Hey guys, I might as well be recording this without my top on because as you can tell
I'm not wearing any makeup and I feel completely and totally naked.
If I were to step outside right now I would look like a vampire in the sun. [Hiss]. Since
I am sitting here sans makeup you're probably thinking that I'm about to say, 'Guys! You
need to tell women to stop wearing makeup and that we're pretty the way we are.' But
you know what? I'm not going to do it. While I know that plenty of guys truly believe that
women are beautiful without any mascara, foundation, blush, primer, bronzer, eyeliner, eye shadow,
saying, 'Women, throw away your makeup! You don't need to wear it,' is not the solution
because you might not be realizing just how complex this whole makeup thing is for a lot
of women, myself included. Quick makeup biography of me. When I was 12, what did I get for my
birthday? Not a pony. Not a bicycle. Not even tickets to go see NSYNC. I got a Mary Kay
makeup consultation. I'm like so many other women who are taught from a very early age
not only how to put on makeup but that we should wear makeup. So for the next 16 years
I've been wearing makeup on an almost daily basis because otherwise, everyone would be
able to see things like my undereye bags, all of the zits around my face, these tiny
mustache hairs that are coming in. I even need to pluck my eyebrows right now and while
concealer won't necessarily cover that up a good-looking mascara job can distract from
my unibrow. In the big old world outside of my tiny, tiny apartment there is something
called a 'beauty premium'. Pretty much boils down to the fact that just like in high school
the prettier you are the better you're going to do. And how do women take advantage of
the beauty premium? The $18 billion global cosmetics industry that's there to save the
day. Or rather our faces. So let's see the beauty premium work on this old thing and
how makeup can take this from a 0 to a solid 6. In only 20-30 minutes. Ta-da! Now you can
actually look at me without cringing. Here's before: [scream]. And here's after. It's like
beauty and the beast. A ray of sunshine after a storm of a not as attractive face. Do I
like the face that as someone who considers herself a strong, independent, career-minded
woman that I derive a sense of self-esteem--yes--from wearing makeup when I'm out in public, that
I feel better putting my 'best face forward' rather than just going out the way I came
out of the womb? Ugh. No! Of course it's annoying, of course it's expensive, of course it's time-consuming,
but guys when it comes to what women want with this whole makeup conundrum, just saying,
'Just don't wear, you don't need it,' ignores the world that we live in, because, we're
talking economic terms now, something called the beauty premium very much exists. Study
after study has found that women who wear makeup are perceived as being more attractive,
more competent and more likeable. All of which leads to hopefully--hopefully!--more success
in the long run. So if you ever wonder why women complain about wearing makeup and yet
continue like myself to do it, think about this. Women often buy into the beauty culture
and the cosmetics industry because the fact of the matter is we can't afford not to. Chew
on that tube of lipstick.