I’ve always been self-conscious of my skin. It began in middle school when I started to get bad acne; I never felt comfortable without something covering it. When I finally was allowed out of the house with anything more than cover up on, I discovered the wonderful world of makeup. Makeup is the coolest thing to me. I always look forward to doing a full face of makeup in the morning. Some people think it is excessive, but I don’t care! It’s something I enjoy doing and it makes me feel confident, but wearing a full face every day definitely exhausts my skin. To see if I can make a difference in my skin and confidence, I decided to do something I’d never want to do in a million years: stop wearing make up for a whole entire week. I wanted to see if no makeup would improve my skin and if I would feel beautiful and confident without something that has been a crutch for my confidence. I decided to keep my skin routine the same, and only wear my Bite Beauty Agave Lip Mask to replenish my lips that are so chapped from all the liquid lipstick I wear.
Me in makeup
Me without makeup
Day 1
The time it took me to get ready this morning was dramatically less than usual. Every morning, it takes me at least 30 minutes just to do my make up, and that is if I do the bare minimum. This morning it took me 5 minutes! All I had to do was wash my face, apply toner, and moisturizer. I went to my favorite coffee shop near Rowan for breakfast that morning. Did the barista stare at my skin? No! Not even a second glance at my acne scars. Wow! At night, I applied the Lush Just to Clarify Jelly Mask to exfoliate and clarify my skin.
Day 2
Not wearing makeup has been the best thing to happen to my Monday mornings! I can sleep in more. I have an 8:00 double lecture Monday mornings and waking up at 6:45 to do my make up and leave in time has always been a struggle. Instead, I was able to set my alarm at 7:15. I washed my face, applied toner, and moisturizer. In 10 minutes, I was ready for my day. When walking to class, I ran into my co-worker and she said I looked great today. She was shocked when I told her I wasn’t wearing any make up and said she couldn’t even tell. I always see such a difference so to hear that someone didn’t notice a difference was interesting. I’m loving this so far!
Day 3
My absolute favorite part of this whole thing is sleeping in! I have oily/combo skin and I’m noticing my face looks shiny and feels oily. This made me miss my setting powder. I’m noticing a break out on my right cheek too. Not happy!!! One thing I did today to step out of my comfort zone was to go in front of my math class and explain how I solved a problem. Everyone was looking at my bare face, but I stayed confident. Yay me!
Day 4
To combat this newfound oiliness I used Glamglow’s VOLCASMIC Matte Glow Moisturizer. This stuff is great because it gives your skin the moisture it needs without the shine. Perfect for combo skin. I was hoping this would keep my skin matte all day but sadly, it didn’t. I caved at night and put on makeup because I was doing a ProfTalk (Rowan’s version of TedTalks) in front of tons of people. I know I don’t wear makeup for others, but I feel it would look more professional if I tried to look presentable. Especially with this nasty breakout on my cheek. At night, I used Glamglow’s POWERMUD DualCleanse mask to detoxify my skin. The one thing I love about this week is I feel like I’m purging my skin of all the harsh stuff and I love how smooth it feels throughout the day with nothing on it.
Day 5
I know I’m not supposed to wear makeup for 7 days but I had to do something about the oil. I put on MAC Fix+ spray and some Laura Mercier Translucent Setting Powder hoping to stop the shine. I think I was breaking out because of the excess of oil on my skin. I also remembered to carry oil blotting pads around with me. This definitely helped throughout the day!
Day 6
Now that I solved this problem, I feel much more confident in my “no makeup” makeup look. I gave a tour for my Ambassador job on campus and families didn’t look at me differently or say anything. I felt more nervous than usual before my tour because I’m used to looking more done up for my tours, but it did not impact the quality of my tour or the interactions with families so I could definitely go without it from now on if I have to.
Day 7
Well, this week is finally over and I learned a lot about my skin and myself by doing this. Today, I stuck with the setting powder routine and the tiniest bit of mascara! I had to reward myself with something since I got through this week!
Overall, this was a worthwhile experience. I learned that my skin is definitely oilier than I thought it was. When buying skin products, I need to keep this in mind. I was the most surprised with how people didn’t notice a difference from when I usually wear makeup. I was treated the same as when I wear a full face of makeup; I even got some compliments! I wouldn’t do this experiment again because it broke me out, but I definitely feel more comfortable if I have to skip my makeup routine one morning if I’m running late to class.
I would recommend every girl to try this! We live in a world where we tend to want to cover our flaws to feel confident; I never embraced my skin the way it was and I’m so glad I did. When we look in the mirror every day, we definitely see more flaws than what others see. We are our own worst critic. I know now that there is no need to worry about what others will see. There is this new sense of confidence when you go bare faced that you truly discover when you can embrace your natural skin in a whole new way.