Gabrielle Union for PEOPLE Magazine, The Beautiful Issue. pic.twitter.com/MRLKP4ggWZ
— جوزفين (@JosphineMamdouh) April 25, 2019
Gabrielle Union is in People’s Beautiful Issue. She’s in the Stars Without Makeup – The 10 Year Challenge section looking remarkable, as she always does. Gabrielle said when she first appeared without makeup in 2009, she was so used to hiding behind makeup, that she was scared to do the shoot. A decade later, although she still occasionally gets self-conscious without makeup, she’s much more accepting of her makeup-less face and feels most like herself when she’s fresh-faced. Gabrielle thinks the reason some women feel self-conscious without makeup is because they use it as a mask to hide behind.
In 2009, Gabrielle Union walked into her first no makeup photo shoot with PEOPLE, not knowing what to expect.
“At first it was kind of terrifying, to be honest,” the L.A.’s Finest star, 46, tells PEOPLE in this week’s Beautiful Issue. “I think sometimes we use makeup as a mask to insulate ourselves from reality. But once I kinda got comfortable and we were outside, it was the beach, and I had a bike, and I just let it ride. I thought the pictures turned out great and I had a great time that day.”
Ten years later, the actress and new mom to daughter Kaavia James says she’s feeling “mildly less confident,” but has evolved in a positive way both inside and out.
“Once I kind of made peace with who I am and where I’m at and being 46, I actually feel pretty, pretty solid about being back here 10 years later, shooting again with no makeup,” she says. “Because I’m finally really okay with me.”“For the most part, I feel most like myself without makeup,” she adds. “It’s how my friends and my husband and my loved ones appreciate me most. Again, because I think makeup can be a mask, and I think the older we get, that we feel like the more makeup we have, the better we look. Sometimes it just looks like an older woman with a lot of freaking makeup on. I’ve made peace with: this is my face and I’m okay with it. It does all right by me.”
I don’t wear a lot of makeup myself. The reason is simply because I’m not very good at it. I hardly look any different when I’m done applying it so I opt out due to laziness. But I understand what Gabrielle is saying. I don’t think all women who wear a full face of makeup are using it as a mask but I think there are people who, if they need a mask, they use makeup. I hide behind my clothing all the time. I have outfits that are borderline costumes. I wear them to project the image for which I want to be perceived. I think most people have cloaking devices. But I don’t think those devices are always used to hide, sometimes they are just for fun. Whatever the intent, I appreciate Gabrielle accepting that her non-made up face is not always the one she wants to see, but she accepts it and made peace with it. I’m like that. Sometimes I’m at less peace with it than others, but I still named the bags under my eyes and wish them good morning when I see them staring back at me in the mirror.
Photo credit: WENN Photos and Twitter
She’s an incredibly pretty lady – with or without makeup.
I think it can definitely be a mask. But if that mask makes you feel confident where you might not normally be – I don’t think it’s the worst thing in the world.
In college, A friend told me that most women think they look a lot more different with make up than other people notice when they don’t wear make up. I think Gabrielle union’s makeupless face is a perfect example of that because she looks like herself (gorgeous), just less polished. I think about that every time I don’t have time to put on make up before I have to herd my kids out the door.
Yeah it’s probably the same as any other minor changes you do that seem HUGE to you and barely anyone notices. Like changing your hair part or wearing a different style shirt.
Love, love the last two looks – great dresses and she really looks confident and happy in them. Happy that the “beautiful” issue includes healthy, strong women. like Gabrielle and Brooke who emphasize exercise and not just plastic surgery.
She’s gorgeous. It’s a lot easier to accept yourself without make up when you’re good looking though. I like to wear makeup because i like the way i look with it. I also look slightly younger cause it fills in my lines a tad. I feel like this no makeup thing is the new humble brag. Like ” I’m so pretty, I don’t need makeup” is the way it comes across to me
Lol. So anyone who doesn’t actively encourage 24/7 use of makeup is proud.
My decision not to wear anything but lip-soothing stuff, like Eos, starting in my forties was because I became tired of taking the time. I’d stopped wearing eyeliner and mascara because I couldn’t seem to get it all off, and it created dark circles that I had to work to get off every night because of oily skin. I was a MESS. I allowed my outfits to take over, but I ratcheted down the effort there, too.
