I always wear makeup, mainly for eye definition since my lashes and brows don't contrast with my skin much. But I've been sticking to the brown-bronze-peach-gold family, not experimenting like I used to. Lipstick yes-but again in mid tones (mlbb wine and sheer orangy red)-nothing much darker than my skin.

For the most part, no really heavy makeup at work, though some of my coworkers do use false eyelashes. Skipping those-they scare me!

I agree that your makeup always looks nice, not dated, and you've gotten lots of compliments on it from all of us. Wear it how you feel the most You

So interesting ! I’ve never thought much about it but there is a wide range where I work (academic in the humanities).
Of the younger PhD candidates and casual academics, a few wear a full face of makeup , while others wear none at all . Same with the older academics ! Anything goes but I have never seen false eye leashes at work . I’d say people wear lip gloss over lipstick now I think about it .
I wear full makeup to work every day but very lightly applied: I want to look natural but better . I like Angie’s comment about brightening - that is what I’m going for . I wear light foundation, light powder, blush, pale eyeshadow, very black mascara. Sometimes I do wear lipstick but more often i wear the more subtle colours of Clinique chubby sticks . If I go out after work I will tend to wear a darker lip .

I do...like you I just love it. It is fun for me and I get a lot of joy out of the products and colors. I like makeup a lot more than I like fashion...clothes tend to carry some angst for me and I have none of that with makeup.

I don't really care if others do or don't. I don't quite understand why someone would put effort into dressing well and care about clothes, but not also care about how their face looks, but to each her or his own.

I wear a full face of make up and bright lip stick too. I think with my pale complexion and fair hair, I need a bit of colour to brighten me up. At work, a workforce of 200, with about 50% female staff, the look is polished and fairly natural, so yes to make up but often nude and bronze tones. I am one of the older staff, but never feel old and love working with the girls in their 20’s.

At work I wear CC cushion foundation, cream blush with a bit of highlighter, mascara and that Maybelline brow gel you recommended a while ago.
I wish I could wear lipstick, but it feels weird with scrubs. And then I forget about it on my off days.
Fake or lash extensions are pretty popular. I thought about eyelash extensions, but I've heard they can really damage your natural eyelashes, and supposedly a real pain to take car off.

If younger women are feeling less obligated to wear makeup in the workplace or just to look put together/‘polished’, then I would consider that progress. It was always a sexist double standard. I believe one of the airlines recently removed makeup as a dress code requirement.

I am a thirty-something business professional that often meets clients. I go for eyeliner on the top (never on on the bottom, it irritates my eyes) and Neutrogena MoistureShine or Clinique chubby stick on my lips, that's it!

I see a mixed bag every day and in the various circles I travel - pretty much anything goes. When I was younger I *only* wore makeup to cover up my skin, never wore anything to highlight my good features or color myself in. I am pretty high contrast with dark lashes and brows so that was probably part of it. With age and a slow but steady release of self consciousness I have added more and more makeup. I like to wear blush, mascara, lipcolor, and if I am feeling fancy eyebrow enhancers and highlighter. I have never figured out contour but actually find some highlighter makes a big difference. My technique is pretty bad though !

I wear make-up daily. I generally wear a tinted sunscreen, a natural color lip in a long-wearing formula, curl my lashes and add a bit of eye liner. I feel more pulled together when I do, and I don't leave the house without it.

I teach, and while I lament the extent to which casual clothing has taken over everything, I especially loathe how casual teachers have become. Many of my coworkers wear jeans or shorts in the warm weather and sneakers. So while many of them do not wear makeup at all, I don't mind being different. I dress more business casual than casual, and I do wear makeup. I think looking professional is important, and there is no question in my mind that teachers who dress more professionally get treated with more respect by students.

I wear makeup most days, as I feel I look a bit sickly or tired without it. Usually I choose to emphasize either brows, eyes or cheeks. Occasionally I feel the urge for a bright lip, but my lips are always chapped so I tend to prefer balm. About one or two days a week- if I am absolutely staying home and seeing nobody- I go without makeup and hair styling products, to give the skin and scalp a little break.

