Do you wear makeup? How much? Every day? If you don't, why not? If you do, how
come? What brands do you like? Did something break you out? What about this
trend of makeup for men? If you are a guy, what do you think of makeup? Do you
even notice it? 

40 responses total.

i used to do the whole deal... base, powder, eye goop, mascara, lipstick, blah
blah blah. Now that it is 200 degrees out, base doesn't stand a chance. Just
powder now and maybe concealer on zits or eye circles. I have a drawer full of
stuff, most of it excellent quality. Yet lately I just don't feel like
bothering with much. Most people dress up during the week and go casual on
weekends. I am the opposite. It's more fun for me to dress up a little more on
weekends, for some reason.

No.  I prefer to look like myself.

Just because a person wears makeup, doesn't mean they want to look like someone
they are not. It's more like their face being a canvas.

My mother never wore any makeup beyond lipstick-on-formal-occasions, so I
didn't grow up thinking of it as normal.  In late high school, when I had
some money of my own, I experimented some, but eventually gave up because
it was too much trouble & time for the results.  These days I do use
moisturizer, when I remember it.

Like you, bees, I wear makeup when I ant to play "dressup" -- like on the
weekends.  Mostly I don't bother during the week.

I have a "basic routine" of mascara, eyeline, rouge, and listick that I wear
most of the time, but occasionally I do the whole base, powder, concealer, etc.
routine for special occasions.

Why do I wear makeup?  It's fun.  I like the way a bit of colour brightens up
my face.  I have the kind of face that really benefits from makeup -- I'm
pretty plain barefaced, pale with blotches.  With a bit of colour, my features
become more striking, and I like that.

It also signals a psychological transition for me from "everyday" to "have a
good time".  That's why I rarely, if ever, wear makeup to work.  (Well, maybe
lipstick and mascara if it's a "meet the clients" day.)

I tend to wear mostly Avon products because I have very sensitive skin that
reacts to stuff that doesn't bother most people (and doesn't react to some
things that really irritate other people).

Makeup for men?  I love it!  I don't think anyone should ever *have* to wear
makeup -- but i think it's wonderful that someday men may be able to share the
fun without being ridiculed.  (I do have some male friends who wear makeup
regularly -- but they're the sort of people who flamboyantly don't care what
other people think.)

Interestingly, my mother never wore makeup when I was growing up, either.  I
became fascinated by it in my pre-teens, though, and have worm it off for 30
years.

I have had a few men in my life for whom makeup was a real  issue.  Some of
them demanded that I wear makeup every waking moment and some of them forbade
me to wear it at all.  Both piss me off.  It's my face and I'll do as I like
with it.  (Well, on special occasions, I will do as my man prefers because I
want to please him -- but not all the time.  I'm funny that way.)

My father was pretty conventional so my mother wore lipstick for him, and
stopped after he died.  Are there jobs that require wearing makeup to?  Are
there changing fashions in makeup?

I wear concealer, blush (only a bit since I have a dead pale expressoin...it's
to give me color), neutral eye shadows (beige, tan, brown), brown eyeliner,
and mascara.  I add lipstick if I feel like it or can find the tube.  =)

lately i havent worn makeup.. but sometimes i do.
maaybe a touch o foundation in my ruddy nose/cheek area.
liner, shadow, maybe contouring blush.
<my stuff is in earth-tones, applied lightly>

I need blush big time. I am quite pale and need that shot of color. I am liking
the bare eye/strong lip thing. Sometimes I fill in my eyebrows a bit with a
powder that matches them. My brows are pretty sparse and my eyes stand out a
bit more when I fill them in. I'd rather have someone say "What pretty eyes you
have" rather than "What a good eye makeup job!"

