Shirt: F&F. Jumper: M&S via eBay. Jeans: TopShop. Slippers: no idea
This is what I look like when my plans for the day involve nothing more strenuous than watching films and reading. It’s also what I look like without a scrap of make-up.
I’ve blogged my make-up-less self before, when I talked before about my relationship with make-up over the years and how increased confidence means I wear less now than I did years ago, so I’ll try not to repeat myself too much. Instead, I’d like to ponder how ingrained the wearing of make-up is for women of my culture.
I have never gone to work looking like this:
There’s no logical reason why not – I’m as groomed as my male colleagues, after all. But that’s the thing, isn’t it? Men in the workplace are typically expected to be clean, have presentable hair and to be either neat of facial-hair or clean-shaven. Women are, often (Though hopefully not universally! But I have heard it commented upon if a woman doesn’t wear it – or if a woman who normally does for some reason doesn’t.), expected to be clean, have presentable hair, be clean-shaven (over a rather larger area of body), and to be wearing at least minimal make-up.
I’m hardly innocent of this myself. When I go to work or out for the day, I wear a basic kit of a very light dusting of mineral foundation (Which I find to be much lighter than liquid – I don’t feel as though I’m wearing so much and it doesn’t clog my skin. I cannot stand the gunky feel of liquid foundations!), concealer if I feel I look tired and mascara because my lashes are pale at the ends and I like that they look their true length with a slick of mascara. Eyeshadow and lipstick happen if I feel like playing with colour a bit more, rather than as a matter of course – not that I’m particularly adventurous with either. I know that many women wear even less than I do.
But it’s still less than magazines and make-up counter makeover folk would have you believe is necessary. I can remember the magazines I read when I was a teenager taking it for granted that one cleansed, toned and moisturised, then applied a fairly strong covering of liquid foundation (with foam thingies, of course), then concealer where necessary, powder to set the whole shebang and prevent shine, three shades of eyeshadow carefully blended (even if they were all browns and fairly natural-looking), eyeliner, mascara, lipliner, lipstick, blusher, eyebrow pencil (Have you seen my eyebrows? No further definition required on these, I think you’ll find!) and quite possibly clear mascara on your eyebrows to prevent you coming over all Dennis Healey. All of that preferably in fairly natural-looking colours – the purpose wasn’t to add colour or drama to the face, it was to apply shedloads of make-up to make it look like you hadn’t applied much but were just rather flawless in appearance. When you think about it, you’re more or less erasing your face and starting again, drawing on a new one.
And that’s before you even start on face packs and exfoliation or move onto your hair (Not just the shampoo and conditioner I use before air drying and then running a brush through it, oh no. Styling products of various sorts, pricey gadgets to either induce or prevent curl, masques to counteract the effects of same) or other bits of body (pumice stones, body scrubs, buffers, bizarre wooden contraptions and mitts designed to brush your body to prevent cellulite – do people actually have the time and inclination to do that on a regular basis? even if it does work, which I doubt!).
Really? That many products just to look like you was considered the norm?
It’s not really that surprising that I feel more, well, presentable with make-up on, given this training – I imagine I have equal parts common sense and laziness to thank for the fact that I’m not following the full routine but this rather truncated version. And I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with it per se – make-up itself is just assorted colours of powder and liquid with which it can be quite fun to play – they create different effects and contribute to different styles, after all. It’s problematic only because it’s so gendered – just as women are pretty much expected to wear it in order to look presentable, men are pretty much not permitted to (generalising on both counts, of course, and thinking in particular about a standard office environment). Neither thing makes any logical sense, really, does it?
And oddly enough, while I was drafting this post I came across a post on Ravelry from a woman who has just started a job as a waitress and discovered that she is required to wear make-up. I asked her, out of interest, if any further detail on amount or style of make-up was specified and she said no. Here’s my response to that, which I expected:
You’re expected to wear enough make-up to appear ‘groomed’, but not too much (or, I suspect, anything in very strong colours – I reckon what places are getting at when they say that is ‘please to be doing The Natural Look, but don’t even think about actually coming in with your face genuinely au naturel’) because that would be unprofessional. Hey, ladies, here’s another fine line to walk between the Pits Of Judgement!
That said, I doubt I’ll be going to work make-up free anytime soon – it’s part of my separation of work and home, I think, and part of a certain smartening up, and I’ll admit I both enjoy the ritual and am uncomfortable with the fact that I wouldn’t think not to do it while, say, Simon to my right at work wouldn’t think to do it. But I don’t insist on wearing make-up whenever I leave the house in quite the way I used to as a younger woman. I mean, this is what I actually look like. A perfectly normal human female. Why should that be something to hide? The people – and birds – that matter don’t care how long my eyelashes look or whether my skin tone looks perfectly even.
And the eyelash police can go fuck themselves, just like the ‘eek, you have a white hair! Let me pull it out for you!’ (bizarre, but true) OMG-signs-of-age-alarmists.
See what I mean about the birds?
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For more thoughts on make-up and images of make-up-free women, take a look at the round-up Franca is hosting over at Oranges and Apples.
Dress: Wallis via eBay. Shoes: Autograph at M&S via eBay. Necklace: Etsy. Holdups: Wolford