In China the bright orange lip seems to be the most popular- for work or play. Modeled on Korean beauty styles.

This is a really interesting thread. I hadn't really thought about the (possible?) generational shift. I haven't read all the comments yet but plan to return to read them in full.

I have a very boring but very comforting makeup routine and -- gasp -- it hasn't really changed since my late teens, which probably suggests I am living in the dark ages, but whatever.

I wear -- undereye concealer. A bit of blush. Lipstick or gloss -- usually just a "my lips" mid-berry tone, but sometimes for evening something a bit brighter/ more defined. A little eyebrow pencil. A small swipe of blue eye pencil on top lid. Mascara. On a rare evening (maybe twice a year) I'd add a bit of eye shadow.

I have tried other colours and other ways of doing it but never feel right. I wear this almost every day. There are a few days where I might go without mascara/ eye pencil. Mainly if I'm spending the day hiking or exercising. To put this on takes me all of 5 minutes, so it is not an ordeal, and like you, I feel a bit more "defined" and in focus with it -- my contrast levels are low without it.

The women I see tend to wear some makeup if they are feminine identifying -- whatever their professions and their age range. If they are more androgynous, they don't.

I wear makeup everyday to work, and would say that most women in the professional services area I work in do too. Mine is fairly subtle, but does always include lipstick in a pink that isn't too bright. My lips are close to colourless and I like the lipstick effect

Except that it does wear off in the day, and so in fact I probably go a fair bit of the day without it because I've forgotten to bring any in to refresh with.

On non work days i may just wear lippie or perhaps do just lipstick and brows. I don't wear any makeup to go running in the mornings usually, even with other people, though occasionally will put on lipstick just for lip protection reasons.

Yay Jules. That’s fabulous. It HAS been a sexist double standard, totally agree with you. As usual my feminist beliefs and my actual practice through the decades are somewhat in conflict. I have tried not to do too much “beauty work” since reading The Beauty Myth in 1990 but am also a product of my times.

Seconding Jules and Jenni. I like how nowadays it's a matter of preference for women to wear makeup or not, and not an obligation to smile and look pretty :). So for me there's no tension whatsoever in trying to dress nicely, styling my hair, and then going out barefaced. Men do that too.
I think I WOULD wear makeup daily however, if I did a customer facing job like you LisaP. Constantly meeting new people and having to make a first impression...
So interesting to read everyone's opinions and routines!

I love make up and pretty much wear every day. I love lipstick too and wear a range of colors including some fairly robust pinky reds. I’m mid 50s so I do like to sharpen my features but I’ve always loved makeup and save for when my kids were really little and I was home for a couple years I’ve been a consistent makeup lover.

Daily I start with a lid primer, and use a barely there pallet of soft Matt brown, pink/rose, and natural colors. A brow powder always, if I were stranded on a desert island that’s the one product I’d have! I use a soft liner in a mushroom color that glides on (urban decay?) top and bottom. Mascara waterproof. Some days foundation, hourglass stick formula, but rarely these days. Since I use a retinol and have a bbl treatment every year my skin is in better shape than ever and I like a bare face. For an event - I run a non profit and am often in front of hundreds of professionals - I usually do foundation, blush and a bronzer. Lippy almost always and I do carry with me and refresh when I remember. In my industry I see fewer women in make up generally. My daughters - 21 and 22) love make - up but mostly simple or none during day and a creative lot when going out.

I’ve worked from home for the last few years, but when I do leave the house during the day I tend to wear mascara, some eyeliner, and a bit of lipstick (just to deepen my own lip color). Generally, people I know wear little or no makeup, and what they do wear is subtle. In other words, I do not notice the makeup but if they don’t wear it, they look tired. I agree with gryffin...to me the point of makeup is simply to present a better version of ourselves, not to see the makeup! (Nighttime/special events are different however, and I will add eyeshadow and a deeper lip color, occasionally foundation to even out skin tone.)

