How to Look Beautiful Without Wearing Makeup
If you put on makeup because you think you look terrible without it, you‘re wrong
Makeup has always bothered me on principle. There are a few reasons for this:
- People put on makeup in the hopes of looking good, but ultimately, makeup is bad for your skin and will over the long run make you look worse.
- People sometimes spend as much as an hour a day putting on makeup. If that hour was spent on exercise instead of makeup, their appearance would be much more dramatically affected for the better, and they would get to enjoy the myriad benefits of good health.
- Cheap makeup shows its cheap quality, and good makeup is expensive as heck. One bottle of quality eyeliner is as much as a dinner date. That money seems like it would be better spent on pretty much anything else, from saving for retirement to buying drinks for friends.
- Makeup is unethical. It’s typically produced with both environmentally destructive ingredients and probably involves slave labor somewhere along the production chain — all so you can spend large amounts of money damaging your skin.
But in the west (and probably a lot of non-western places) there is an enormous pressure for women to wear makeup. Most women feel as if they’ve gone outside in their pajamas if they go out of the house without putting on some makeup first.
I felt the same way. I haven’t worn makeup for most of my life, but when I was younger, I struggled with feeling perpetually ugly because I wasn’t disguising my acne and the large pores on my nose.
I’ll admit, I didn’t look great for a few years. But after some experimentation, I figured out a beauty routine that helps me feel beautiful without wearing a smidge of makeup.
The good news is, this routine is only two steps.
Step 1: Exercise Often
Physical activity has so many benefits, and one of them is that regular exercise helps you look better. Aside from the obvious muscle-building, toning, and slimming qualities of regular exercise, it also
- Gives you plenty of energy. Energetic people who are true to themselves are always more attractive than people with limited attitudes, regardless of their outer appearance.
- Restores your circulation, digestion, and other essential bodily functions. This makes your skin look better, your hair look better, your nails look better, you name it. When your body thrives, you thrive.
The best thing you can do for your appearance is exercise. If you only have an hour a day to take care of your appearance, spend that hour exercising.
Step 2: Take Care of Your Skin
I don’t wear makeup, but that doesn’t mean I let dirt and grime build up on my face. I’ve got a mild case of rosacea, which just means my face is very prone to redness and breakouts. (If I go even a day without taking care of my skin, I’m liable to wake up looking like a teenager the next morning). I prioritize a good facial cleanser and moisturizer.
Something I’ve learned is that not any old facial cleanser or lotion will do the job.
Face wash
Pick a face wash formulated for your skin. If you have dry skin, look for a gentle face wash for people with dry skin. If you get blackheads a lot, look for something with salicylic acid to chase those blackheads away. You don’t have to break the bank looking for face wash, but do spend a little extra money to pick one that’s right for you. $15 - $20 a bottle should do the trick. (If you cringe at paying that much for a small bottle of soap, remember it’s a lot cheaper than makeup).
Finding the right wash is simple enough. Head to a drugstore like Walgreens and see what they have on the shelves. Find a bottle with a label that addresses your skin concerns and buy it. If you don’t know where to start, start with CeraVe Renewing SA Cleanser because I swear by it.
Lotion
The unfortunate reality is that most lotion — even lotion formulated for faces — makes your skin look worse.
If you want your skin to stay smooth, clear, and even enough to forgo makeup, you want a cleanser that hydrates your skin without locking oil and dirt in. Look for lotions that say “non-comedogenic.” Non-comedogenic basically means “will not clog pores.” You can tell when a facial lotion is non-comedogenic because putting it on feels light and healing instead of feeling like you’re putting melted butter on your face.
There are lots of different formulations for lotion. Some use soy, some use wheat, some use chemicals with seven syllables, you never know. Finding the right formulation for you is a matter of experimentation — but if you find a brand of face wash that works for you, the same brand of facial lotion is likely to work as well. Like a good brand loyalist, I use CeraVe Day & Night and highly recommend them, so start there if you’re unsure.
That’s it! That’s what I do instead of putting on makeup. It’s affordable, it doesn’t take any time in the morning, and it works. At least, it must be, because people often compliment my foundation (that I’m not wearing), and one time a stranger came up to me purely to commend me on how radiant my skin was.
You don’t have to spend hours worrying about your appearance or standing in front of the mirror endlessly doing and re-doing your eyeliner to look presentable in the morning. All you have to do is take care of your body. The rest will take care of itself.
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