First off, I want to apologize in advance to every woman who wears foundation or BB cream on a daily basis. I definitely don’t mean any disrespect to anyone, especially to women who experience a big boost in self-confidence when they cover birthmarks, scars, or other blemishes with makeup. However, I honestly don’t like foundation at all. I dislike it so much that I never wear it in my regular daily life. Here are the only instances in which I will wear BB cream or foundation:

1. Photo shoots
2. Public appearances
3. Auditions
4. Video or TV shoots
5. Formal affairs

I can’t stand the feel of anything cakey or heavy on my skin, and that is why I only use translucent powder on my skin on a daily basis. I know that I am very fortunate to have good skin, with no unsightly breakouts or other blemishes (though the freckles on my cheeks have always driven me nuts ever since I had them as a young child), so I can get away with avoiding foundation. Could my skin look smoother if I used foundation? Yes. But it is not worth the feeling of discomfort I get from having my skin suffocated with a liquid or cream cover. I don’t want to have to worry that part of my face might look different if a dog licks my face, or if I sweat profusely and wipe my face.

One of the most prominent memories I have of poorly applied foundation which solidified my aversion to the stuff occurred when I was in high school. One of my classmates had such a love affair with makeup, especially foundation, that she would cake it on every day before coming to school. Her foundation was so thick that it looked like she had applied it with a palette knife, yet the effect was nothing close to an exquisite oil painting, but more like a tribute to Bozo the Clown. If she scratched her cheek to calm an itch, her nails would leave deep gouges in her foundation.

To me, foundation looks like a mask, and to an extent, it is a mask. Though it creates a flawless finish (particularly if it is full coverage), it still covers up the skin’s natural beauty. I realize that a flawless finish is important on-camera, but in regular daily life, it seems a shame to suffocate the skin. Since I truly think that skin is beautiful, it bothers me that the majority of women in developed countries find it necessary to cover it up. The luminous quality of unadorned skin is lost when it is covered by even the lightest of foundation. I guess I just don’t want to look “done” in my day to day life.

I want my skin to breathe. I don’t want to have to worry about my foundation melting off my face, or about leaving makeup marks on my ivory sheets from an incomplete makeup removal. My mom always told me that eventually, I would have to start wearing foundation daily, but at this point, I have made it half a century without having to do so.