Alicia Keys And 10 Other Celebs Who Don't Wear Makeup (And 10 Who Wear Way Too Much)

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For people who work in the entertainment industry, makeup is pretty much a fact of life that they need to deal with on some level on a daily basis. The amount of makeup that most celebrities wear is more than the average Jane would be willing to put up with without being paid, and film, television, and performances do tend to create a somewhat unattainable image to the audience. Unsurprisingly, a lot of people feel a lot of different ways about the way makeup affects entertainment media and in turn how it affects the way society sees beauty. Unsurprisingly, some of the people who feel the strongest about Hollywood beauty standards are men and women who work in the Hollywood industry.

While we're all inured to the more extreme aspects of Hollywood beauty expectations, even within that extreme subgroup there are outliers on either end of the spectrum. Some women in the entertainment industry seem to have overwhelming responses to the expectations that are placed upon them, which for some of them means rebelling against that ideal and being more forceful about being themselves, and for others it can mean becoming so conscious of fulfilling those expectations that they actually stick out because they've taken cosmetic enhancements to an even more extreme version of the already extreme Hollywood expectations. So, out of all of the famous ladies in the entertainment industry, which ones are taking their makeup routines to one of the farthest points on the cosmetic spectrum?

Alicia Keys Has Ditched Makeup For A Natural Look

When it comes to the whole trend of celebrities ditching makeup, Grammy winner and superstar singer Alicia Keys has really been at the forefront of it. While we suspect that Alicia might not go fully makeup-free (a theory that has been backed up by her fellow The Voice star Adam Levine) it's clear that Keys has dialled it way back when it comes to cosmetics, and the result is actually really lovely. Even if she is wearing a bit of makeup, it's nice to see a celebrity working the red carpet in an easier and more attainable makeup look. Most women are willing to wear some lip gloss and tinted moisturizer, so seeing someone famous making that look red carpet-worthy is a positive thing to start seeing in media. Like most celebrities, Alicia clearly has a lot to work with from the start, but it's still nice to see anyone embrace themselves as they are.

Christina Aguilera Loves An Over-The-Top Makeup Look

Christina Aguilera has always had a pretty and feminine face, so it's kind of mystifying that she has become so attached to this extreme and over-the-top makeup look that she has stuck with consistently. Christina is also known for changing up her looks pretty dramatically in her young life, so while it might not be appropriate to go to such extremes now that she's a little older, it still seems like she could do with a bit of a change-up. Also considering her natural appearance, it's really unnecessary for her to pile it on so heavily to the level of near drag makeup. There's a difference between looking done and looking overdone, and Aguilera seems to have permanently placed herself in the overdone category. When it comes to makeup you can kind of reach your peak beauty, and once you start overdoing things it can actually start making you look worse.

Ellen Page Keep Her Look Simple

Ellen Page has never given off the vibe that she cares too much about her appearance or is very interested in makeup in general, so it's really no surprise that she goes bare-faced pretty often. Like a fair amount of celebs, she posts quite a few pictures of herself makeup-free on her social media accounts, but she is also one of the few famous folks who will go to industry events without much or without any makeup on either. She certainly looks fine without it, and honestly, eschewing the makeup for events meshes well with her generally tomboyish sense of style. It's also always super noticeable if someone isn't feeling comfortable or confident in the way that they're looking, and Page seems like the kind of person who actually feels much more comfortable rocking her natural appearance. And aside from that, it's actually a pretty good way of distinguishing herself from most young actresses.

Lady Gaga Is All About Dramatic Makeup

Of course Lady Gaga is almost as well-known for her extreme fashion and makeup choices as she is for her music, but as a pretty legit musician you'd have to wonder if that's really what she would want or should be aiming for. Even if it's a facet of her overall performance art, it can be distracting from the actual creative work that she has done, and if you're wearing so much makeup that you're literally unrecognizable when you're your makeup-free self, then you're almost certainly going too far overboard. You could believably pass off different pictures of Lady Gaga as completely different people, which does go to show how powerful of a tool makeup can be, but is also a little absurd when Lady Gaga clearly always wants to be herself. Plus, that super heavy makeup style was developed so that men could create a look that mimicked the bone structure of women, so if you're a woman you really don't need to do most of that.

