thinking behind it but the thing that has most struck me today is that everyone looks lovely in their non-makeup pics. Not sure what the message in that is though. Is everyone much more beautiful than they think they are?
I am much more beautiful with make up on! 🙂
I have thought the exact same thing but you have articulated it perfectly.
To add one point – I honestly feel like it’s just a different kind of beauty contest – who is the most gorgeous without makeup??? (And I suspect those who are very young or have had Botox/fillers will be the winners.)
I think that the aim should be to focus LESS on looks. I fully support the Butterfly Foundation but I believe this is a misguided campaign.
Your whole comment sums up what I have been thinking. Brilliant. As always
YES! YES! This is EXACTLY how I feel about it. I couldn’t even tell the sunrise girls had no make up on. Please don’t ask me to compare myself to them…
I agree. I don’t think that was the intention of the makeup free day, but unfortunately I think it’s the reality. Kx
I don’t understand it either. Like you I think that someone should feel that they can put their best foot forward, whether that be with make up or without. I also wonder if it is something that will attract a lot of trolls. I worry that vulnerable women will be placed in harms way when they post their ‘less than perfect’ photos, and with it being online there is no way to police it. I certainly wouldn’t feel comfortable putting a photo out there of myself that I thought wasn’t the best I could do. I think instead of focusing on how a body looks, we need to start focusing on what a body can do. I know that helped me immensely in starting to love the body I have, for all of it’s flaws.
I hear you Tegan, it does become a competition where some women look better than others and of course that does nothing for the people who are already feeling bad about the way they look. Good on you for working on loving your body
i don’t wear much makeup on a daily basis, i am not into selfies, and don’t see a point in enhancing my cheekbones or covering flaws in my skintone with makeup for the mall or the school run. but it doesn’t bother me if others do it, daily, always, tons of it or just a bit on the eyes.. fine.
but it’s a bit like those ‘ugly’ pictures pretty girls post on instagram, grimacing (still pretty), when celebs and other self-loving people decide to go ‘without’ for a dare or a photoshoot. many still look great. and good on them. others don’t and if they are lucky, they just look a bit more bland and in b/w you can sell it as ‘artsy’ (i have portraits like that of me). but in the end, as you say, it is about looks, its about who is game to show themselves and the majority of those who do, will be the ones that have no body or beauty issues anyway. so yeah, it’s a bit pointless, but hey, if it raises funds and people have fun.. why not.
Absolutely – to each their own and I don’t begrudge anyone doing it. I’m just happy I don’t have to. 🙂
I was actually thinking the same thing today when I saw a tweet from Lisa Wilkinson and her beautiful bare face.
Everyone was complimenting how gorgeous she was – and she totally was – but then it got me thinking this is
only making others feel less secure about how they look without enhancers such as make up and Instagram filters (and who doesn’t love a good filter!)
I agree with you Lana – put your best foot forward and do what it takes to make you feel the best version of yourself, with or without make up.
Thanks Kat, and that’s my point exactly – everyone was focussing on how gorgeous she was, making it all about her looks and not at all about positive body image
THIS – “Is it helping anyone’s body image if we keep focusing on how people look? With our without makeup?” says it all. Very well said Lana.
I suppose I try to encourage my students not to focus on HAVING to wear make-up or dress in a certain way, simply to please others… But you are so right, I never thought of the attention on ‘no make-up’ as still being ‘beauty’ focused.
Thanks Collett, I agree with you. No one should HAVE to wear make up and no one should be judged on the way they look.
Nope, I’m all for it. But then I’m happy to not wear make-up (even though I look a gazillion times better with it on). I think what it says is that you *don’t* have to wear make-up to look beautiful. We’re so conditioned to see beauty through the filter of foundation, blush, photoshop, instagram that it is truly wonderful to see naked faces. They offer so much more.
Having said that, I can almost guarantee that the pictures put up are the best of the lot – ie the most attractive make-up free face pic on hand. But that’s ok. We all want to put our best foot forward. It’s still wonderful to see us in our natural glory. For me anyway 🙂
Make-up doesn’t mean more beautiful to me. It just means more made up 🙂
xx
I get where you are coming from – I just feel worse when I see the pics because heaven knows I don’t look like that without makeup. So it doesn’t do anything for MY body image – but it must do for others or it wouldn’t be so popular.