My mom is the makeup queen of all time. It's 102 degrees outside, with a heat
index of 115 now. Nevertheless, she has the thick foundation goop, black liquid
eyeliner, mascara, lipstick, rouge. It doesn't matter if she is not leaving the
house that day, she will go all out. Not me. I think deep down she is insecure
with herself and needs to be made up to feel beautiful. Truth is she'd look a
lot better with just powder and a little eye stuff. And yes I look damn fine
without makeup, thank you very much, but like misti says, I just like the
"lift" it gives. And it can make a difference... i see makeovers and such in
magazines and it doesn't look like the same person, even if the hair has not
changed much. I guess it's in the technique.

I typically wear makeup any time I`m going to be around people. But
never lipstick. It simply looks goofy on me.

I think it brightens up my face and makes my eyes stand out...I don't wear
a lot.  I only put it on if I'm leaving the house or someone is coming over.
I think it's silly to go through that if I'm not seeing anyone that day.

Yep, there are jobs that require makeup.  Modeling comes to mind.  ;)

And there are jobs where, though it's not required, it will make a difference
in how you're percieved and thus how far you go.  That's not job specific but
corporate culture specific.

And yes, makeup definitely has "Fashions changes".  One season the word is lots
of braown and taupes with a very pale or "natural" colour lipstick.  The next
it's bright colours and dramatic lipstick.  Then the "everything is pink,
except the eyeliner".  <g>  

Smart women try enough of the fashions to find out what works for them and then
procede to ignore fashion in favour of style.  

Right now the fashion demands bright yellow eyeshadow, "rouge", and lipstick,
and I haven't seen anyone outside of magazine trying it. (Maybe because if it
looks that bad on a *model*, no one else need even bother.)

We just watched a video of Funny Girl, who was wearing what looked like
sixties makeup.  Never did figure out what decade it was supposed to be set
it, but her hair looked teased and her lips faded.  Do people start seeing
a particular year's makeup as normal and not noticing it?  It also strikes
me as odd to see advertising for bedding in which the model is heavily made
up, or a picture of someone supposedly in the tub with lots of makeup, but
perhaps most people do not even see the makeup any more.
        What exactly is in fashion this year?

i may be going out on a limb here, but i think blue eyeshadow
is just plain silly.

Yeah... don't know many people who can carry off blue shadow. I seem to see it
on old ladies mainly. 

My grandmother was born without eyebrows. She penciled them in daily but they
never looked fake. In one of my classes, there was this girl with brown hair
and apparently no eyebrows. She drew them in, but used black pencil!! Hello?!
It was like tire marks on her forehead.

In 7th grade I wore that mood lipstick, which was a green color on the tube but
turned red on my lips. Yick. I also wore purple eyeshadow.  Bad, bad.

I went through the blue eyeshadow phase in the eighties but haven't touched it
since.  I don't follow the makeup fads because I just stick to what looks good
on my face.  Since I want it to look natural, why would I want faded lips?  =)

My favorite makeup was from the forties, though...soft eyes with soft
lips...but the mouth stood out more.  I also think that's when they used a soft
mascara to play the lashes out at the corners for a "cat" look.

The only women I've ever known to wear a lot of makeup, or feel
naked and uncomfortable in public without makeup, have all been
pretty boring or obnoxious people to be around.  It's like they
have put all of their effort into the accessories and none into
character.

I agree, Mary.  In college I knew a few "princesses" who would miss 
class rather than go sans makeup.  They were pretty insecure 
uninteresting people.

Sindi, the fashions change by eseason and not by year.  As I said, this 
summer it's supposed to be yellow -- yellow eyeshadow, yellow lipstick, 
yellow "rouge". I suppose that people with golden undertones might be 
able to get away with it, but so far it's looked bizarre on every model 
I've seen it on.  I haven't seen it on he streets at all, though, so 
apparently I'm not alone in that evaluation. ;)

As to blue eyeshadow, i can be used well and to attractive effect if a) 
you choose a shade that works for you and b) you use it sparingly.  I 
occasionally wear it, but i use a darker shade and put it just along 
the lashes as a sort of subtle liner.  The all-over blue lid looks like 
oxygen deprivation or something.