My life became too complicated to spend time on makeup and hair, but people kept telling me, especially men, that I looked “tired” and would ask if I was okay. I’d say, “I’m fine. I’m just 43 (now I’m 50). People who’d just met me thought that I was pretty, and people who knew me when think that, but people who were used to “makeup me” were concerned. I agree about the better looking people thing, too. I have friends who use makeup because they have too because of medical conditions (no eyelashes or eyebrows), and it would make other people uncomfortable if they didn’t draw in eyelashes, so they wear it. They aren’t hiding. They just don’t want to have to constantly make other people comfortable or prompt questions.
Hectate, may I just say that “naming the bags under your eyes and saying good morning to them”? Super creative and hilarious. XO
I love Gabrielle and if I had her face and skin …. I would love myself also. I do love myself but I have to work through a lot of “yoikes, that’s how I look??? Wow.”
I do let my hair go grey though. I am insanely lazy and also, I kind of wonder what the world would be like if little girls everywhere saw happy, fulfilled women just chill about aging. Not afraid to dress it up but not afraid to get older either.
I embraced my grays early on and we are good friends. I honestly with they’d commit already and go full Jamie Lee Curtis.
Yes, Hecate, I agree with Pineapple! I love the idea of naming my dark circles. You’re adorable! I’ve already chosen the names: Sméagol and Gollum 🤣 Dark circles run in my family. In case anyone wants some hardcore dark circle annihilator, the only thing that has worked for me is Estée Lauder Double-wear. And also, Pineapple, what a wonderful world that would be!
I love Gabrielle Union and look forward to catching up on Being Mary Jane. She is beautiful inside and out. Wow, she is even more stunning without makeup, IMO.
MeganNotMarkle, I laughed so hard at “full Jamie Lee Curtis.” My hair is fully committed. I’m shocked that it keeps getting whiter. It’s getting impossible to keep up with coloring— I have long dark hair and I’m not ready for that change. Anyway I call them my white walkers! They keep advancing and I’m winning battles but losing the war. Winter is coming. But on the bright side (last nerd joke, I promise), my friends kindly argue that having silver “Targaryen” hair basically makes me the Mother of Dragons 🤣
I would never have guessed who she was in the makeup free picture, but she’s stunning, and looks way younger than her years. She’s one of those celebrities who just never seem to age.
I actually think make-up ages me a lot.
I showed my husband because I couldn’t believe her age. She’s stunning without makeup. She also has a beautiful smile and I couldn’t believe how old she is.
Gabrielle is truly gorgeous without makeup. And you are right: she does look younger an so lovely.
i agree
I work in TV, so wearing heavy makeup every day is part of my job. It’s a really vicious cycle: you wear heavy makeup, you break out or just have bad skin days, you cover it up to be on-air, it gets worse because your skin doesn’t have a chance to breathe, and then even on the weekends you’re unhappy with your skin. And you get used to the image of yourself wearing makeup like a mask, like she talks about. It almost becomes tough to reconcile what you really look like! You feel uncomfortable going places without makeup on. And seeing yourself in HD, super zoomed-in on your face to grab focus, is good for NO ONE’S self esteem!
Gabrielle is just timelessly gorgeous. That brings up a good point to me, here she is talking about her own discomfort in her own skin, and I’m sitting here wishing I looked like that. We are our worst critics!
Savu, I feel for you. You have to do it, and you DO feel weird without it and feel like it’s not the natural you if you aren’t wearing it when you become accustomed to wearing it. In your job, you have no choice, especially now with HDTV. Do you do your own makeup or do they have a makeup artist there to do it? That makes a difference, because makeup artists are creating art, not thinking about how you would do it. And makeup for TV is VERY different.
I was honestly stunned by the makeup-free photo. She really is gorgeous. I like her. She seems honest and down-to-earth.
I do full makeup every morning. One of the main reasons I do it is because I have horrible anxiety and having something I have to focus my full attention on everyday helps to calm me down significantly, so when I go to work I’m not a bundle of nerves.
Libby, that’s awesome. And I bet your makeup looks great! I miss doing it and being happy to do it. My life got so complicated, and I’m just not organized enough to enjoy it and focus. It’s fun and healthy if done for the right reasons, like self expression and focus. It’s when women feel that they aren’t good enough without it that concerns me. Having to do it for work is just how it is for a lot of women, like my friend without eyelashes. But lots of women look beautiful and chic or edgy, like works of art. I like it, but don’t have the patience.