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Alicia Keys drew a lot of attention for going to the VMAs without any makeup. She’s since clarified that she did it for herself and that she’s not anti-makeup for others, tweeting “Y’all, me choosing to be makeup free doesn’t mean I’m anti-makeup. Do you!” I like that. Her husband, Swizz Beatz, later posted an Instagram video to defend Alicia against people trolling, which is somewhat inevitable on social media unfortunately. He said “Think about it, this is deep. Somebody’s sitting at home mad, because somebody didn’t wear makeup on their face… You can do whatever you want to do, she didn’t tell y’all to wear no makeup.” Swizz and Alicia are not my favorite people (most of you know why) but I can get behind them on this issue and I like that they are making a united front.

It’s been a trend for women to post photos to social media and do photoshoots sans fards (that’s the first time I’ve ever used that term) but apart from Alicia I can’t think of other celebrities who regularly go without makeup on red carpets – except maybe for Gwyneth Paltrow, but that’s only been at smaller events. Nicole Richie revealed in a new interview with People that she rarely wears it, and explained why. I’ve seen her with makeup on at many events, but apparently she doesn’t like it and says that she doesn’t feel like herself with it.

Your skin is amazing what’s your secret
I stay away from makeup because it clogs my skin. I have dry skin so I moisturize all the time. I just this year seriously getting into sunscreen, been warned about it [for] 15 years.

So you really don’t wear makeup?
I wouldn’t say that I’m against it because I know people that really get joy and feel the most like themselves when they put on makeup. I feel the most like myself when I don’t have any on so that’s the road I go down.

What’s one thing you know now you wish you knew in your 20s?
Woo. Many things. Number one not to over tweeze my eyebrows. Always wax your legs, don’t shave. Eventually you won’t have any hair on your legs.

[From video on People.com]

I have tried to wax my legs as she recommends and it’s way too painful, but she surely gets it done at a fancy boutique with numbing cream or whatever. When I hear that makeup clogs her skin I think that she’s just using the wrong products. I have the opposite problem to Alicia and Nicole, I don’t feel like myself when I’m not wearing makeup and I wear it every day. It’s a personal choice though, and I like this trend of celebrities wearing less makeup or no makeup and doing whatever makes them comfortable. I also like that they’re acknowledging that some people like to wear makeup, it’s not like they’re dictating that anyone else go makeup free. You’ll pry my mascara out of my cold dead hands.

Oh and if you check Getty you can see that Nicole wears makeup to most events. She’s like Gwyneth Paltrow in that she only goes without makeup occasionally. She looks lovely either way.

A photo posted by @nicolerichie on Apr 20, 2016 at 7:02pm PDT

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I mean, she looks lovely most of the time.

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photos credit: Getty and Instagram