Lisa, you do not look dated or overdone at all....always classy.

Suz, I nodded along with every word. HIGH FIVE.

Interestingly, teens and ladies in their 20s here wear a lot of makeup! There is an epidemic of false eyelashes. Leggings, sweatshirt, sneaks - and lots of eye makeup. Less lippie. It’s a lot more makeup than in my generation.

The generational thing is an interesting question. I have always been a light makeup wearer and I remember my mom trying to convince me to wear a little lipstick for a high school function because for her generation that was the most necessary part of makeup but I was a Chapstick girl and nothing would convince me. Now my lips have faded a little and I found a long-wearing lipstick that I can put on twice a day (very neutral color - me but better) and call it good. I also wear some powder, eyeliner and mascara but that's it.

My 26 year old daughter wears very little in her daily life but she is an outdoor hiking guide and it would seem very out of place (not to mention hard to maintain since she camps in rustic settings with no running water), so not sure that is an example of her generation. She does wear it for going out and it seemed to me that her college friends wore quite heavy eye makeup.

Lisa, you always look great in your pictures, not overly made up at all. I say do what makes you happy.

When I worked outside my home, yes. Now that my workplace is my home, yes.

I tend to think of makeup in terms of how I like to look, not where I'm going.

I have mixed feelings on the sexist double standard issue, because in a lot of ways I'm wondering if that is the full story. Down deep, is it really? There are aspects of grooming that are gender specific, and professional men have their list too...shave or at least trim that beard into something neat and groomed looking for instance. A lot of women like me think the act of putting on makeup is fun. I've never heard a man sing the joys of daily shaving his face. Way more trouble than legs (since I know that's coming). If it isn't fair that a woman wearing (just the "right" amount of) makeup is seen as more professional, is it then also unfair and sexist that unattended facial hair growth in a man is seen as unprofessional?

Another thing that gives me pause on the sexist cry is that men do care what they look like, and care a lot. I have zero doubts that many men with acne wouldn't love to dab on some concealer and foundation if they thought they wouldn't get flack for it. If women are expected to, men are expected not to, so saying it's only unfair to women doesn't sit right with me. Both genders are judged on looks in this world, equal unfairness all the way around.

I wear light makeup - a little powder, eyeliner, natural lip color. Makeup among the younger women around here is as Angie notes - common with lots of heavy eye makeup and very defined brows.

I wear what I would call "natural" makeup - most people don't even think I'm wearing any (like others above, I've had comments about it). I don't see much "heavy" makeup here in smaller town Texas unless it's a more festive occasion. Lipstick seems to be more in the natural category - not many bright red lips or frosted or other noticeable lip color. This is based on people I see at work and at play. Many of the younger girls wear very little if any makeup. I think a "clean" and tidy look is more in style here than a noticeably made up look. I would feel out of place wearing a really "made up" look.

Some thoughts as I read the comments here:
1. societal expectations for what women should look like = never even considered it. I don't feel any pressure nor weight of any expectation at all.
2. young women are of two camps here: the Instagram makeup look, or none at all. My own 23 y/o daughter is really skilled at makeup ( I think she spends hours looking at youtube videos when I think she's asleep ) but only wears it when she's headed out socially.
3. I thought about how I style my hair and the kinds of clothes I like to wear, and wonder if anyone else relates to this: an undorned face would be like something is left out of the picture. I have statement hair (well, in my world anyways) - precision cut and coloured , and wear clothes that indicate a love for fashion . There is nothing casual and " simple" about my look. Thus, makeup is a necessary component.

AndiB - what is a bbl treatment ?

April, YES. That's howI feel. High Five.

Jules and Liesbeth, I see wearing makeup or wearing no makeup as part of your signature style. Like it is for Lisa P, Suz, April and me for example. Men have the choice to wear makeup too. Many of them wore makeup in the '80s, actually. We forget how gender fluid the decade was.....waaaayyyyy ahead of its time.

