Recently, I challenged myself to go a whole month without makeup. It was something that had always intrigued me as I’d barely gone a day in almost 10 years with a bare face.

Honestly, I was terrified. My skin had started breaking out the worst it had in my life, I was getting adult onset acne and because it was hormonal there weren’t even any creams or treatments that I could be prescribed.

I didn’t do this challenge because I was breaking out or wanted to clear my skin. I didn’t do it because I hated make up either; makeup has always been a huge passion of mine. I did it simply because I wanted to know if I could. If I had the confidence to walk out of my house day in and day out with nothing more than a bit of moisturiser and sunscreen on my face.

Week One

I felt like I may have cheated in week one. I flew back to my hometown to babysit my little sister for the week. I didn’t really plan any big events. I avoided leaving the house and didn’t have a huge amount of human interaction.

I felt vaguely uncomfortable, similar to that feeling you get when you leave the house and can’t remember if you’ve left your hair straightener on.

Other than hanging out with my sister, I only caught up with a few close friends and had to run to the grocery store a couple of times. However, I was noticing that I felt vaguely uncomfortable, similar to that feeling you get when you leave the house and can’t remember if you’ve left your hair straightener on.

Week Two

I was back at work for week two and discovered that this was where the real challenge would be. I wanted to make sure that I was still being taken seriously in the workplace.

I soon worked out that this really wasn’t an issue, my co-workers barely made mention that I had stopped wearing makeup and because my job starts at 6am, I had begun to love the fact that I was getting an extra 45 minutes sleep in everyday. It was so much easier and stress free not having to rush in the mornings and after the first few days I had kind of forgotten that I was missing a part of my routine.

Week Three

Week three was where the real challenge began. I planned to go out with some mates and had to settle with doing my hair and wearing cute earrings. It made me feel as though I wasn’t putting in any effort, I felt like I was half arsing my night and my attitude showed it.

This was one of the hardest days; an event that I normally would have thoroughly enjoyed was dulled with my own self-consciousness. I was obsessing over my looks so much that I wasn’t even paying attention to what conversations I was having.

Week Four

In week four, my boyfriend was coming to stay for the weekend and while he was one of the biggest supporters of my no-makeup month he was also the person I wanted to look the best for.

This is the week I failed in my challenge. I didn’t want to go through the same struggles of self-consciousness that I had going out with my friends the week before, so I donned a very minimal amount of makeup during the evenings while he was here.

In the end I didn’t finish my month, but I don’t regret it… Makeup is a part of my identity.

In the end I didn’t finish my month, but I don’t regret it. I was able to discover when I do and don’t feel comfortable without my makeup on. Makeup is a part of my identity and while I think I’ll definitely be forgoing it a lot more in the future, I know that whenever I want to make myself feel extra special it will always be there to help.

Mackenzie is a recent graduate who currently has no idea what direction her career is going in. She tells people her hobbies include surfing and hiking to make her sound more interesting but really all she does in her free time is go out for coffee and brunch. 

(Lead image: Mean Girls/Paramount)