Demi Lovato Often Goes Makeup-Free

After having quite a few rough teenage years, child star Demi Lovato pulled a pretty extreme 180 and became a really fierce advocate for self-esteem and self-acceptance in girls, which obviously included herself. So it's no surprise that Demi makes a pretty regular habit of posting makeup-free selfies on her social media accounts, usually accompanied by some body and beauty positivity statements. And while her stance on loving yourself as you are is a great one, and especially important given how many young and impressionable fans she has, you also have to admit that Lovato forgoing makeup isn't much of a sacrifice. In fact, her natural look and beauty might be prettier than her heavy makeup looks. She looks super fresh-faced without any makeup on and it would honestly be a bit of a shame to cover up those adorable freckles. If that is what natural beauty looks like then it's a mystery why anyone would ever wear makeup.

Kylie Jenner Is Almost Never Seen Without Tons Of Makeup

If you've managed to distinguish yourself as the most makeup-addicted member of the Kardashian Jenner family by the time you're only twenty years old, then it's safe to say you have a bit of a makeup problem. Granted, Kylie Cosmetics is probably the most successful brand in their family umbrella, so it's understandable where Kylie Jenner's love of makeup might come from. But firstly, she's only twenty years old, so she doesn't need even half the amount of product that she normally wears on her face, and even if she wants to consistently promote her Kylie Cosmetics brand she can do that while reeling it in a bit. It's also understandable that she would admire her sisters and want to emulate their appearance, but now that she's becoming an adult and creating her own brand she should really start embracing her own image. She seems to have some self-image issues, which is unfortunate because she has a whole lot of natural beauty to work with.

Shailene Woodley Is All Natural With Her Appearance

Shailene Woodley seems like she's very into the whole nouveau hippie thing, so it's no big surprise that in addition to getting arrested at protests and eating things that most people wouldn't think of as food that she has decided to ditch makeup in a lot of her public appearances. Her reasoning behind it is solid, though; she basically said that she wasn't comfortable presenting an unreal and unattainable image to the women who were looking at her red carpet appearances, so she wanted to do more events bare-faced to normalize a more makeup-free look. Obviously, she really doesn't need makeup to look good anyway, and it's interesting to see that women can dress themselves up to the nines and still look elegant and fancy without a thick layer of makeup on their faces. Of course, it's easier to pull off if you look great naturally, but it's still a pretty bold choice no matter what.

Jennifer Lopez's Makeup Is Always On Point

Jennifer Lopez is certainly very well known for her signature J-Lo glow, and it's clearly a look that has served her well for the time that she's been rocking it. However, she has also been rocking it for decades at this point, and it might be good for her to branch out and try something a bit fresher and newer. Lopez has really gotten as far as she has in nearly every industry that she's touched because she knows how to be ahead of the trends, or even how to create her own trends, but the ultra heavy makeup look seems to be on its way out and she doesn't seem to be following suit. In one sense it must be kind of cool to be able to look at pictures of yourself today and pictures of yourself twenty years ago and hardly be able to tell the difference, but on the other hand, it shows an inability or unwillingness to evolve with time.

Cara Delevingne Ditches Makeup When She Isn't Working

If people quite literally want to pay you money because your face is so beautiful, then it's fairly reasonable to assume that you don't really need to be doing yourself up to the nines on a day-to-day basis. There are some professional models who don't seem to get that, but luckily English model Cara Delevingne isn't one of them. The natural coloring of her strongest features seems to be very pretty, and her eyes, eyebrows, and lips still pop without any cosmetic enhancements. And while the career of a model is usually famously short-lived, it surely helps to keep your face and body in the best condition you can for as long as you can, which also surely means not clogging up your pores with a daily routine of super heavy makeup. If you don't need it, you shouldn't use it, which is something that Cara seems to understand.

