Bare-faced to full-fledged drag queen – when it comes to makeup in the gym, I have seen it all. But even I didn’t see this one coming: courtesy of a product pitch I received a few days ago I learned that there is now a full line of cosmetics specifically for working out. Rae Cosmetics* helpfully explains, “Look, we know you wear makeup to the gym. Here’s how to doll yourself up without ending with smeared cheeks and a face full of pimples. If you don’t select the right products, though,[sic] you could wind up looking like a hot mess.” Considering that I spend the majority of my gym time looking like a hot mess and proud of it, I did not take them up on their offer to try out the makeup.
My personal philosophy with workout makeup is that if I’m already wearing it when I get to the gym, I don’t worry about it. If I’m not already wearing it when I get to the gym, I don’t worry about it. Meaning, of course, that I am lazy and because I have dry skin I wash my face as little as possible. I’ll go days without wearing any makeup at all other than some mascara because I don’t want to have to scrub my skin. I especially don’t like sleeping with my makeup on – a far cry from my college days where I could tell how much fun I’d had the previous night by looking at the various colors smudged on my pillowcase. Although exceptions will be made for any workout requiring a costume. I once did TurboKick in a wig, false eyelashes, silver lame(accent on the e) cape and so much makeup that my sweat towel was tie-dyed by the end.
Yes, I actually worked out in this get-up. And there is a lot of makeup going on there. Green glitter eyeshadow was involved. (The theme was “wedding turbokick” and my so-creative-that-nobody-got-it-thereby-ruining-the-point costume was to go as the bouquet.)
For the record, I’m not anti-makeup at all. If I’m going out, to church or to parent-teacher conferences I’ll go Kabuki. And for those rare occasions when my husband and I actually get to go do adult things in adult places – you know like talking about how the car needs an oil change while we wait for our order at the California Pizza Kitchen – I’ll get all dolled up. I even have my make-up quirks. For instance, whenever I go to therapy (which is still going awesome by the way!) I have to wear make-up. It’s just something about talking about how messed up I am that makes me feel like I need to try extra hard to look pulled together on the outside. Yes I know that’s weird. But when it comes to the gym, I’m generally either au naturel or wearing whatever I came in the door with. In fact, one of the best benefits of exercise for me is how awesome it makes my skin look.
Rae Cosmetics makeup motto is “heat and perspiration-resistant cosmetics that help improve your skins [sic] natural, healthy appearance.” I couldn’t help but wonder about the wisdom in using something artificial to fake a “natural healthy appearance.” But then I remembered that I wear padded bras so it’s not like I can judge. Indeed, other than the rare occasion when someone’s been completely over the top with the gold eye-shadow and pancake (which sounds kind of awesome now that I write it), I rarely even notice when other girls wear makeup to workout in.
What’s your workout-makeup philosophy? Is there a need for a line of special gym cosmetics? And for kicks, what is the craziest outfit you’ve ever exercised in??
It’s hard to see but for this race I even put on temporary tattoos down the sides of my face. They totally made me run faster.
*I am not being paid by Rae Cosmetics, this post is not sponsored by them nor do I have any business relationship with them.
I workout without makeup. I have really weird skin that likes to become allergic to things on a regular basis so I try to aggravate it as little as possible.
A good tip I’ve found with dry sensitive skin is Olive Oil – you thought it was just for cooking and salads ? Nah 🙂 On a night when I’m at home and my skin is dry rubbing in a little olive oil does wonders. It’s the one thing I haven’t become allergic to !
Have you tried jojoba oil? The consistency is a lot lighter than that of olive oil, and it blends in very well with your own skin oil, so it doesn’t feel oily.
I have tried olive oil before! I was kind of put off by the eau-de-salad scent but I should give it another run. I’ve heard coconut oil works well too (and I love the smell of coconuts!). Never tried jojoba…will have to add that to the list!
Olive oil is also really good as a makeup remover.
