Ladies, how often do you wear makeup? For some women, they can’t imagine leaving the house without doing their makeup first. For others, minimal makeup is the norm.

While many little girls and teens start playing with makeup for fun and to keep up with fashion trends, as we get older, we understand makeup’s real purpose – to make us look younger. Sure, you can use makeup to contour your face and emphasize your favorite features at any age, but as you get older, it also helps hide age spots, fine lines and wrinkles.

We’ve  seen celebrities go makeup-free before. That’s not necessarily a new thing, but it always feels inspiring. Seeing a celebrity’s natural beauty makes us realize they aren’t that different from us after all. Everyone looks a little bit different without a full face of makeup done by a professional makeup artist.

While celebrities in their 20s, 30s and even 40s have shared their makeup-free natural beauty with us, it’s much more rare for older people to do the same.

Katie Couric is 64 years old. We used to wake up watching her on the TODAY show every morning. More recently, she guest hosted “Jeopardy!” She always had a full face of professional makeup.

Couric agreed to do a photoshoot for People magazine without wearing any makeup. On Instagram she wrote, “Can’t believe @people included me in their Beautiful Issue, (and that I agreed to do a photo shoot with no makeup!😅) But ultimately, I think when we start seeing women as they age and appreciate the beauty that comes with that, women will stop trying to look young all the time. We need to start appreciating and celebrating women at every age! Am I right ladies???”

Watch the video below to hear Couric share her thoughts on makeup, aging and beauty.

 

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A post shared by Katie Couric (@katiecouric)

Naturium Skincare founder Susan Yara thinks Couric’s photoshoot and interview sans-makeup are especially important “because it normalizes the aging process, specifically for women in entertainment.”

If you would like to step away from the makeup and embrace your inner beauty, here are a few expert tips to do just that. First, remember that many influencers use filters and photo editing software to tweak their photos. Michael Keyes, M.D. suggests following influencers who don’t alter their photos.

You can also make small changes instead of ditching makeup completely. For example, dermatologist Heidi Goodarzi, M.D. suggests using tinted sunscreen instead of foundation.

Then, there’s the best advice of all – self-confidence. Yara describes self-confidence as her “secret weapon.”

Do you usually put on makeup before leaving the house? Do you feel confident going out or joining Zoom without wearing makeup? Does seeing someone like Couric go makeup-free inspire you to try wearing less makeup?