Men: What's more attractive...makeup or hardly any makeup?

[Metaphysique]

A lot of the men I've dated were either indifferent toward makeup or don't like it. My husband is not a big fan of makeup, but if he had to choose a makeup look, he's of the "less is more" mentality. He loves my face without it.

I can pull off the bare face no problem, and wear a little makeup (sheer lip tint or gloss and mascara) here and there. Full on makeup (foundation or tinted moisturizer, brows, full coverage lip color, mascara, and maybe eyeliner and eye shadow), is a once every several weeks occurrence, if that. I just don't have the patience to do all of that on a daily or even semi-regular basis. But when I do go all out (I don't do contouring and highlighting and all that jazz -- ain't got no time for that), I look pretty fine.

[Shysister]

Originally Posted by VanillaChocolate

It may be the old-fashioned thing creeping in.

In older times, the only women who wore make-up were prostitutes and showgirls -women whose careers were based around being noticed and entertaining. Make-up was seen as immodest and attention-seeking. So if a regular women was wearing it, she probably would be perceived as easy and openly looking for male attention.

So nowadays, even though anyone can wear make-up, some guys still may see it as a woman trying to look dolled up to get men to notice her. Some guys will take it as advertising or an invite to attention because she won't be dolled up if she weren't looking for it. Flawed thinking, but it happens.

Yep this is exactly why I would dump any guy in a second that asks me to ditch my makeup especially given that the application isn't heavy but I do love a bold lip. If a man doesn't want me looking my best and is threaten that I'm trying to lure attention from other men and not have the confidence and common sense to know that me looking my best is a reflection of him. Its certainly not a man that I could be with.

[Metaphysique]

Originally Posted by usayit

If a man says they like the natural or less makeup, I think most have been with enough women in the morning or lived with them to know their preference. Do you really believe that men have never seen an attractive woman without makeup?

What's the point of asking if the only response is that "guys don't know any better"?

I've been in many relationships, I think I know what they look like without makeup. I'm pretty sure I still prefer them without being made up. But I also do take notice when a women gets all dressed up and made up.


When an attractive couple walks into a room. The men notice the woman.... so do the women.

My husband has seen my bare face far more than he's ever seen me with makeup. I've probably worn full on makeup (even a natural look) a few dozen times in the 2+ years we've been married.

He's seen me fully made up and "glam" when we got married (professionally done), to date night or special occasion, and more natural looks. He definitely prefers the natural look or very little makeup.

[Shysister]

Originally Posted by BellevueNative

So many of the guys here still aren't getting it: You like a natural look, not necessarily makeup-free. Stop saying you don't like it when a woman wears makeup. Because you do. You just don't like to be able to tell that she's wearing makeup. You know how much makeup it takes sometimes to get that natural look?

I have a very natural look - I just like to balance out my skin tone and emphasize my eyes, which are my best feature. You know what makeup it takes to get my natural look?:

I start with moisturizer with SPF 30 (helps keeps wrinkles away!)
Foundation primer
Foundation (I fortunately only have to use a very sheer coverage liquid, but some women use compact or cream which is much heavier)
Sometimes some concealer dabbed on red spots or undereye circles
Transluscient powder
Blush
Eyeshadow (sometimes two shades for contouring, but again, very natural looking)
Eyeliner (I use pencil or gel because those are more natural looking than liquid)
Mascara
Eye brow gel
Lipstick

And yet, a lot of men (and some women) seem to think I'm not wearing makeup (except lipstick, because I think that's most obvious). I know very few women in the professional world that don't have daily makeup routines like this. Dudes seriously have no idea what they're talking about. And this routine is MINIMAL compared to what a lot of women wear - many are into contouring, which is an insane amount of work.

Yep that is my routine plus I add a little highlighter above my cheekbones and sweep some bronzer along my hairline and under my cheekbone, then set with a setting spray.

[JerZ]

Honestly, it doesn't matter what the dudes say on this subject, we know what they *do*...and what they respond to...so we will just keep on doing what we're doing...and I'll just leave it at that.

[PJSaturn]

This topic has been discussed at length in prior threads. The thread has been cleaned up, numerous off-topic posts have been deleted, and the thread is now closed.

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