I wonder if people think I wear a lot of makeup???  As I grow older, I find
it more and more difficult to go out without some foundation (skin is blotchy
or pallid without), some blush (have lost my natural rouge tinge unless I tan
and I am trying to stay out of the sun, eyebrow enhancement (my own are blonde
and fade into oblivion, especially behind my glasses, and mascara (ditto.)
In my 20's and 30's I wore no foundation, no rouge, light lipstick and still
had to do my eyes to make them look like eyes.  

i once saw a demonstration where a woman was getting
makeup tattoed onto her face.  yuck! i left...

Now, why do I think that it would be fun to know that woman? ;-)

"Permanent cosmentics" are applied in numerous sittings -- usually,
about three, to get the color right. They last about seven years.

I find it hard to imagine how anybody could sit still while somebody
applied "permament eyeliner".... Sheesh.

Needles near my eyes? Hell no. Last weekend I saw some woman getting her
eyelashes dyed black. Eliminated need for mascara, I guess. I could be a
candidate for that since my lashes are light brown, fading into white. But I am
not about to put permanent dye anywhere near my eyes. Hard to appreciate that
permanent makeup when you've been rendered blind.

resp:19

I doubt it, Audrey.  You may apply a lot of sorts of makeup -- but you do it
tastefully and it isn't overwhelming to your features.

thank you for the feedback, Misti.  I would really rather not be bothered with
the time, effort and expense of makeup at all, but the difference is very
significant at my age.  And I, definitely, look far, far better with makeup
on then without.  When my face has color from the sun or tanning ingredients,
I can sometimes, do without foundation, but even then, my skin is a bit
blotchy.

Yeah, I have the same problem... especially when my rosacea is acting up.  

I makeup makes a dramtic difference on me, too.  I'm a real "plain-jane" with
my face clean, but reasonably attractive with makeup.  Nothing wrong with being
a "plain-jane" of course, except that sometimes I don't want to.  ;)

I just last week got diagnosed with Rosacea, myself.  I am treating it with
an ointment but after a week, nothing seems to be happening.  Even discounting
the rosacea, I have developed spots (brown and red) and an uneveness of
coloring on my face.  I bought a powder from Benefit, which, when dusted
lightly across the face, tends to even the color out.  But then, I feel like
I have a yellowish caste.  Maybe I'm wrong.  But, my perception is, I look
the best with a coating of foundation, some rouge and my eyes done.  I wish
I didn't believe I looked so much better so I could just wash my face and hair
and go out, but that's not the way it is.

roseaca? could you explai/describe it a bit more?
my face had always been 'ruddy/red along the nose and cheeks
in a butterfly like pattern. if i consume any alcohol, it
gets bright red.  it looks a bit bumpy-pimply too.
i can see tiny capillaries too.
i'm 33... is this age or roseacea?

That sounds exactly like rosacea, Chris.  You should have your doctor check it
to be sure, but it sure sounds like it.  In extreme cases it can infect your
eyes and cause real trouble, so even if not for vanity, it's a real good idea
to treat it.  

Audrey,  give your treatment 6 - 8 weeks to show any improvement.  About 4
years ago I started using Metrogel -- a clear gel type medicine.  It took about
8 weeks of daily use to see any improvement, and about a year of treatment
before the results were consistent.  Now I use the medicine twice a week or
when I've been exposed to one of my triggers.  (For me it's mainly heat,
extreme cold, or a drying wind.)

Yep, that;s the RX I have, Metrogel.  Thanks for the encouragement, Misti.
I am applying it twice a day and will try to be patient.  My ruddy/red color
is mostly on the tip of my nose and the sides of my nostrils.  It looks
exactly the way iggy described it.  I also have a milder form on my chin. 
It is exacerbated when I drink alcohol, or when I eat very spicy foods or the
weather is very hot or cold.  I suggest you see a dermatologist, as Misti
suggested, since it does tend to get worse as you age and if it gets in the
eyes, it can be dangerous.  If you have it, it doesn't get better on its own
or with time.

do you know what roseacea is, or how one 'gets' it?

