Makeup Free Daze

It’s been 10 weeks into my Makeup Free Daze and I am happily surprised at the results. At the end of March, I decided to try not wearing any makeup to work. My reasons were two-fold: I wanted to save on time in the morning and I wanted to make it easier to cleanse my face quicker every night. (a.k.a I love sleep and I’m lazy)

The first week was rough as coworkers made comments such as “are you okay?” “you look tired” “oh yeah, you definitely look like you could be coming down with something.” Sigh, it was hard to hear these comments but what bugged me more was that I was only looking “tired” and “sick” because they were used to the standard that I had set, which included foundation, eyeliner, mascara, lip stick, and the rest of the whole nine yards. Also, dudes never get asked if they’re sick or why they haven’t concealed the huge pimple on their nose. They slap on some moisturizer and head in to work and so shall I!

By the end of week two, I was paying much more attention to my skin simply because I could now see it. I noticed my blotchiness that took stage in 2012 was now gone and simply replaced by a couple red spots that were only red after a vigorous cleansing. But for the most part, I had good skin! This was motivation to keep up the makeup free days.

Over the following eight weeks I wore makeup if I had a client meeting or had an event but on a daily basis, I was foundation and concealer free for at least five days a week. Given I’m a skincare > makeup person, I of course wasn’t just slapping on moisturizer and heading out the door.

Enter in the realm of serums – I used a hyaluronic acid serum every single day, followed by an eye cream, a water-based moisturizer, a barrier cream and then sunscreen (on most days). Sometimes I threw on some mascara and filled in my brows, topping my routine off with a lip balm or a lip pencil. This whole routine took about seven minutes and had my skin feeling refreshed and unclogged throughout the day. Cleansing at night became easier as a quick wash down – done just once – was all I needed. And then I applied a sleeping mask or a midnight serum.

Now a full ten weeks later, I’m comfortable heading to work without any makeup, I could attend a client meeting with simply mascara and brows filled in. I head out to dinners and run errands with zero makeup on and mascara has become the only go-to makeup option if I need to feel glammed up. I’ve been told my skin is flawless and there are no red irritated patches anymore. Furthermore, my skin tone has evened out.

The one thing that is most difficult to hide is tired eyes. I consistently use an eye cream and an eye serum to reduce my slight dark circles and puffiness. But I’ve also kind of become accustomed to them. I haven’t yet found an ideal undereye concealer and maybe that would be the one piece of foundational makeup I’d add.

Being foundation free has felt awesome. I still love my foundation and don’t hesitate to wear the lightweight liquid when I need to glam up, but having the ability to choose to walk out the door without makeup and still feel like I look good is a great feeling – empowering, dare I say.

I feel like I now know my skin and it’s not what it used to be in 2012 (which is when I last had a bout of makeup free days). It’s been a journey in 2017 to get better skin. I know what my skin looks like now, what it feels like and more importantly what it needs. In the past, I would have never been able to step out of the shower and go five hours without moisturizing face, or else it would feel dry and tight. Now my skin is supple even if I don’t slap/dab/pat something on within the next few hours, though let’s be honest, I can’t wait to dab on my skincare routine.

First written by me on madderandshade on June 10, 2017: https://madderandshade.wordpress.com/2017/06/10/makeup-free-daze/

Reposted on this final madder and shade site in 2018