“We all get to a point in our lives (especially girls) where we try to be perfect,” Alicia Keys said in an essay she wrote for Lenny Letter explaining why she was going makeup-free.
I was 12-years-old when I bought my first mascara. This was the beginning of my attempts to have a perfect face. I had owned other costume makeup before this but this was the first product I wore on a daily basis. Putting it on became as much a part of my routine as brushing my teeth. From that point on, I started adding more and more makeup to my routine to the point that I was wearing a full-face almost everyday.
This past September though, I stopped wearing makeup entirely. My skin has always been sensitive but in the last year it started reacting to more products. This included makeup brands that I had trusted for years. So I found myself unintentionally joining the makeup-free movement.
The makeup-free movement is, on the surface, exactly what it sounds like. It’s a movement pushing women to drop their cosmetic routines. The movement is also looking to see less harsh beauty expectations for women. The campaign is largely credited to Alicia Keys who, in May of last year, announced she was leaving makeup behind. As Keys explained on the Today show, the decision didn’t come from a place of hating makeup, but wanting to feel like she didn’t always have to wear it.
Keys isn’t the first person to urge for makeup to be a choice and not a necessity. In 2014, the #nomakeupselfie movement took off after actress Kim Novak, who was 81 at the time, was criticized for her appearance altered by plastic surgery at the Oscars. The hashtag evolved into a campaign raising money for cancer research but it was routed in the same place as the makeup-free movement. Although cosmetics can be empowering, women should not be expected to look the same with and without a full face of makeup.
Since going makeup free, I am way more comfortable with my face than I was in September. When I was wearing makeup, I was able to hide the things I didn’t like about my face and emphasize the things I did. While having a face of makeup on made me more confident, there were numerous things I was self-conscious about when I would wash it all off. Now however, I am so used to seeing my face without beauty products that I’m not insecure about any of my features.
While there have been countless benefits to no longer wearing makeup like clearer skin and a quicker morning routine, there are still times where I miss it. For me, putting on makeup before going out to bars and parties was a huge part of getting ready. Makeup was always able to give me an extra boost of confidence. Although I miss how makeup could make me feel “extra pretty,” I’m noticeably happier on day-to-day basis with my appearance.
Even though going makeup-free might not be for everyone, there is a push to try it out at least one day a week with “makeup-free Mondays.” The Beauty Bean, a beauty website for women, has launched a campaign for women to go without cosmetics on Mondays. As one of their writers, Alexis Wolfer, explains, it was intimidating for the website’s staff to try it at first but “[they] got over it, and, once [they] did, [they] realized how liberating, inspiring, and, needless to say, time saving it can be!” Dropping cosmetic routines can be scary, but it’s definitely worth a try—even if it is just for one day a week or a selfie.