I also wish we didn’t have to submit photos of ourselves for other people to look at, in order to make us feel better about ourselves. It doesn’t seem much like learning to love yourself when you are asking other people for affirmation of your photo.
xxxxx
I could be raising money for charity on a daily basis, such is my commitment to makeup free. It’s such a crock, frankly. I totally agree with what you have to say about focusing on appearance to help people stop focusing on appearance. And where on earth is the ‘self-acceptance’ in taking the slap off for one day and then painting it all back on again tomorrow. Something is rotten.. x
Love your comment – think you said it all! xxx
I don’t really get it either – mostly because I am so bad at applying make-up that most people think I am make-up free at my most made-up! I also think we are a bit suspicious of ‘make-up free’ now (or at least I am), because there have been so many so many supposed magazine shoots with celebrities or models who, while make-up free, have been airbrushed, etc, within an inch of their lives. Also noted that it, again, seems to focus on women’s looks – it would be even better to have ‘a day without commenting on anyone’s looks’ – now THAT would be interesting!
Lol – laughed at your comment because I can just imagine people who know me reading this post and saying “Hey Lana wears make up! I never noticed that other than when she cries and gets panda eyes” I am THAT bad at putting it on. xx
I like to consider putting on make up like putting on my “war paint”. I have a job where I see people/clients all the time, its not about self esteem, its more about presentation and packaging. I want to look polish and professional for my clients. I feel like a warrior goddess when I present and close the deals.
Yes, i believe make-up it does make you feel more confident but confidence comes from within, the make up is just another form of armour.
Make up allows self expression, sometimes i’ll experiment with colour depending on my colour scheme and dress. People forget that make-up is about having fun and expression via say bold red lips or just a simple mascara.
I think society knows that make up is not permanent and it washes off at the end of the day. Everyone knows that celebrities have make up artists with them 24/7 and its their job to look glamourous they don’t get paid not to look glamourous!
I think as women we need to celebrate make up as a form of expression and as I mentioned “war paint and armour”. Women have been playing with all sorts of forms of make up since the dawn of time, whether it was face paint or ceremonial tattooing with spiritual significance… (take a look at Maori women who have tattooes on their face that can be considered as a form of make up).
Make up is fun and expressive and shouldn’t deny someone of extra confidence, however we should also celebrate the natural beauty aswell because under all the make up is the inner beauty that really should radiate brighten than your bronzer because that’s what captivates people.
I want to stand up and applaud your comment – thank you Vanessa xx
I almost never wear make up. Only on special occasions, or if I have time to slap some on before going out to dinner. Mostly because I’m lazy, I can’t be bothered with the time it takes to remove it at the end of the day and I think My skin is better for it. People often tell me I look younger than I am. And I don’t consider myself that attractive, with or without make up, so can’t see the point in wearing it every day. One thing it does do though is win me lots of compliments when I do make the effort. People are so used to seeing me without it they are usually very Impressed to see me wearing it.
I think my daughter summed it up.’Mummy, I don’t like you wearing make up. I like to look at the real you.’ I’d rather be the real me. Take it or leave it folks. X
I get it 100% – do what’s right for you but I just hate the idea of showing off makeup free faces as some sort of competition xx
I definitely look better with makeup. But I’m dead lazy. So unless it’s work or a special social function I don’t bother. Not from an ideological standpoint, but from the position of “I can’t be arsed”. I don’t think going makeup-free is any kind of political statement. I’m with you, Lana. Don’t get it. Xxx
I’m also dead lazy so I may or may not never bother to take my make up off. That would explain why a 45 year old woman has pimples xxx
I almost never take mine off! Snap!
I probably wear make up once a week at most, if I’m going out or if it’s a special occasion. Yesterday I thought about posting a makeup free photo but just didn’t see the point – there are loads of photos of me make up free on my IG already.
My 3yo got into my make up bag recently and smothered her face in lippy – when I found her she said “Look Mummy! now I’m pretty like you!”. I don’t know how she got the idea that make-up = pretty, but I didn’t like it.
