Naked Face: Knowing Your Face

 


Like most southern gals, I was one to wear makeup from the moment I got up until I went to sleep. I NEVER went in public without it. I'm not sure what that says about the time period I grew up in, the culture, or simply that if you give a girl pretty paints, she's going to grab her canvas and use them.


In the photo above, all the components are there, makeup just helped force attention to assets and detract from weaknesses. 


If you want to minimize your makeup use, you have to figure out your - 

go-to: that's the one makeup item you need to help an area of weakness.

pow: that's makeup that showcases attention to an asset on your face.

One thing I notice when comparing my naked face to my made-up face, it's like putting contrast on a photo, parts of it pop to where they draw your eye immediately. Made-up face has eyes and lips. Naked face is paler, less vibrant, less defined. 


This doesn't, however, mean it's not as attractive.




A bare face can be equated with youth, as children don't wear makeup. It also keeps the face from being harsh as red lips or lined eyes might age one.  No makeup faces appear outdoorsy, healthy, and true. 


If your skin is naturally pale like mine, you feel washed out without blusher or lipstick, eyebrow pencil, mascara. If your skin is dark, you can feel muddied and lost in the shadows, needing lip color, perhaps some foundation to even out tones.




Honestly, women look very real and easy to relate to when they wear no makeup. Sometimes, like in the case above, the woman looks better without makeup - younger, pure, less corrupted.  Her natural skin tones are so much prettier than the forced foundation (right).


You get a go-to item (something you MUST have on hand for a most vulnerable feature) and then there is a POW item that showcases your asset. 


In this woman's case (above), her go-to might be mascara to shape her eyes, but her POW item might be lipstick as she has gorgeous lips and once defined they steal the show.




Understandably, we might have a feature that really needs some highlighting. In the case of Heidi (above), she has beady eyes. Models need big exotic eyes. The amazing thing about models is if you meet them bare-faced and on a typical relaxed day, they fit into any crowd and you'd never guess that they model.  Heidi is a canvas, but even she has her weak spot. 


Her go-to item would likely be eyeshadow to make up for a less stellar feature and her POW item would be foundation to showcase her beautiful complexion.



Sometimes, like in my case, a woman has no lip color. If all else fails, I must have color on my lips. I like stains as they can last all day and I won't eat them off my lips as I drink and nosh during the day. Lip color is my go-to item to make up for this weakness. My pow item? Ironically the same thing - lipstick. My lips are my best feature but because they are pale, they are my weakest feature.




Even with darkened eyes (above), my lips steal the face show with my pow lipstick. 




We all get Tyra's beauty, but even she can feel vulnerable with uneven skin tones and eye area, so foundation may be her go-to.  Her POW item? Mascara. She can just put mascara on those big exotic eyes and look holy wow!




Anne, being a super pale lady (is her skin translucent?), she would probably admit her go-to would be blusher. Some color would really help her look a little less zombie. But, her wow would come from eye makeup as she has beautifully shaped eyes that are deepset and with some shadow, she'd be big-eyed and doe-like.




Mila is unbelievably gorgeous and that begins with the very structure of her skull, the full lower lip, the eye shape, but she might admit her one go-to item would be undereye concealer. Her eyes are amazing, but once they are madeup, they are penetratingly hypnotic. For Mila, her POW item to showcase her asset is shadows around the eye/mascara. She has huge amazing perfect eyes.


Look in the mirror, look at a photo of you without makeup. See what your go-to item would be - eyebrow pencil for balding eyebrows? Mascara to outline the eye? Foundation to even out skin tones? Lip color for pale lips or overy red ones? 


What's your POW item? What is the best asset on your face? Complexion? Eye shape? Eye color? Lip shape? Bone structure? 


If you are going to move confidently bare-faced, be kind to your skin, get sleep, drink water, stop smoking, just don't abuse yourself or you will show every effect of that. Get 10 mins of sun on your face a couple times a week or get some regular exercise to give you some coloring and circulation. 


Gently massage with finger tips in circular motions in place with some coconut oil or olive oil to help the muscles relax.


I take used coffee grounds and coconut oil and make a paste I can use to exfoliate my skin. You can use sugar for something finer, or a wet finger with baking soda on a moist face. 


Check out some great facial exercises on YouTube. Here's my faves - 





Remember, just because you're going naked face, don't neglect your hair. Groomed hair with naked face helps balance the "unmade" aspect to look natural and not neglectful. 


Here's some great go-to's if you have one weakness you want to take care of = 


For me - lip color - 

\


peach lip stain

(ideal for colorless lips - lasts all day)



Kabuki brush 

(use circular motions to apply foundation -very good at giving a beautiful coverage)



mascara

(ideal for giving eyes shape)



Blusher

(ideal for colorless face and cream gives a very natural glow)



(if you have graying hairs in the eyebrows this works great)

Is bare face better? 

It's not really a matter of better or worse. We are so used to seeing makeup on women and photoshop smoothing/face tweaking programs, that we have come to a place of not remembering what real humans look like.

Yet, I think all of us agree that talking to someone who has a bare face makes our guards go down, we ourselves act on a "real" level. The playing field is even and we know they are not hiding something/posing, but being real with us. This creates that "manifesting" feature of putting out what you want to come back to you. 



Real face. Youthful. Healthy. Approachable. 



POW face. A character. An image. Desiring full attention. 

The face is a canvas. The art is inspiration, situation, priorities, and what gallery it's attending.  

As long as you care for you and your beautiful skin and circulation, some Vitamin D, laughter, and moisture - you just madeup your face with nature. 




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