Michelle phan on youtube has some really great natural skin care ideas, that’s where I found out about this 🙂
With seven daughters and four of them alutds now, we have been through this alot. These are my “rules”. The things that work for us and I have been very happy with the results. My girls can have play make-up when they are little, much like your girls. We emphasis how beautiful they are without it all the time!! When they are 12 (usually in the Christmas stocking) they get a brown mascara and a natural blush (this is the kind that is not tinted until it goes on the cheek, then it is very light)and also lip gloss that has a very light tint. Miracle turned 14 this year and she got a pallet of browns and purples (light) eye shadows as well as a moisturizer that is lightly tinted. The moisturizer is costly (about 11.00), but very light and healthy for their skin, and it lasts a long time. In addition, she received some more colorful lip glosses that are almost but not quite a lip stick. I talked with her when she got them about how her makeup needs to be light enough that I don’t notice it. It should add to her natural beauty and not stand out on its own. We put it on in different amounts and I showed her the difference. She loves it and takes care to always wear it light (when she wears it at all). Of all my girls, only one of them had problems with wearing way too much makeup and she used to have to wash her face and go without until she learned. It was a hard lesson, but she has her own natural beauty and is totally comfortable in her own skin these days and can’t believe that she ever used that much makeup. I think the biggest thing to do is to talk about it. The girls love to help each other and they have learned to be casual with thier makeup when they are going out. I am happy with it, and so are they.
(I hear coconut oil is good, too. I haven’t tried it because, at 42, I still break out like a 13 year-old on school photo day.)
I don’t work out in makeup, generally. It’s not like I’m trying to impress anyone, and I usually end up with the Alice Coopef look if I’m wearing makeup at the gym. ( Oh yeah, that’s HAWT!)
I don’t wear make up, period. But I can see a use for it. Dancers, for example. Or if you know you’re going to exercise, but know you won’t have time to wash makeup off before you have a class or other engagement. I used to go to the gym right after work to wait out the la commute traffic, and if I did wear makeup, I know I’d be too lazy to wash it off before the workout. I’m pretty self centered at the gym, I have no idea if people at my old gym wore it…I don’t think they did. I mainly don’t wear it because I break out easily, I wonder if this will work, work out or no workout…since I glow like a pig..
“Since I glow like a pig” – you and me both, hahah!
I don’t wear makeup except lipstick when I work out, but lately I’ve had some of the worst acne of my life. I seriously have never had skin this bad, and I have no idea why. I’ve started using Revlon’s Colorstay concealer when I work out and it has held up admirably. I sweat buckets when I work out, and unfortunately I can no longer swipe away at the sweat on my face with abandon, but if I dab at my face, the concealer stays on without staining my towels throughout my 2-hour workout sessions.
That’s all I’d ever use, though, I feel the gym isn’t really a place for a full face of makeup and I admit to looking down upon women who show up in a full face of makeup, blush, mascara, and eyeliner (and how they cake on the eyeliner). I mean I can understand a bit of makeup to cover up slight imperfections, but a full face is just too much. It is pretty fun seeing said women after a half hour of slight sweating when their makeup start oxidizing and turning white and melting off, though.
I’m definitely not into wearing makeup at the gym, but I’m surprised they don’t market it more for summer days, hot vacations and other sweaty occasions when you’re not necessarily working out but regular makeup quickly looks oily and icky.
I wear very little makeup normally (super pale skin, lashes, etc means I look like a hooker if I put on much at all!) so it’s not too big a deal. But what I do wear I’m a little neurotic about. I hate the constant dark circles under my eyes and I know without a little blush to add color I look like a ghost. So I admit it. Even if I’m only going to the gym I’ll put those things on. But I definitely spend less time and care less about it than I normally would. Luckily I’m so pale any foundation, etc I use barely shows up on a sweat towel, even a white one!
I too wear the palest shade of foundation they sell! I once tried to buy it at the Clinique counter and the teenager was like “I thought they only used that one on corpses.” That’s me, pale like a dead person.
