Why I Don’t Wear Makeup

As someone who loves fashion, hair, art, and everything sparkly, you’d think I love makeup too, right? Wrong. Surprisingly enough, I don’t love makeup, and I actually hardly ever wear it except for special occasions. Shocker—I know! Sometimes I think I should dive head first into the world of powders and shimmers and small pencils that make it difficult to know if they’re for your eyes or for your lips, but then I remember a few things holding me back…Okay, more than a few things. Say, the nine reasons listed below?

1. I’m lazy. As much as I love the gorgeous end result of the perfect smoky eye or a breezy day-to-day look, I like the fact that getting ready in the morning currently only takes me 20 minutes. Throw makeup in there (as a novice) and that’s at least ten minutes extra. Which means ten less minutes of sleep. I think it’s probably safest for everyone that my eyes are closed rather than dolled up during that time…
2. I’m lazy at night. Not only do I want to avoid spending extra time in my morning routine, I also don’t like having to remove my makeup before I go to bed. The last thing I want to do after getting home from a late night out with friends is scrubbing my eyelashes and watching smudges of black smear all across my face. Usually I just dream of crashing in my bed (maybe even skipping brushing my teeth—gasp!), but I know it’s so important to remove your makeup before you sleep (there are tons of articles out there about the significance of this topic). Even so, that extra step can be pretty annoying at the end of a long day.
3. I don’t want to look like a zombie when I don’t wear makeup. Sometimes I have strongly considered starting to wear mascara every day; after all, who doesn’t like feeling confident and beautiful all the time?! But then I remember I’ll definitely have those days when I’m running late, don’t want to spend the time, or “just can’t” as the kids say. I don’t want to look like a zombie without makeup! I figure if I just don’t use it, people will recognize my face as it is rather than expect a nicely put-together palette with shimmer and the perfect contouring.
4. I like to touch my face. Yes, that sounds weird, and yes, I know it’s a bad habit. But I do touch my face throughout the day, whether that be to brush my hair aside, scratch an itch, rub my eyes, or whatever. On the rare occasions that I do wear makeup, I hate feeling like I have to tiptoe around my face and be extra careful. We’ve probably all had that moment where we scratch our eye only to realize we just smudged everything! Not to mention, have you ever noticed foundation stains on clothing while you’re trying them on in the store? I wouldn’t like having to worry about staining my clothes (or other people’s clothes for that matter, if you’re going in for a hug).
5. It costs money. For fashion, I’m willing to spend money because I absolutely love it. When it comes to makeup, on the other hand, I don’t mind spending some money as long as it’s a reasonable amount. I’d love to experiment with different products and brands, but when each item is upwards of $10 (for better quality products) I’m less inclined and excited to try it out.
6. I’m afraid my eyelashes will fall out. Okay, this is probably the number one reason I haven’t started wearing makeup regularly. I naturally have really long eyelashes, and I’m so afraid that if I start wearing mascara it will kill that length and thickness! Every time I do wear mascara and have to take it off at night, I hate that feeling of scrubbing and hoping you’re not just ripping out each hair.
7. It makes it harder to travel. When you go on vacation, you’re not just going to leave all your makeup at home—that’s crazy talk. But it does mean you have to save space in your suitcase for more products and be conscious about buying amounts that can pass airport security in a carry-on bag. Frankly, that’s space I’d rather use on an extra pair of shoes. 😉
8. Sties and pimples. It may be gross, but please tell me I’m not the only one who breaks out when I wear makeup or gets sties in their eyes after applying eyeliner/trying to scrub off mascara? Maybe it’s just because I don’t wear makeup often enough, but obviously having an itchy eyeball is no fun–neither is a face full of acne.
9. Racoons are mean and I don’t want to look like one. Again, maybe I’m just inexperienced with makeup or maybe I’m not buying good products, but I always have such a hard time cleaning it off my eyes after the fact. Sometimes it takes days to finally stop looking like I’m crying black tears after getting out of the shower.

This post is in no way meant to disparage those of you that do wear makeup every day. I totally respect and am impressed by you, and I mean, you look amazing all the time, so there’s that. 😉 Sometimes people are surprised to learn that I don’t wear makeup, so I just thought it’d be interesting to share why (and it explains why I’ve never posted a makeup tutorial). Honestly I even shock myself sometimes since I love shoes and clothes and everything else girly. 🙂

If you’ve been following my blog for a while now, you may have noticed that I wear a lot more sunglasses in my photos. There’s a reason! Not only does it make it easier to keep my eyes open when the sun is blaring down (duh), but it also covers up my shark eyes, hehe. Since I don’t wear makeup, not even for the blog, my eyes often appear pretty dark and bland in photos, especially when the pics are taken from far away. In today’s post, however, I opted out of wearing sunglasses for once and actually liked the results, so that’s what inspired me to write about not wearing makeup.

I hope you all are having a wonderful start to your week—I just finished my first day of college classes! I’d absolutely love to hear about you and your experience with makeup, as well as answer any questions you may have (about anything at all). I apologize for missing Thursday’s post, but orientation week for my college was insanely busy. I spent a lot of it decorating my dorm room, and that post will [most likely] be going up a week from today. I’m so excited to share it!

Miles of smiles,

Grace

Floral Blouse: hand-me-down // Peach Shorts: Nordstrom Rack, $25 // Sparkly Leaf Sandals: Carlos Santana via DSW, $45 // Hair Scarf: hand-me-down // Braided Belt