Katie Price Loves Outlandish Makeup Looks

Katie Price is almost certainly the UK's most successful and well-known glamour model, and she has managed to parlay her success on Page 3 into a serious career in the entertainment industry. She has also been incredibly honest about her own insecurities and her love of enhancements, and she seems quite committed to always keeping up her ultra glam image. But as a super successful model, she clearly already has a lot of beauty to work with, and honestly, she puts so much on top of so much that her natural beauty gets completely buried in all of that makeup. And now that she's moved on from the whole lad magazine thing and is building a brand that can appeal to a much wider audience, it's really not necessary for her to play into that bombshell image all of the time. It's a bit too much in general, and it's certainly more than what she needs if she wants to appeal to a demographic besides men.

Gigi Hadid Likes To Go Makeup-Free Whenever Possible

You'd think that being a model might make someone feel extra pressure to pile on the makeup at all times, but Gigi Hadid is another supermodel who seems to have a pretty reasonable self-image and realizes that she really doesn't need to be wearing makeup all the time. If you're young and blessed with an impossibly flawless face, then what exactly would you be wearing makeup for anyway? She's probably used to wearing it and it's not very unusual to see her at shoots or events where she's extremely dolled up, but her social media selfies prove that she definitely doesn't need cosmetic enhancements on a day-to-day basis. And while makeup can definitely be fun, we'd imagine the joy of glamming yourself up might wear off if it becomes your job to wear it on a semi-regular basis, and we don't doubt that her baby skin appreciates the break when she decides to go makeup-free.

Nicki Minaj Loves A Smoky Eye Look

Nicki Minaj is clearly a fan of taking things in her life to extremes, so it's not that much of a shock that she appears to be a fan of a super heavy makeup look. But just because someone likes something that doesn't mean that they really need to be doing it or taking it completely over-the-top. It's understandable to want to highlight the features of your face that you really like, but it is possible to go overboard on your enhancement. For example, Nicki has naturally very strong cheekbones and she clearly wears a ton of contour to highlight that; however, if you already naturally have a certain feature then you don't need to go overboard in order to show it off. And dear lord, can that whole trend of fake eyelashes that are thicker and fuller than the hair on your head please go away? Talk about over-the-top.

Cameron Diaz Keeps Her Beauty Routine Simple

In the past few years, Cameron Diaz has reinvented herself from an actress into a bit of a health and wellness advocate, and considering that her main push when it comes to women's health and body image is teaching women how to appreciate themselves for who they truly are, it's really no surprise that Diaz is comfortable with regularly eschewing any kind of cosmetic enhancements. Clearly she doesn't need much to look good, but it's also a positive change to see a woman who has been so valued for their appearance not place her own self-worth on that appearance, and show that you can both be gorgeous and be yourself. Obviously Cameron is super healthy and takes great care of herself in general, which probably makes it a lot easier to not be concerned with smaller things like whether or not your eyelashes are full enough or your skin looks insanely even.

Gwen Stefani Rocks Her Classic Makeup Look

Gwen Stefani has been an absolute stunner for about thirty years now, and seems to have an inhuman ability to never age and never really change in her appearance. But she's another famous face that is probably wearing far more makeup than she needs to be wearing on a pretty regular basis. Gwen is obviously a fan of that kind of old Hollywood glamour style, and seems to base her look around creating this kind of ska punk fused with Jean Harlow glam image. However even if she likes to do a heavy eye look and a strong colored lip, that doesn't mean that she needs to cover her entire face with super heavy cosmetics. Her skin looks like it's in shockingly good shape for a 48 year old woman, and she could probably apply most of her makeup with a much lighter hand and still achieve the look that she's aiming for.

Lupita Nyong'o Lets Her Glowing Skin Do The Talking

Lupita Nyong'o seems like the type of woman who got into the acting business for her love of acting, and considering what a naturally flawless face she has, it's no surprise that she opts to forgo a heavy makeup look and sometimes opts to go without makeup entirely. From the look of her it would seem that she understands how much makeup she actually needs in order to improve her appearance and just wears that much instead of putting on a full red carpet glam look all the time. That's great both because it's probably easier on her skin as well as her wallet to go without tons of cosmetics covering her face, and because it really does go to show that it's not about how much makeup you wear, it's about how effectively you use it. She clearly has a lot of natural beauty, so it's nice to see her work it instead of transforming herself into a different person.