LOL. I love it! That’s hilarious. Similarly, I was on the beach with my fiance (the second palest person I’ve ever seen after myself) and my mom and she looked at me, looked at him and then told me that our kids “are going to look like little ghosts.” Thanks mom.
OMG. That reminds me of a NatalieDee comic I saw the other day: http://www.nataliedee.com/031212/
I thought I was the only one! 🙂
Have always been a bit too butch for makeup, and now as I’m getting older and my vision is getting worse, I probably wouldn’t see the difference anyway. So I just imagine that everyone else sees the softer blurry version of my face that I do, so it saves a lot of time and money trying to smooth things out.
And yes, I know how weird that sounds!
” So I just imagine that everyone else sees the softer blurry version of my face that I do, so it saves a lot of time and money trying to smooth things out.” You crack me up!!
I really don’t like wearing makeup to work out. In fact, if I am wearing it from some prior event, I try my hardest to wash it off. I might wear a bit of coverup if I have a couple of spots, but other than that, I think a bare face looks much better than a face covered in runny, streaky makeup. And then I have to be careful what I wipe my sweat off on!
I hardly ever wear make-up, so it isn’t something I give too much thought to. I have psoriasis on my face,so make-up bothers it. If I have a special event (company holiday party, wedding, etc.) then I will wear mascara, a little eye shadow, and a lip stain. That’s about it. Makes my morning routine much quicker!
My dad and I once dressed up as King Arthur(me) and Patsy(him) from Monty Python and the Holy Grail to run a Halloween 5k. He wore a pack with an attached flag, as well as carrying two empty coconuts(which he did bang together for about 2 out of the three miles). I also had the music playing on my iPod. I did wear “makeup” in that I used waterproof eyeliner to make a beard on myself(it stayed put and I had to scrub it off later!) and dad smeared dirt all over his face.
We won first place for the costume portion.
Hahahah I LOVE IT!!! I bet you guys were awesome! And kudos to your dad for keeping up the coconut clapping for so long!
I work out after crawling out of bed at stupid o’clock and stumbling to the bus. I often wonder what the bus people think of me all bleary eyed with my hair tucked under the hood of my bunnyhug every morning with my gym bag and book bag and lunchbag… I’m not about to put on makeup just to sweat it off if it means I can sleep just a little longer :). Of course I don’t wear a lot of makeup even after I shower and get ready for the day after my workout, but I do see a few people in at 630 AM with full makeup and elaborate hairdo and I wonder if they got up early just to look good or if they haven’t gone to bed yet 🙂
Okay WHAT is a BUNNYHUG?? And where do I get one?! And this: ” I do see a few people in at 630 AM with full makeup and elaborate hairdo and I wonder if they got up early just to look good or if they haven’t gone to bed yet” is hilarious!
Hee hee…I forgot – Bunnyhug is a slang word that seems to only be used in the province of Saskatchewan, where I live in Canada. A bunnyhug is a sweater with a hood and a pocket in the front for your hands…it can zip up or be a pullover. I have one with a hood lined with soft fuzzy warm fabric. Perfect fall and spring fuzzy warminess 🙂
That is way more fun than calling it a hoodie. I’m totally going to try and bring bunnyhug into vogue down here!!!
I am all about wearing cute outfits at the gym as my way of “looking nice” (but really more so as my excuse to buy lots of lululemon) however I hate when people come with their hair perfectly done and a full face of make up at 7AM.
If i am still wearing make up from the day at college, fine. Otherwise I put on a little bit of moisturizer and make sure I don’t have a huge pimple. I am not going to the gym to look nice, I’m going with the hopes of looking gross and sweaty so my body looks nice elsewhere
I don’t work out in makeup, but I have a job where I sweat a lot (cheesemaking) and I have found that I do feel much better if I wear just a bit. If I wake up without makeup, I’ll wear some silicone mascara (the type you take off with warm water) and a bit of liquid eyeliner (liquid because if it gets messed with, it just goes away, rather than smearing like pencil). If I had makeup on from the day before I’ll just go in that, which isn’t too big a deal since my everyday face makeup is just Origins Vitazing (!) and blush, so even when I do sweat it off, it’s not going everywhere.
