Every time Pamela Anderson appears in public these days, the media makes a pretty big deal about her make-up-free look.
Pamela Anderson’s makeup-free status
The media have been fussing about Pamela Anderson’s make-up-free status since her appearance at Paris Fashion Week. By all accounts, when Anderson left for Paris Fashion Week, her plan wasn’t to go makeup-free for the shows. However, it just went that way. According to the 56-year-old celebrity, she felt right saying no to the usual face paint that comes with being a celebrity on the red carpet. In a Get Ready With Me video for Vogue France, she opened up.
“I didn’t come to Paris Fashion Week and think, ‘I’m not gonna wear makeup. Something kind of came over me and I was dressing in these beautiful clothes and I thought, I don’t want to compete with the clothes. I’m not trying to be the prettiest girl in the room”
Though Pamela Anderson is synonymous with her ’90s look of penciled-on skinny brows and deep black bombshell smoky eyes, she’s been sporting a much more pared-down beauty look over the last few years.
Anderson’s current attitude towards aging is about self-acceptance
Anderson’s “a little bit rebellious” attitude appears to be a part of her attitude toward aging and loving herself for exactly who she is. “You have to challenge beauty sometimes. If we all chase youth or our idea of what beauty is … we’re only going to be disappointed and maybe a little bit sad,” she explains.
“I’m just being me, who I am. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my own skin.”
Now, just to put the issue of no-make-up free straight, she doesn’t always go completely make-up free.
She is not always make-up free
For the Vivienne Westwood show, Pamela Anderson applied just the teeniest, tiniest bit of mascara alongside her homemade rose oil, which she applies all over her face.
And then at the recent Met Gala, she opted to put some more make-up back on. This time around, her make-up was done by celebrity make-up artist Pat McGrath. Admittedly, her look was a lot more natural than many stars who walked the carpet.
The icon has always been something of a free spirit in her career and life and has followed her heart. So it kind of makes sense that her current makeup-free status is simply another evolution of that.
“I feel like it’s freedom, it’s a relief,” she says.
Keep it simpler
If you are going to go make up free, your skin has to be in tip-top condition. This is especially important as you age. Pamela Anderson is 56 years old, and her skin has seen many years of sun exposure, which is visible in most of the photographs taken of her.
It is really refreshing that she is showing herself as it is and that she is such a great psychological space she can do this.
Anderson recently told Glamour. “My beauty ‘routine’ is pretty simple these days,” As someone who was once well acquainted with extensive skincare and cosmetics, she has “weeded out” all the lotions and potions that she finds “too complicated.” And as you can probably imagine, it’s given her back a good chunk of her days, because she’s not “hovering over the sink with multiple steps.”
Instead, Anderson opts to use a few core products that keep her skin hydrated and calm: “I plant things where I’ll see them and [apply them] … A rose hydration spray in the fridge that I use every time I open it…a lip balm in my bag that I apply all day long, especially in the winter.”
Could you go make-up free?
Interestingly, Anderson is one of very few celebrities who have been brave enough to attend red carpet events with minimal if any make-up. Which is why she is getting so much attention. If others followed her example, then perhaps it would just become more normalized.
It’s great to see a well-known celebrity become so comfortable in her own bare skin. This comes from a place of deep self-acceptance.
Going make-up free is a personal choice
USA Today (see link reference below for the full article) shared some helpful tips on how to go make-up free.
- Recognize what is real: Dr. Michael Keyes, a plastic surgery fellow at the University of Louisville, told USA Today that you should take inspiration from social media feeds that encourage make-up free. Learn from them. He admits that celebrities “often use filters and photo editing apps to minimize skin discoloration, wrinkles, and extra fat in unwanted places. He feels it is important from a wellness standpoint to recognize what’s real and what’s not.
- Change your make-up: Replace your foundation with tinted sunscreen for a wash of glow that won’t conceal your natural features.
- Self-Acceptance: True beauty comes from within. When you go to a place of self-acceptance, your beauty will shine through. As Audrey Hepburn once said, “For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.”