Katy Perry Goes For Dramatic Makeup

Obviously, one of the main components of Katy Perry's signature style is essentially looking like a super frosted cupcake all the time, so it's no real shock that she tends to favor very heavy, bright, and bold makeup looks. However, it also looks like she tends to go overboard and probably wears quite a bit more makeup than she needs to, even to achieve that signature candy-colored look that she favors so much. Seeing as her natural skin has very little discoloration and unevenness, she could probably do a super intense eye look but wear much lighter makeup everywhere else and still look almost exactly the same as she does with a face covered in heavy stage makeup. It seems like a lot of women overestimate how much face makeup they need to wear in order to even out their skin and create a pretty base, and it seems like Miss Perry is one of them.

Lorde Doesn't Wear Much Makeup

Lorde was barely even a teenager when she first hit it big on the music scene, but thankfully she seems to be one of the few stars who achieved stardom in their teens but was still comfortable behaving like an actual teenager. And it's not that unusual for tweens and teens to be getting started with makeup, but it is pretty unusual to see average teenagers wearing eight pounds of makeup too. Ironically, Lorde has always been seen as more mature and acting above her age level, which may be why she was comfortable with just sticking to her makeup-free style. Or maybe she just doesn't enjoy wearing makeup very much. Either way, it's probably a good thing for other young women to see a teenage girl in media who presents herself like an actual, normal teenage girl, and it's just more realistic to see girls and young women who aren't piling on the cosmetics.

Lil' Kim Goes For A Full Face Of Makeup

The complete transformation of Lil' Kim's appearance over the course of her tenure in the entertainment industry has been pretty shocking to behold. It's not as if heavy makeup or serious enhancements are that unusual in her line of work, but she has changed so much about her appearance that she literally looks like a different person, and to wear such heavy makeup on top of all of that makes it seem like she either has a really over-the-top need to change the way she looks or that her perception of the way she looks really doesn't match up with reality. But either way, the attempt at a Marilyn Monroe look is a pretty odd one, and it really does nothing to bring out whatever's left of Kim's natural beauty. And if you ever get to the point where it looks like all of your facial features have been drawn on your face, it's time to reel in the makeup abuse.

Jessica Alba Loves Makeup-Free Looks For Everyday Life

Considering what Jessica Alba's face looks like without makeup, it's no surprise that she's willing to forgo it on a pretty regular basis, and while she seems to favor slightly more natural looking red carpet makeup look, it seems like when she's not working she hardly uses anything at all. She's usually not too shy about posting makeup free selfies on her social media accounts, and even though her company The Honest Company sells cosmetics, it looks like Jessica usually doesn't like to bother herself with it. And on the one hand, it's commendable that she looks like she's comfortable looking like herself. She's also setting a hilariously high standard for what women can look like sans makeup. Let's be real; she pretty much looks as good as most women wearing makeup when she's not wearing anything, and even when she's completely bare-faced she still looks like the Hollywood level stunning Jessica Alba that we have all come to know.

Kim Kardashian Goes All Out With Her Look

Kim Kardashian is certainly one of the biggest trendsetters when it comes to modern makeup styles, but she seems like another celebrity who just wears way more makeup than necessary in order to make herself look great. Kim's natural look is great on its own, and her bone structure really doesn't require much enhancement or adjustment through her makeup. Contouring is really what she's known for and she's partially responsible for it coming back into style, but she honestly doesn't need nearly as much contouring as she uses in order to enhance her features more. And when you consider how much effort it must be to have such a heavy day-to-day makeup routine it's even more baffling that she's willing to put in that much time to something when she really doesn't have to. Ultimately, you can only enhance your appearance so much with makeup, and Kim doesn't need a whole lot to look good.