Whether you’re already in on the #nomakeup trend, or you refuse to leave the house without your full face on, we believe that makeup can be a damaging beauty standard women are meant to adhere to. The idea that a woman is “gross”, or “doesn’t care” because she’s not wearing makeup is false, and destructive to a lot of women’s self-confidence. By teaching young girls that they need to wear makeup to be pretty, we’re teaching them that they aren’t pretty any other way. This is so false! We should be teaching young girls that wearing makeup is an option! If they enjoy wearing it, enjoy applying it, and like the way they look with it on, that’s totally respectable. Everyone should be allowed to wear makeup if they want to! It just shouldn’t be a necessary standard, a mark of self-worth, or an expectation people put on to women that invalidates their bare-faced-beautiful. Take a look at these celebs who are jumping on the #nomakeup bandwagon, and showing off their clear skin. These are 15 of the hottest celebrities who look good without makeup.
15 Ke$ha
This super lady has a super look, and we’re shocked by how gorgeously different she is. Normally we only see Ke$ha onstage, or in publicity shots. These are times when she’s usually covering her face with sunglasses, or she’s got a ton of makeup on. She’s also the glitter queen, which means her looks are anything but natural onstage. This shot is amazing though, with piercing eyes and beautiful lips. Her nose has a perfect smattering of freckles as well, which adds to the natural beauty look. We didn’t even know she had freckles! She looks incredibly young here too, which means she must take care of her skin. And that intense look she has? This photo was one she took during her legal battle with Dr. Luke, calling out for support from her fans and friends. We think that’s a great reason to bare all, and we stand with Ke$ha in the fight to support victims and survivors.
14 Kylie Jenner
This woman falls on both sides of the makeup camp. Kylie Jenner is the inspiration for the lip trend that swept across the world this past year. Remember when everyone was sucking on glasses and giving themselves bruised mouths in order to make their lips pop? That was Kylie! She has her own cosmetics line now and has released photo after photo of her looking made up and marvelous. But you know what else she supports? The no makeup trend. And she still looks absolutely flawless! This photo is her showing us that you don’t have to hate one to support the other. You can run a successful cosmetics line and sell your own makeup products, and still take #nomakeup selfies that look rocking. Makeup should be done for you if you want to have fun and feel good for yourself; it’s not about making other people happy or comfortable, even if it might feel that way sometimes. Thanks for showing us we can be on both sides of the coin, Kylie.
13 Zendaya Coleman
Some people wonder what Zendaya is famous for but trust us: this girl has a list a mile long. While still quite young, she’s been a powerhouse and a force to reckon with since she was a kid. Having been a model and dancer for many years before breaking into TV, singing, and (most recently) movies, Zendaya has shown us that you can achieve anything you want to achieve. She also inspires us to embrace the relaxed look in our day-to-day lives, as she does. People are constantly snapping impromptu photos of her traveling or walking around, and often she’s not wearing makeup. Most of her personal shots don’t involve her wearing makeup either. In fact, it’s only in her work and publicity shots that we ever see her with makeup on. This is a great example of makeup being used as a tool. It has a time and a place, and she knows that even though she’s a star, she doesn’t need to feel pressured to wear it all the time. Good on you, Zendaya! You look great!
12 Lorde
How much do we love Lorde? SO MUCH. Lorde has been one of our favorite young artists for many years now, and we’ve very seldom seen pictures of her all made up. It wasn’t until her most recent videos that we could even tell she was making herself up, which seems remarkable considering how much of a star she is. It’s nice to see her embracing her natural look, and not making a big deal about it. While she has the basics going on in most of her photos (powder and eyebrows), she knows it’s not necessary. It’s more of a practical choice, which we support. If you don’t want to wear makeup you shouldn’t have to. Lorde can certainly pull it off well, with strong natural brows and unchapped lips… Not to mention her smooth skin! She clearly takes great care of herself and understands the importance of self-care. What an inspiration!