So maybe make up free is challenging our perceptions of what is beautiful. What I do like about the various make up free campaigns is that they have got people thinking about why they wear make up and who they wear it for – which I think are worthwhile questions.
Thanks for your comment Catherine. I understand what you are saying but I just see the campaigns as perpetuating what beautiful should be like – ie all based on what you look like, instead of focusing on something other than good skin and high cheekbones
I remember high school being a tortuous few years of comparing my naturally freckly, pimply, touch of redness, thin lips, shortest eyelashes in the world face to the gorgeous natural beauties around me (blemish free skin, long eyelashes, ruby red full lips). Then we got older and makeup was allowed, and I thought “right, now I will get a helping hand to look as good as them”. This makeup free promotion just makes me cringe and revert back to that shy high school student with no self esteem, because hey, all those high school natural beauties still look gorgeous make up free and I still look like shit!
Exactly my point – thank you Jennie xx
Absolutely great cause to support and I will do everything in power to help and also to prepare my 3 yr old daughter (oh please do not grow up too soon!) to be comfortable in her own skin and to not worry what other people think. So, now here comes the bit where I say ‘Do as I say and not as I do’
For me there is no way I would leave the house without makeup ( yes I may be shallow and may have issues hehe) and also for me I feel great when I have put the makeup on and do my hair.
When I get ready (the five minutes my little ones let me have) that is my time and I enjoy it. A new shade of colour here and there….
I know there are more important things to worry about in life, and yes, I don’t care what people think, however there is one person that I do worry about and what they think and that is me.
Perfect – you don’t sound at all shallow to me!!
An excellent post Lana, I concur absolutely. Thanks for putting this point across so eloquently (great comments too). Perhaps I am shallow – I adore make-up and wouldn’t leave the house without lippy and mascara, but it’s not really so much that I am excessively vain, I just look awful without it! As Kerri said, it’s a misguided campaign – just another beauty competition disguised under a commendable idea to raise money.
Thanks for your comment Lee-Anne, makeup isn’t about vanity is it? any more than dressing in way that accentuates your features or hides your flaws xxxx
Hey Lans,
Want some light shed?
Perhaps I can help.
You talk about your own low self esteem and negative body image….now, I’m no psychologist but possibly it could have been impacted by the fact that the mainstream media (namely mags and advertising) only ever depict one very narrow – and often digitally altered – image of what a so-called beautiful woman looks like. And that’s the image most of us have ever been exposed to all our lives.
So we can’t help but have negative body image when we consicously or subconsciously calibrate ourselves against that.
The documentary MisRepresentation talks about that a lot. Advertising and industries like fashion and media are our pop cultural gatekeepers for what ‘normal’ and ‘attractive’ looks like.
We all know how it feels to flip through a magazine and feel like crap.
So what we’re trying to do – and what I imagine other individuals or organisations encouraging women to post shots of themselves that are DIFFERENT to the air-brushed, limited portrayal we’re surrounded by – is to recalibrate this view of what women look like.
Not that there’s anything wrong with make-up (hello, have you met me?). Hell no. But there are plenty of images around of women wearing make-up already.
Mamamia’s Body Positive Project (which you referred to as a ‘promotion’ but as you know is something I’ve been passionate about and wanting to do for years) is about offering up some alternative images of women.
We’ll never level the playing field but we can give it a little kick!
Of course our self esteem needs to rely on more than just the way we look. Duh. But the word ‘body image’ refers to how you feel about your appearance and that’s something that’s very real for every woman I know.
When I look at all the images of women in our first Body Positive gallery, I see diversity. I see defiance. I see a celebration of something other than perfection. I see women comfortable in their skin and wanting to be part of a movement that’s different to the plastic surgery, post-baby body kind of anxiety that’s forced on us all daily by the modern media.
I have no idea why you would see it as a competition? Or a ‘freak show’ as you describe it? Goodness.
Whether someone chooses to post an image of themselves or not, flicking through the kinds of galleries we’re creating with #mmbodypositive is meant to make women happy. And reassured. And feel more normal than we do when we’re bombarded by a culture that predominantly portrays women in just one size, shape, age and ethnicity (zero, tall, young and white).
Clearly, looking at these images doesn’t make you happy in which case you’re completely right not to take part. Even though I’ve seen you without make-up and I think you’re beautiful.
Hope that sheds some light…..
Mia x
Thank you Mia
You do know that this post was not written about Mamamia per se, in fact it was the Butterfly Foundation’s makeup free me that caught my attention. Of course I included Mamamia because you, know HISTORY. I loved that place! I never used the word promotion negatively and of course I know about your passion for body image. And I have known for years how much you have fought for it and tried to rally against the machine to make a change. I always did, and I still respect that.
When I look through the gallery of women on your site (or any other) I see women who are blessed with beautiful clear skin (I am not), women who have gorgeous features that are purely physical (and they may be beautiful inside as well) and I see women like myself. And I find it hard not to draw the distinction between the people that look “good” and the people that don’t look as “good”. Yes, maybe that’s due to years of magazine consumption but I still do it and I am sure many others do too. THAT’s where it becomes a competition of sorts. Also the multiple shots to get the “right image” speaks to me of trying to look better than you look (if you know what I mean) .
When I see the comments on Twitter or Insta saying “you look so beautiful without makeup”, I think that’s judging the person by how they look and it doesn’t help to raise my self esteem.
I see people on the streets, at school, in the shops, at meetings everyday that look nothing like the people in magazines, I just wonder why women need to “submit” to what will ultimately be views as a comparative gallery. The comments of “X looks so young” “y looks so beautiful” and NOTHING about Z are always going to happen. It’s those comments and comments made on other places online that get to me. You know how much I hate a troll!
Thank you for shedding just the light I was looking for – I totally get where you are coming from and I always did. As I said this article was not about Mamamia. As always I admire and respect what you are doing and I know more than anybody, that in this area you work tirelessly and with conviction and passion. And I know that it’s coming from the right place
xxxxx
That’s a bit of a rude, passive aggressive response Mia! Not sure why Lana or anyone else reading here needs some light shed on this issue by you though.
It clearly says on your Facebook page that the body positive challenge is supported by Fernwood Fitness. That to me sounds a lot like a promotion don’t you think?
I agree, completely out of line to respond like that! Ms Freedman needs to stay on her own site.
I did ask someone to shed light on the idea behind it and I think that’s what Mia has done. I still haven’t seen the light but I appreciate her coming to explain her point of view. As I appreciate you commenting in my defence – thank you xx
I don’t dabble in a lot of “mainstream media”. Never really have. My mother and I were chatting about this the other day. A friend of hers recently had her house featured in a homes mag. The friend approached the magazine to do an article on her home to promote her husbands company. (Which had built it). The mag staff looked at some photos and then deemed themselves “enchanted” and keen to feature the house. They were so “thrilled” to do so….that they turned up with a container of furniture and soft furnishings to re theme her coastal house to Gatsby Art Deco. There it is in print – a bizarre reinvention of her gorgeous house into something else.
I am an 80s child who grew up with the “supers” of single name identification. Naomi, Linda etc. I still feel a fondness for them! But just as I never think anyone “in real life” has a spotless home with lamps that have no power cords or weedless gardens and (for Gods Sake!) children who only colour on paper in sunny nooks in clothes that are POA or even that they own everything(anything?) in their home which is amazingly enough styled on the most recent blockbuster at the cinema …nor do I draw a line between models and myself. Mum said “when did models become role models, and not just somebody nice to look at? Role models shd be the other women in your life”. (My mum is an excellent role model!) I think if we could broaden our horizons and read more, study more, go on holidays, dabble in art and culture and lift ourselves out of the overstimulation of Kardashians and Fashion week and “to wax or not to wax?” and keep those things as “10 percenters” in our lives we wouldn’t focus on body image so much. And we would bring more substance to the table.
Maybe I’m oversimplifying. I don’t know. We all seem so much more self absorbed these days.
