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However hard a celebrity might try to control her image, somewhere, hidden in the shrubbery, the long lens of the paparazzo always lurks. In our celeb-obsessed world, even a D-lister coming out of Starbucks has currency and is sure to end up printed somewhere. This explains the current proliferation of photographs featuring celebrities without make-up. Even Keira Knightley without a scrap of slap and an acute case of bedhead is still of interest to women obsessed with the minutiae of her seemingly perfect life.
As Heat magazine knows only too well, we're just as happy seeing the stars looking crap ("Look! Lindsay Lohan has a pimple just like mine!") as we are seeing them polished to perfection on the red carpet. Happier, in fact, as it makes them less like deities and more like us.
Madonna knows this only too well. Don't think for a moment that her make-up-free face is an accident: this is not a woman who forgets to apply her mascara. She knows the paparazzi document her every move: her current lack of war paint is simply Madonna doing "victim" mode. Intent on making Guy Ritchie the baddie in their relationship, she wants the public's sympathy and what better way to garner it than by ditching the eyeliner?
For a celebrity, a make-up-free face is visual shorthand for expressing vulnerability. And, according to current wisdom, it is also far more likely to connect with your fanbase than a face plastered with Max Factor. When Nicole Kidman missed out on an Oscar in Cold Mountain, it was alleged that it was because the Academy thought she looked too "perfect" (ie "caked in made-up") in the film.
Since then, actresses have been falling over themselves to go au naturel on celluloid, as though the very act of getting out the Wet Wipes should be enough to warrant a little gold statue. Most recently, Kristin Scott Thomas appears in I've Loved You So Long without make-up, a move which some commentators have hailed as "brave" and "honest". But then it's easy to be brave and honest when you are a freakishly beautiful woman of 48 with Greta Garbo cheekbones.
For those of us whose morning face looks like death warmed up, cooled down and heated up in the microwave again, help is always at hand in an arsenal of well-chosen cosmetics. "No make-up make-up" has long been the default setting for every London girl who doesn't want to look as if she has tried too hard. Three excellent brands to try are Laura Mercier, Bobbi Brown and Chantecaille, all of which excel at ultra-light foundations, lip-coloured lipsticks and eyelid-coloured eyeshadows. Madonna is slathering hers on as we speak.
Reader views (5)
She obviously has makeup on.. creme foundation,some sort of nude lip balm, a bit of mascara and a highlighter on her lids below the crease. Most of the photos claiming to be celebrities without makeup are just photos of celebs wearing nude colors.
- Jenna, USA
Definitely wwearing makeup - all the signs are there. If you bother to wear diamond earrings and dress like that, you're putting on a face!
- Angelika, Cambridge, United Kingdom
She is definitely wearing foundation, eyeliner, lipstick and eye shadow.
- Caz, London
Above where?
I don't care. She's perfect anyway.
- Dt, Harrow, UK
Keira Knightley is definitely wearing make up above!
- Katie, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire
