Everyday makeup look: "Tinted moisturizer and a bit of bronzer, brown/bronzy eyeshadow, eyeliner, and tons of mascara."
What she feels "naked" without: "Mascara!"
How she felt taking it all off: "I just felt a bit tired and unnattractive. And I hoped people wouldn't really notice, but I got a few comments, like "You look like a totally different person!" and 'You're like Clark Kent.' Not really something you want to hear when you're baring your naked face for the world to see.
There were times during the day when I forgot I wasn't wearing makeup, and I noticed that when I remembered that I was makeup-less, I immediately became less confident in the way I approached people. I especially tried to avoid making eye contact, because I hate the way my eyes look without makeup."
Everyday makeup look: "I use a tinted primer, then a sheer layer of foundation. I use concealer where needed (around my eyes, on any zits), then use a cream blush and powder bronzer. If I'm feeling ambitious I'll do a sheer wash of eyeshadow and a soft line of black liner. I always finish with mascara and either tinted lip balm or gloss."
What she feels "naked" without: "Eye concealer and mascara. Well, maybe naked isn't the right word, "tired" is a better description. I have some redness around my eyes (yay allergies) and my lashes are quite straight, so without those two products I don't feel my best."
How she felt taking it all off: "I was definitely not looking forward to this day. However, once I was away from the mirror I forgot about it for the most part -- that is until I went to the bathroom at work and got a friendly reminder that I still looked sickly. I kept my head down in our morning meeting and communicated by email even more than usual. As long as I avoided mirrors I tended to forget it and move on with my day, but I never felt 100 percent confident."
Photo 4/11
Audrey Fine, Special Projects Editor
Everyday makeup look: "These days I apply a moisturizer, then a tinted primer, then mascara and I'm pretty much out the door. If I'm feeling really fancy or have somewhere to go I'll fill in my eyebrows a little and maybe add some eyeshadow. Oh, and I'm a huge lip gloss addict."
What she feels "naked" without: "Hmm. Clothes on?"
How she felt taking it all off: "I had no qualms about being naked faced in the office. For whatever reason, I've never had a problem being "makeup free" - I've always just thought, 'hey, this is my face, this is how I look. I can look better if I try, but pretty much this is me. Take it or leave it."
Photo 5/11
Stephanie Shum, Editorial Intern
Everyday makeup look: "Concealer for the under eye circles, around my nose and at the tip of my nose, loose powder to get rid of shine and set the concealer, eyeliner to define my eyes and brown eyeshadow."
What she feels "naked" without: "Eyeliner -- it's like my eyes have disappeared from my face."
How she felt taking it all off: "I usually go to class without makeup and feel fine about it, but when it comes to being in an office full of beauty editors it was completely different, since everyone has great skin and defined features! I felt rather frumpy afterwards, but I did like that I could rub my eyes whenever I wanted to (a bad habit, I know)."
Photo 6/11
Anna Jimenez, Associate Editor
Everyday makeup look: "Start with a face primer then a medium coverage foundation, then it's blush on the cheeks with bronzer on top and a bit on the bridge of my nose. For the eyes I like to mix it up shadow wise, deepening on what I am wearing, but I don't shy away from bold colors. Lots of mascara on top and bottom lashes and usually a high shine lip gloss in a neutral shade will finish me off."
What she feels "naked" without: "Mascara is super important for me to feel like I look 'acceptable'."
How she felt taking it all off: "I won't lie, I am a woman that wears makeup everyday. Without it, I felt a right mess. I think I looked super tired and I actually felt more tired than usual. I was super aware I was makeup-less in all my interactions and felt less confident because of it (no fun). Seriously though, at the end of the day, it made me kind of sad to realize I was so dependent on makeup to feel confident about myself in the workplace. Something to think about."
We live and breathe makeup. No really, the staff at Total Beauty loves makeup. We talk about it in the break room, the bathroom, in meetings, over instant messenger, on each other's Facebook pages, even over margaritas at happy hour. We are an office obsessed.
This would surely be considered weird if we didn�t work at Total Beauty. Luckily, our freakdom is appreciated here. After all, if we didn't have a passion for makeup, we would be employed elsewhere, right? Right. And, if we didn't adore everything cosmetic and look the part every single day our boss would get ticked off, right? Eh, not so much. In fact, in a cruel twist of fate, we were challenged by our (usually reasonable) commander in chief to go without a stitch of makeup for an entire day. And, when we learned that it wasn't (as we'd hoped) just a cruel, cruel joke, there was audible upheaval, maybe even some soft sobbing in the corner.
To make things worse, we were asked to come into the office as we usually do (foundation-clad, blushed up, sporting our new favorite eyeshade, etc), and then to take it all off with makeup-removing towelettes so that this glorious day could be, you guessed it -- documented, for you (and everyone else in the world with Internet access) to see.
So what happened? Well, click through the pictures of the Total Beauty staff makeup-less to find out how each girl felt after the mask came off and see what we feel the most "naked" without. And please share what you feel "naked" without in the comments section below.
