How to feel good without make-up

Make up is a wonderful thing, right? You can go from feeling a 0 to a 10 in a matter of minutes! But what I want to write about today is how to feel like a 10 without wearing an ounce of make-up. And it’s got nothing to do with any miracle product.

This is an interesting post for me because I am the type of person who never used to be able to leave the house without wearing  make-up. I mean, I literally could not go to the corner shop until I’d showered, got dressed up, put on a full face of make-up and done my hair.

Today, I woke up and the first thing I wanted was a cup of tea. But oh, what’s that? No milk? Fantastic.

The old me would have sighed, jumped in the shower and literally moaned to myself for a full hour whilst I got ready for what a normal person would recognise as a night out!

Sound familiar to you?

Now, I’ve been paying close attention to the women I see on the street when I’m out, especially at the weekend. Whilst I’m walking around with a full face of make up on, I see women, looking absolutely great with nothing on their face. I think to myself, how lucky are they? They can just wake up in the morning looking great, jump in the shower and go about their day without having to worry about putting any make up on.

Don’t get me wrong, I love putting make up on, not just for the way it makes me feel afterwards, but the actual process excites me. However, sometimes, it is good to let your skin breathe for a while and on a Saturday morning when you’re running to the corner shop to grab some milk, a full face of make-up is definitely not required, particularly when you weren’t planning on going anywhere else for the rest of the day, hence you wasn’t actually going to wear make up in the first place.

So back to this morning. I opened the fridge and sighed. And yes, I jumped in the shower. And then a miraculous thing happened… I got dressed and left the house. I walked to the corner shop with absolutely no make-up on my face, bought my milk and walked back. And do you know what? I didn’t die… I didn’t get chased down the street by people wielding pitchforks and children didn’t scream and run away when they see me.

How did I get to this point in my life? I hear you ask.

Well, let me break it down:

1. As sad as it may seem, I have realised that no one actually cares that you’re not wearing make-up. You’re worried that everyone will stare at you, like you’re some kind of monster? Let me tell you something, no one is looking at you at all! It’s true, I’m sorry.
2. You’re walking to the corner shop at 9.30 on a Saturday morning. If you are walking down the street looking like you’re about to hit the biggest club in London, chances are, you are going to get attention, but it will most likely be the attention of people thinking “what an imbecile, where the hell do they think they’re going?” True story – I’ve thought it myself when I’ve seen people do exactly what I used to do.
3. It’s effort! I just want a bloody cup of tea, why the hell should I waste an hour of my life getting ready to go for a 45 second walk to the shop. It’s, quite frankly, stupid.
4. This point is important. I grew up. I have realised that there are more important things in life than perfect make up at all times. 9.30am on a Saturday morning when, let’s face it, half the population are still in bed and won’t even see you anyway is one of those times.

Aside from all this thinking I did about how I feel about the laborious task of getting ready to go out and buy some milk, I started to do things at home slightly differently.

• As soon as I got home from work, a day out or wherever, I took my make up off. This sounds simple right, and to those of you who do this anyway, perfectly normal (I’m guessing you’re the people who are reading this post thinking, wtf) but I never used to do this until the minute before I was going to bed. If I got home from work and had to pop out to the shop or put the bins out, whatever, I didn’t want to be seen without my make up on, so I would wait until I knew that I wasn’t going anywhere to take it off. Absolutely ridiculous.
• Now, you’ve got that make up off. Every time you go to the bathroom, pass by the mirror, wash your hands etc. you will see your face without make up. If you’re not used to this, it might seem very weird at first. But you will get so used to it after a while that actually, seeing yourself with make up on will seem odd.
• Take a good look at yourself. I do this all the time without make up on. I will stand in the bathroom and get really close to the mirror and look at my face from every single angle. Yes my face is pasty, yes my eyebrows are so blonde you can barely see them, yes my lips look flatter, my eyelashes not as long. But do you know what? That’s me. That’s what I actually look like! Appreciate yourself. Look at the things you do like about yourself which get covered with make-up. Maybe it’s your freckles, or your rosy cheeks, whatever. The point is, learn to love your ‘real’ self.
• Take care of yourself. Drink water, eat healthily, cleanse and moisturise your skin. Have you ever not worn make up for 2-3 days in a row and cleaned your skin with a cotton pad? I have and on the third day, make up was still coming off my skin! Not because I wasn’t cleansing my face properly but because that stuff gets into your pores so deep if you wear it every day, that you literally cannot reach it until your skin starts expelling it days later! When your skin is that clean, you may learn to appreciate how you look without make up.

Now, back to the woman you see walking down the street without any make up on. Is she that lucky that she looks so great without having to wear make-up? Maybe she is, but so are you. If you have never allowed yourself to be seen without make up on, how do you know how you will feel about it?

Make up is a great thing, but you are as well. Allow yourself to be seen, not for what you could be, but for what you already are.