How to Rock NO Makeup

I am a big fan of no makeup. My beauty routine for work for me involves brushing my hair and putting it in a ponytail, brushing my teeth, then putting lip balm on. Bam! Good to go. Of course, I am a personal trainer, so along with the makeup-free face goes workout gear and early, early mornings. A trainer wearing makeup is a rare animal, indeed.

I am happier with a bare face. I wasn’t always comfortable with rolling out of bed and letting the under eye circles just hang out, though. Before I was in the fitness industry, I worked in office environments and even when I was in high school and university, I wasn’t leaving the house without what I thought was the bare minimum of concealer, eyeliner and mascara.

If putting on your face is taking up precious time, or if you feel nervous or vulnerable about going out in public without makeup, I want to share some tips with you on How to Rock NO Makeup.

Re-evaluating Your Makeup Routine

Just like when you’re making healthy changes to your lifestyle, the key to overhauling is baby steps. It’s difficult to go from all to nothing. When it comes to makeup, especially, there can be an emotional element to the act of wearing makeup. Maybe you use it as a shield. Maybe part of your self confidence is tied up in the way you can transform your appearance with makeup. There is also an awful lot of money invested in advertising campaigns and the media aimed at convincing us we just need this one product to be beautiful, perfect, more than, better than. Recognize it might be a tougher transition than you’re expecting.

The first step in working towards wearing less makeup, or no makeup at all, is to take a good look at what cosmetics you’re applying on a daily basis. Let’s say you wear concealer, blush, eyeliner, eyeshadow, mascara and lipstick every day. Pick the one step you think you could eliminate without it being a jarring difference in the way you look. I’d suggest if you use three makeup items on your eyes, you could easily lose the shadow, or liner without it being an obvious change. Try it out for a few days – get used to using one less cosmetic. Get used to the way you look with one less step. Then, once you’re used to that change, get rid of another step.

Another way to cut down gradually on your makeup application is to use lighter formulas. If you wear foundation, try switching to concealer only, or to a tinted moisturizer; lip gloss, then balm instead of lipstick; curling your eyelashes instead of wearing mascara.

Making Your Skin the Star

All that time and money you’ll be saving on buying and applying makeup can now go towards making your skin the star of the show. There are a few ways to ensure your face looks amazing and doesn’t need makeup to look beautiful.

• Get enough sleep. I am terrible at this (and so, I suspect, are most mamas, especially of little ones). If you can even sneak in an extra 30 minutes if you’re sleep-deprived, it can really make a difference to how your skin looks in the morning. Remember – once you get to the point of wearing little to no makeup, you can spend that extra time you would have spent getting ready, sleeping!
• Stay hydrated. When you forget to drink water, your skin can look dry and have a dull tone. Experiment with how much water you need in a day to feel good and look healthy. The adage of ‘8 glasses a day’ is not a hard and fast rule – you want to be drinking enough so that when you pee, your urine is a pale yellow color.
• Invest in skin treatments and products. Take the money you would have spent on makeup and treat yourself to semi-regular facials at a spa. Or do some research and find the best cleansers, exfoliants and moisturizers for your skin type. Rather than covering imperfections, you’ll be treating them instead.

Easy Tips to Rock No Makeup

There are a few easy ways to make it less obvious that you’re going makeup free, especially if you’re working in a more polished environment than a gym floor! 😉 First up is using color and accessories.

Check out these two photos above, which I took in the exact same light (about 2 minutes apart), both with no makeup, in a plain shirt. I chose a grey top to wear, because while I love grey, when worn alone it washes me out. In the photo on the left, I’m using no color or accessories at all. On the right, I’ve added a red scarf, because I know red is a flattering color for my skin tone and I’ve added some sparkly earrings.

Immediately you can tell that wearing a bright color close to the face can bring color to your face that you’re not adding with makeup. Wearing earrings, or a necklace, or a brooch near your face can also act as a framing device and a distraction from the fact that you’re rocking bare skin.

The second tip is changing something else about your appearance so it becomes the focal point, rather than your lack of makeup.

Again, these photos are both with no makeup and the same light. Now, I always have my hair in a ponytail. It’s essential for work and for working out and is just easier for my lifestyle. If wear my hair down, I automatically feel dressy. If a friend or client sees me without a ponytail, they compliment me – it makes such a difference that they think I’m more dressed up than usual, even when I am still wearing no makeup.

In the picture on the right, above, I added some small red earrings to add some color, but the first thing you notice is that my hair is loose, not that I don’t have concealer on.

If you have short hair, or a hairstyle you don’t want to change up, the same focal point distraction can be created by wearing a different sort of jewelry than you usually do, or a different neckline, or even dressier clothes than usual.

The final (and perhaps most important) tip is to SMILE. You’ll notice that in every photo above, I’m smiling. It makes a huge difference to the way you feel and to other people’s reaction to you.

The End Result

Obviously, these tips are aimed at women who want to transition to a makeup free routine. If you love wearing makeup and it makes you happy, then go for it! I understand fully the power of makeup – you won’t see me at a fancy event or when I want to look extra polished without wearing makeup.

However, what has definitely happened for me over the course of many years of wearing nothing on my face in all kinds of situations, is that I feel more comfortable in my skin overall. Not only do I feel relaxed and confident going out without makeup, I also feel more confident in my professional life and in social situations generally. Hopefully, if you’re moving towards a bare-faced day-to-day life, you’ll also benefit from these positive effects.

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I timed this post for the Elf for Health challenge for tomorrow – to go makeup-free for the day. Last year when this challenge came around, I was struck by how many women were panicking about the thought of not having the safety net of wearing makeup. Nearly every single woman went totally bare-faced for the entire day and posted a picture of themselves on social media rocking NO makeup. It was amazing to hear about what a difference it made, even just for one day – that while they may have felt vulnerable and exposed at first, they ended up embracing the beauty of just being themselves and showing off their natural beauty and confidence.

Do you wear makeup every day?

Would you ever go permanently makeup free?