I wear makeup maybe 3-4 times a month. I put it down to being lazy, not liking the feeling of slapping on a heap of product and not really caring whether people judge me for wearing makeup or not on a day to day basis. I don’t have perfect skin but for the most part it looks okay. Why hide it? That said, flicking through the gallery of Mamamia photos I did the same internal comparison that I subconsciously do when faced with a photo of another woman. And I didn’t come out of it feeling fantastic about myself.
When I wear makeup, it’s because I want to feel good. A particularly important work day, or a social occasion where I will be photographed/out on the town. Sometimes if I have some spare time in the morning I’ll slap on some BB cream and mascara and I never fail to get some sort of comment from a colleague that I look particularly nice today. We’re so conditioned to find people who are wearing makeup more beautiful than those who opt to go natural – so I’m glad in a way that the issue is being discussed so that maybe even a few extra people recognise that the definition of beauty is not as straightforward as it sometimes seems.
Thanks Jess – I, too am glad that there is discussion around this and I think talking about issues is always the best way forward – it’s the need to prove it by submitting your bare faced photo that gets to me. THere is no doubt in my mind that when people look through those photos they are making mental comparisons and I don’t believe judging women’s faces by what they wear or don;t wear is helpful to body image issues
I share your feelings Lana. I think what’s clear is that there are many women who feel insecure or frustrated and are looking for a means to counter that or strike back against it in some way. But while this might be an effective way for them to individually assert some control over that, I don’t think it is has long term benefits. As Keri said, it replaces one ideal for another. It’s almost worse to feel pressure to look naturally beautiful than to wrestle with it using tricks and tools.
I also think that poor body image and self esteem is driven by so many factors other than make up and magazines. It’s a little simplistic to view those as the only contributors, or even the biggest ones.
Having said all that, I wear the kind of make up that takes less than 2 minutes to apply. Eyeshadow with a finger instead of a brush, a lick of mascara and some blush. I am fairly confident leaving the house without it, although I wouldn’t go out-out with a bare face because part of the fun of dressing up is making-up. So I accept that for women whose beauty routines are a lot more time consuming (and who are genuinely sick at the thought of being seen without make-up) that being challenged to appear make-up free might have an impact on them that I can’t possibly understand.
Either way, I don’t think it’s really hurting anyone. Some of the other commentary I’ve seen has been unnecessarily venomous, and it seems to reflect more on the people writing it than the reach or effectiveness of the campaign itself (which, as I said, is probably limited).
Thanks Clementine. I have to say I apply my make up in much the same way as you and I think the only time it’s really obvious that I’m wearing make up is when I cry and it smears all over my face.
I really appreciate your point about body image and self esteem being about more than magazines and media. I think it’s far bigger than that and far more complex. I don’t think I have ever tried to emulate the models on billboards or the pages of magazines because I know that they don’t look like that naturally – when they release a make up free shot and I realise that they still look like I could never hope to WITHOUT any help, I think maybe a balaclava would do me more good than a make up free face. 🙂
Thanks again for your comment
Fabulous post Lana. I agree with you in regards to this topic. Completely x
Lana I agree with you!!
I have incredibly huge dark circles beneath my eyes due to allergies and genetics and so I rely on concealer to make me look un-dead. No lavish makeup, no need to ‘hide’ the real me, just me not wanting to look like a bruised-eyed zombie at work and at uni.
And looking through those galleries only made me think – they’re lucky they don’t have massive dark circles!
I love my body, I love myself, and doing a makeup free selfie would not in anyway illustrate that.
Good work Lana! 🙂
SUCH an interesting discussion. Thanks for starting it Lana!
Surely a self-LOVE campaign focusing on all kinds of FAVOURITE bits of ourselves (physical or OTHERWISE) would be a good alternative? Chatting about smarts, skills, excellent qualities, amazing joke-telling capabilities (and bodies, if we so choose)?
I think lining up body parts/faces, made up or otherwise, is all well and good, but it kind of encourages comparison and objectification as much as it does celebration. Let’s talk about how rad we are in all kinds of ways? Not just the body bits. Let’s do that.
I’m so glad you posted this. I don’t understand why this is such a big deal – I go make up free every day! The only time I wear it is if I’m dressing up for a fancy event, which doesn’t happen very often. For me, make up or the lack of it has very little to do with body image…