11 Dinah Jane Hansen
She has spoken up with this photo about the power of loving yourself. This Fifth Harmony member was insecure about her untameable hair, and how she grew up thinking she was not a conventional beauty. While we respect her opinion of herself, we think it is a little ridiculous now! She’s part of one of the biggest girl groups since the Spice Girls, and we love the way they all work together. Starting off on the X Factor means the world’s gotten to watch as they developed their style, brand, and public personalities, while still being real and honest. We love this photo of Dinah Jane because of how naturally beautiful she is, inside and out. This picture has us believing in the power of self-love, and inspires us to work with our natural selves… Not against our quirky “faults”. Thanks for sharing your hair, hope, and humor, Dinah Jane.
10 Debby Ryan
This super attractive, super stylish lady has the hair of a goddess, the cheekbones of a supermodel, and just won’t quit when it comes to her photogenic abilities. She’s got a whole lot of magic inside of her, and it comes through no matter what she’s doing. She’s a fairly popular actress with Disney channel movies and shows. It comes through in her sweet style, looking young and fresh while still maintaining a lot of power and intensity. She’s also grown up quite a bit in this Instagram photo, showing us that you don’t need makeup to make yourself up to be a hardcore beauty. It’s remarkable how much she’s changed from early Wizards of Waverly Place days, though not a surprise. Many Disney stars seem to come into their own as they leave the Disney spotlight. Debby Ryan is no different, as we see here. We’re awfully glad she did though, as this look is hot!
9 Demi Lovato
This outspoken woman has a lot to say about feminism, mental health, and self-confidence. She’s been an advocate for getting the help you need when you need it, and never forgetting about the people who have supported you and helped you. Because she’s such an inspiration to young girls, we’re happy that she’s showing off her natural beauty. It’s fantastic that this gorgeous (seriously, look at her) woman can inspire other girls to feel as good about themselves as she feels about herself. Plus, she looks phenomenal! The messy hair and cozy sweater just adds to her casual chic look, and her eyebrows are still perfect… Which we definitely don’t understand. How do you get perfect eyebrows without hours of work and a million products? It must be Demi’s super powers. Or just her positivity and self-confidence, with a dash of trial and error in the eyebrow grooming realm.
8 Carrie Underwood
This picture has a dog in it! What is not to love about this photo? Not only do we have a natural Carrie Underwood, we also have this natural stunner of a dog. And the best part? Both of them are embracing the no makeup look. Carrie’s joy shines through in this shot and gives us a good dose of daily joy too. We love that we can share in this moment with her and the pup, as it is clearly one of the highlights of her day too! It wouldn’t have been possible if she was wearing makeup too. Most people don’t let adorable animals lick their faces when they have makeup on. Carrie, however, decided that love was more important than the perfect shade of foundation. She went all out relaxed in this photo, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Thanks for sharing the love, Carrie!
7 Bella Hadid
The younger sister of Gigi Hadid, this fabulous beauty is also a famous model. Taking after their mother, the Hadid sisters embraced the beauty and modeling industry and developed a career through repeat campaigns with various companies. Bella’s worked with many big names, but her crowning glory is being picked as a model of the year by the industry through models.com. She also received many more campaigns through her talent and skill and working with her sister. What do we love the most about her though? The fact that she still looks flawless without any makeup. Hair slicked back, eyebrows smooth, and lips looking luscious, she has got a great look with or without makeup on. This photo is a perfect example of how high fashion models like to relax bare-faced just like us… Does that mean we look like Bella when we are sitting on the beach too?
6 Gigi Hadid
Bella’s older sister, this hardworking lady has been modeling since age 2. While most people take a break from their spotlight careers to focus on high school and university, she had to take her break to focus on grade one. Talk about born into the industry! She’s embraced every step though, and has gotten a huge amount of work with repeat companies: GUESS being her most popular supporter. In this photo she looks relaxed and ready, prepped to play volleyball or go horseback riding. Her lack of makeup totally makes sense, and we’re shocked by how young she looks! She’s got a lovely youthful glow, and a mischievous “don’t mess with me” spark in her eyes. This is clearly a woman that knows how to work hard, and isn’t afraid to go for what she wants. What do we want? More make up free selfies from this stunner, who inspires us to put on our own sweatbands and go workout!
