My week of barefaced cheek: Rose Mary Roche goes without make up for a week
How dependent am I on my arsenal of illuminating, concealing, and colour infused make up? Have increasingly rigorous standards of grooming transformed what was once a simple pleasure into a dictatorial regime? We know women are judged more harshly on appearance than men, so will going make-up free invite criticism and ridicule?
Going barefaced can potentially be seen as a visual expression of willful disregard, militant feminist tendencies or even mental instability. If a woman chooses not to wear make-up, it seems to express a louder political statement than wearing it, so prevalent is the painted female face. Add to this the 2011 Boston University survey which stated that people perceived women to be “more likeable, trustworthy, and competent” when they were wearing make-up and renouncing make-up starts to feel like an act of rebellion.
