In Defence Of Wearing Make-Up During Lockdown

Back at the very start of Lockdown 1.0, I made the decision to send my make-up bag on a sabbatical and abandon my everyday routine of painting on my face. Something that, prior to Lockdown, consisted of a decent base layer followed by bronzer, blusher, highlighter, mascara and a slick of lippy that in total took approximately 15 minutes to apply. My reasoning behind this decision was the fact I, like everyone else, would be spending A LOT more time at home where only my colleagues would occasionally see me through a blurred (I hoped) camera lens on Teams. And thus, I couldn’t see the point in applying a full face of slap for it to just be wasted on my laptop screen for 8 hours a day before being washed off. I’d also rather hoped that a break from my make-up would do my skin the world of good, allowing it to finally ‘breathe’.

Clearly, I wasn’t alone in this decision. According to 2020 sales figures from beauty’s major retailers (including Space NK, John Lewis, Cult Beauty and Look Fantastic) many of us ditched a full face of make-up in favour of dialling up our skincare routine. As sales of make-up dropped, sales of skincare soared with serums up by +168%, cleansers by +142% and nourishing moisturisers by +165% on John Lewis alone. This marked shift in our beauty habits could only mean good things for our skin health. But I’ll admit it – I really missed my make-up.

Aside from the instant mood-lift make-up provides, it was the routine element that I yearned for. Carving out those 10-15 minutes every morning to spend on myself really set me up for the day. And as we’d totally lost our ‘normal’ routine to lockdown, I realised how important it was to reinstate some kind of structure to my ‘new normal’ ways. Oh, and contrary to what I’d imagined, I saw absolutely zero benefit to my skin in the month that I went make-up free – which I’m putting down to the gallons of Gavi, extra screen-time and heaps of sugary snacks.

Regardless, the benefits that make-up and routine can have on our mood are tenfold. Posting a selfie on Instagram over the weekend, model Rosie Huntington-Whitely shared her re-acquainted love for lippy: ‘Put some make-up on for the first time in what feels like weeks today, it did wonders in lifting my mood I must say. I have certainly found myself gravitating to a less is more look of late, but you can’t beat a great pop of colour on the lips and cheeks,’ she captioned the photo.

I couldn't agree more with Rosie. While I no longer go the whole hog and apply layer after layer of foundation, I do dedicate some time in the morning to dabbing on a little concealer, some BB cream, a bit of blush and brush up my brows. It's enough to just lift my mood and whereas in the past I applied make-up for the rest of the world, I now just apply it for myself and yes, my laptop screen.

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