I Went Makeup-Free For a Week

For years I had an overwhelming sense of anxiety when I thought of stepping out in public without make up. I was pretty blessed growing up that I never had terrible acne, but there was always some imperfection I wanted to hide. Or I thought I was too plain, or my eyebrows were too blonde. Always something. This also led to some years of bad experimentation with brow pencils and eyeliner. But this week I decided to make a leap of faith and free my skin.

My rules: No foundation, no covering up embarrassing breakouts (thanks, sticky humid Philly weather), no filling in my brows (eek!). I wanted to see how it would affect my perception of myself, and see if anyone else noticed.

Want to know what people said?

LITERALLY NOTHING.

Not that I wanted people to come up and say, "You're looking mighty plain today, maybe you should use some makeup." But I didn't get weird glances, no one commented on my naked skin...It was oddly freeing.

I went to the gym, the car dealership, the store, Target...nothing.

I went over my boyfriend's house, I had a girls night, and here's the comments I received this week:

Roommate: "Your butt looks really perky this week, I'm jealous."

Patrick: "Your legs are really smooth today."

No one pointed out the little illuminati triangle of pimples on my chin, or the little dark circles of gloom under my eyes. It felt AWESOME.

So why was I always worried about wearing makeup at all times? Why was I so wrapped up in other's opinions that I forgot how nice it could feel not spending time "putting on my face?"

Here's what I realized this week:

-My skin feels SO much cleaner, my weird summer breakouts started clearing up, and my skin actually started looking brighter! Go figure.

-No one is judging me as hard as I judge myself.

-I'm my own worst critic.

This week was so satisfying and liberating, but let's be real. I'm a girl who enjoys filling in her brows and looking put-together for a night out. But now I'm a little more laid back and feel like I can walk out of the house with confidence, makeup-free.

xoxo

Kiera