The Elephant In The Room Of This No Makeup Movement

Source: J. Countess / Getty

There has been a trend lately of celebrities going “makeup free.” It’s been championed by Alicia Keys and supported by many other celebs, including Sanaa Lathan, Kim Kardashian and Gabrielle Union, who shouted it out on her social media.
You see it in hashtags: #NoMakeupChallenge.
Even Kendrick Lamar pleaded for it on his son, “No makeup today…”

I know she bout to ask me how she look
I tell her beautiful, and how long it took
For you to put it on
It was early in the morn’
She resembled a model out of a Mac book
Concentrating on the way the eyeliner thickens
I stand behind her and try to figure her vision
Of prettiness, the wittiness, of colors on her skin tone
Her complexion in a direction I’ve outgrown
Damn girl, why so much?
~ Kendrick Lamar, “No Make-up (Her Vice)”

…and I’m here for it.
In an age where we celebrate the “beat face” and contouring our noses to look like we’ve seen a plastic surgeon, it’s nice to celebrate the other side of the makeup spectrum.
Presentability politics are weaved all throughout our societal behaviors and norms. How to look, what to wear, what to look like for life occasions are all dictated to us everywhere we turn. Billion dollar industries have been created off the physical insecurities of women. So, a wave of women with a platform clapping back at what they should do and how they should look should be refreshing, BUT it’s not…
….because it’s a LIE.
No makeup means no makeup. Light makeup is light makeup but should not be called a no makeup look, if you are wearing, well, makeup.
There’s a huge elephant in the room with this no makeup movement and it’s setting us back from the very goals we are trying to achieve. Don’t boast about not wearing makeup, when you are.
Again, we are setting women up to attempt to achieve something that may not be possible. No, she didn’t wake up like this. It’s like when people deny photoshop. It’s no different than saying “#nofilter” on Instagram when we all know that you used ‘Rise,’ girl. Almost no one over the age of 21 lacks bags under their eyes. So when these celebs claim to be in no makeup, when there is really a dab of concealer and tinted moisturizer, it’s problematic. Call a spade a spade.

In a case of extreme irony, Alicia Keys’ makeup artis, Dotti, spoke to W Magazine, where she talked about the star’s beauty routine.
While she praised practices encouraging work from the inside out (a healthy diet) and a rigorous skincare routine (serums, masks, and moisturizers), her dewy, bare-faced look was achieved with makeup. Dotti revealed in the interview that she is using faux eyelashes, brow definer and self-tanning serums.

Source: Jim Spellman/WireImage / Getty

And Alicia wasn’t alone. At Paris Fashion Week this year, Kim Kardashian boasted that she went makeup free at the Balenciaga show. But, how many of us truly believe that if we put a makeup wipe to that lovely face of hers, nothing but nature’s daily grime would come off?
I’m not shaming women who choose to wear makeup or women who don’t. What I am doing is confessing to a disappointment in those that lie about it. Whatever you choose to do, just be real about it.
Wake up, flawless…and confident. Under eye bags, slight discoloration and all.