Peri, I'm torn too. Fashion and grooming routines are different across men and women, although the is a LOT more overlap these days. Gender is extremely fluid on sooooo many levels. I see teenage boys wear nail polish very regularly. It's become something worn by all genders these days. I think makeup will be the same.

I wear makeup - foundation to even out my face, eyeliner for top lids, and mostly natural color lipstick. My husband and I had a fun outing yesterday, flying in an antique airplane and then had our pictures taken in front of it afterwards. In the picture, I was squinting, but still thought my eyeliner looked too much. I’m going to cut back. My husband doesn’t wear makeup, of course, and he doesn’t even shave anymore, as his retirement looms.

I work in technology for a company that's fairly diverse (including age range and ethnicity) yet still predominately male. It's all over the map but yes the younger women do tend to wear make-up. One of my late 20s/early 30s) employees once joked to me, "see this face? It's $1000 worth of product to get this 'natural' look." They also like to have colorful manicured nails, and dress stylishly. Lip colors are usually nude or MLBB. You will see eyeshadow, bronzer, blush, even contour as a day look. And women amp up the make-up for the after hours events.

That said there are some senior women that do not wear any make-up... and they'll be dressed in jeans, tee, sneakers. So I never had the impression that wearing make-up was compulsory if you wanted to get ahead. For every senior leader who wears makeup and dresses stylishly, there's an example of one who doesn't.

As for hair coloring and covering grays, I've never felt pressured to do so. The younger and older women dye their hair all kinds of bold colors. Many older women rock the grey. Some younger women dye their hair grey. I stopped dying mine last year and have no regrets or concerns in regards to how it'll affect my career at this company.

In my last company we had a senior technology leader who was giving a speech. As I was acting as her exec comm for the occasion, the corporate folks wanted me to ensure she put on make-up before it. Driving over to the event, she took out her make up bag, and sighed. Turned to me and said, "Do you think this is really necessary?" And I said "No, do what you want and what makes you feel most confident. I'd rather you worry about what you're going to say than how you're going to look." She skipped the make-up and knocked the speech out of the park.

As for me, I wear make-up when I leave my house (except when going to the beach). Light coverage foundation to even out skin tone, mascara to darken my light lashes, and something on the lips. Lately I've added brow gel as my brow color is fading. I love lipstick and that includes bold colors, dramatic colors, and brights. Not just nudes/MLBB, but I tend to stick to those for work most of the time (not always).

Lisa this is s good description just grabbed from random google. BBL really is an effective process. The results were seriously noticeable. I did it first to get rid of tiny red capillaries but it removed brown spots and freckled too (which at my age are sun damage and not cute). My dermatologist said doing it yearly is one of the best things you can do to maintain young skin. It’s not cheap (1,000 for three treatments). But when I keep in schedule with it I need only 1 a year. I’m convinced

https://www.idealimage.com/ser.....and-light/

Nodding along with so many of these comments. I think it’s great that we are at a point where a lot of choices for makeup are aligned with personal style vs a specific expectation.

For me, daily routine is sunscreen, foundation, brows, eyeliner, mascara. I love having makeup done professionally, as it creates such a great look, but I don’t have patience/inclination to spend more time on makeup.

DD will contour and have false lashes as her standard, but has a much broader repertoire thanks to YouTube, and loves playing with different looks.

What an interesting question and observation! I WFH for the most part, but I do wear some form of makeup daily. It's usually brows and mascara (my natural brows and lashes are a pale strawberry blonde), concealer, and a Chubby Stick lip, which is like a pale wash of light color. I will add a BBcream, blush, and eye pencil if meeting with a client, going on date with DH, or for some special occasion (like wedding or other event where photos will be taken). I tend to grab a darker/brighter lip on days when I feel the most disheveled - (hair in a top knot or low bun, casual-leaning outfit) maybe it makes me FEEL like I have my sh*t together?!

Where I live, other women seem to be extreme one way or the other, regardless of age - either ZERO makeup or full (thick) face with contouring, highlighter, etc. Lash extensions and microbladed brows are popular here, too.