5 Laverne Cox
Trans rights/LGBT+ activist and superstar extraordinaire, Laverne Cox has also jumped on the no makeup trend. She has cracked a lot of first time awards and titles, such as first openly transgender person to be on the cover of Time magazine, and the first openly transgender person to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Acting. She’s an outstanding activist, and inspires us to keep fighting for equal and fair rights for all, as well as more diversity representation in popular media. Plus, she’s absolutely gorgeous. This selfie is proof that you don’t need a ton of makeup to pull off chic and confident. In fact, we think she stands out even more without layers of makeup on. Plus, it lets us pay more attention to the fantastic outfit. We don’t know if that’s a dress, bodysuit, or bathing suit, but we do know that we love, love, LOVE it… And her!
4 Jordin Sparks
This award winning singer has been in the spotlight since she was quite young, winning the sixth season of American Idol at just 17 years old! With all her singing chops, you’d think this star would stick to just the one battlefield… But she’s turned into a broadway star, starring in In the Heights in 2010. Since then she’s been a social media sensation, posting glamorous, feel-good photos that highlight her star studded life. She posts about work, art, and life, and we love her real look at her seemingly unreal life. This photo is a great tell all of the actor life. The caption from the Instagram post explains that it’s a 3 am call time, which means she DEFINITELY hasn’t been up for 2 hours applying “natural” looking makeup to fool her followers. She’s actually just that gorgeous! We love her realness, messy hair, and charming half-smile-wink facial expression she’s got going on here. Thanks for giving us a slice of life, Jordin!
3 Emma Watson
When Emma’s not acting, we know that she’s speaking out about feminism and pushing for social change. Equal representation, intersectionality, and destroying the wage gap are all things that are on her mind… But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t want to have fun and enjoy herself too. She glows no matter what she’s doing, be it living in a castle and reading, or going out on the town for coffee with friends. No matter if it’s her day-to-day or her UN presentation, we know that she tends to go for the understated, simple looks. Her makeup is very seldom more than the “natural” look, and often times she’ll just go makeup free. It’s just another one of the inspiring things about her, and makes her such a favorite among fans. She feels so regular and normal; like we could all be friends with her if we wanted to. Thanks for keeping the pressure to makeup off, Emma!
2 Dove Cameron
Taking the no makeup hashtag even further is Dove Cameron. This gorgeous lady posted this photo as a “no makeup/no filter” inspiration and urged fans to do the same. While no makeup is already a big step for a lot of people, no filter is even more huge. The number of makeupless selfies that are fuzzed out, black and white, or altered in some other way is remarkable, and we’re a little sad that people feel the need to hide their natural look. Dove’s got the best idea: take down the idea that you need to edit yourself to look good. Smile at the camera and show the world how beautiful you are, without the aid of products, editors, or instagram filters. We support Dove Cameron, and want to help her take down the dangerous belief that only makeup can make you look “hot” or “good”. You have all you need inside yourself to be gorgeous and complete, inside and out.
1 Alicia Keys
When you talk about #nomakeup, Alicia Keys is usually the first one who springs to mind. She’s been outspoken about her dislike and discontinued usage of makeup, and we have SO much respect for her because of it! She’s a natural beauty, and a natural talent. Her skills and her confidence totally outweigh the pressure the music industry often puts on its stars to look well put together… i.e., coated in makeup. In this picture she even has her natural hair going on, which makes us want to stand up and applaud. She’s wild, free, and beautiful. All of her performances and photos should be proof that you really don’t need the makeup to make it. If you don’t want to subject your skin to foundation, bronzer, and other chemical layers, you shouldn’t have to. Go ahead: snap a #nomakeup #nofilter selfie to fit in with the beautiful ladies. Join the rank of confident, classy women who are changing western beauty standards!