I think it's a chronic infection of the blood vessels under the skin on 
one's face.  (Bacterial, but dunno which one(s).)  Not good for the 
modeling career, but i'd never heard that it could be dangerous.  My
impression is that, like acne, it's not really something you "catch"
so much as something some people tend to have at certain ages. 

My understanding is that rosacea has a genetic component, and though the
standard prescription (Metrogel) is an anti-biotic, my understanding is that
doctors aren't sure *why* it works.  It does have something to do with strange
circulation in the face, though.

Rosacea, as long as it stays in your skin, is disfiguring but not dangerous. (
W.C. Fields was perhaps the best known person to have visible rosacea -- and
thanks to him it's often mistakenly called "drunkards nose")  

But if it spreads to your eyes, which it can if left untreated, it can cost you
your eyesight.

Also, as Audrey says, it doesn't go away if left untreated the way acne does. 
It gets worse every time you're exposed to one of your triggers, and after a
while it spreads and becomes permanent.  But the medicines they have developed
to treat it are very effective if used consistently -- so much so that after
four years of treatment the only visible symptom I have left is the enlarged
veins in my cheeks and nose.  The bumps and redness are pretty much gone.

Iggy, I have a brochure from my dermatologist on Rosacea which I will
photocopy and send to you via the US postal service if you e-mail me your
address.  It will tell you everything you need to know, and also help you
decide if what you have resembles it.  

This brings up an ongoing question for me.

It's rude to comment on someone's complexion.  It just is.  But is ther any
polite way to tell someone with obvious, apparently treatable rosacea that
their condition is treatable?

I know I would have given my left arm to have someone tell me what was going
on with my face years before the irreversable damage was done.  (The
dermatologist was useless -- he put me on tretinoin ointment which only made
matters worse.

That's a good point, since I must have had this disorder for years and years
and just got it diagnosed last week.  I always thought it was just my
complexion and bad luck.  I even have a patient who had it diagnosed and told
me all about it, but her case was so much more noticeable then mine, I never
put two and two together.  I have been seeing a dermatologist for other things
and he never mentioned Rosecea to me.  I just changed dermatologists (didn't
like the personality or attitutde of the one I had been using) and the new
one mentioned it, first visit.  Sometimes, even with MD's you have to ask
before they tell you.  This new MD even examined my face, arms and neck for
malanomas without my asking.  When I asked my previous MD to check me out for
that, he got annoyed at me. ad if I was asking for something superfluous or
irrelevant.  Sheeesh!

Most people seem to treat doctors like some kind of mortal gods.  They
should be treated like auto mechanics.  There're big differences between
the good ones and the bad ones, how well they communicate works varies a
great deal, and switching around & getting second opinions often pays off.

Don't be content being in the dark about your medical condition because 
"the doctor knows what he's doing", either.  There was a study a few years
back of doctors who lost major malpractice cases.  (I'm assuming that you
- or your estate - *really* don't want to wind up a "winner" this way.)
The study didn't find any correlation between a doctor's academic ranking
(how high he finished in his class at how fancy a med school, certification
in specialties, etc.).  But there WAS a big correlation with how well the
doctor communicated with patients - doctors who communicated poorly with
their patients wound up in front of juries that judged them guilty of 
malpractice much more often.

It's your life and health at stake, not the doctor's.

I couldn't agree more. Too few people view themselves as comsumers of medical
services.
When we moved back to Kalamazoo, I interviewed six doctors before finding my
current DO. Doing the same paperwork over and over again was a drag, but
finding someone who said, "What do you think might be causing this?" was well
worth it.
Back to makeup: I'm more concerned with skin care than cosmetics, but I did
like the "canvas" comment above. That's the way I feel about it; it's like
decorating yourself. Even if I decide not to go with cosmetics, I wear
foundation for protection from junk that breaks me out and from the sun. (The
stuff I use is SPF8.)
Having big, bold features, I'm one of those that can get away with things like
blue eyeshadow (not too heavy) and major lipstick. It's fun.

i recieved a copy of the rosacea from headdoc. it looks like i
have it...

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