And this is exactly why I love liquid liner! Going to have to check out what origins vitazing is!
I love the bouquet costume! I don’t wear make up to workout, unless I didn’t have time, forgot to take it off after work. It always made me laugh when I live in Scotland and went to the gym. It was full of girls with hair extensions, fake tan, crazy nails and a ton of make up, walking on the treadmill or on the eleptical on the lowest settings. Looking at them were a bunch of guys with a ton of gel in their hair, flexing their muscles and winking hahaha
Just have to say you look like such a cute KID in the race photo!!
Makeup…haha…my entire makeup routine is lotion, a bit of eyeliner on the bottom, and blistex on my lips. I can shower, shave my legs, dry my hair, brush my teeth, dress, and be ready to go in less than 10 minutes!! I don’t want to take the time to remove makeup nor do I want to swim/bike/run/lift in makeup, it would be too big of a mess.
Man I can’t even shave my legs in less than 10 minutes! But I’m guessing I’m more, um, hirsute than you;)
working out is my job, so yes I wear make-up. Clinique used to do “Workout make-up” which was a tinted moisturizer, and it was awesome, since been discontinued 🙁 I loved that stuff! Nothing compares to that.
Generally my workout make-up is light foundation, powder, eyeliner and mascara. Sometimes tinted lip balm (burts bees!!!) if I remember 😉
I’m with you…if I’m heading to the gym after work and I have some makeup on so be it, but if I’m working out first thing in the morning I’m not going to bother with makeup. My club’s a gym!
Ugh, the thought of sweat and make-up mixed up together all over my face…I get clogged pores just thinking about it. No thanks. I prefer to workout sans make-up, although I do wear make-up often. Not everyday, but I admit it makes me feel prettier. The one thing I cannot go without is clear lip gloss, and I guess I do put that on before going to the gym. Not a fan of dry lips!
P.S. Loved the Today Show segment. So excited to see you on there!!!!
Aw thank you! It was fun!
All I have to say is 80’s dress up day. One-piece LACE body suit…yes it was my mother’s!!
You are forever immortalized in my mind in that unitard! I love you for wearing that!!
I am not used to wearing make-up always and I am not familiar and updated wth the new trend today…This can help…
I go fist thing so no make-up & honestly, I sweat so much that I don’t want it clogging my pores.. When I used to have to go from work, I had no choice but as bad s I look without it, I would look worse with it sweating down my face or clogging my already messed up face! 😉
I don’t wear a lot of make-up, & def. not to the gym. I like to think that it clogs up the pores, which, as we all know, is akin to all things evil (I jest). Anyway, why would I want to cover up the sweaty glow that exercise brings? I don’t wear anything particularly strange, but one time I went to the gym after church & forgot an sports bra, so I was stuck in my Wonder Bra with my boobies hiked up to my chin encased in pink & white lace.
This: “but one time I went to the gym after church & forgot an sports bra, so I was stuck in my Wonder Bra with my boobies hiked up to my chin encased in pink & white lace.” just made my whole day.
I don’t put makeup on for the gym, but I don’t take it off either, so I guess it depends on whatever I’ve been doing before my workout. However, a few months ago, I went to the MAC counter to get a new eye shadow, and before I knew it, I was walking out with a FULL on made up face. Like maybe the most makeup that has ever been on my face. Where was I going next? Zumba. I walked in to class and tried very hard not to make eye contact with anyone.
I have a similar philosophy on make up. If I’m already wearing it, I just leave it. But I refuse to put it on for the gym. I’m there to workout. I don’t know, I was kind of ticked off to find out about Rae’s products. The pressure to look good all the time, even at the gym?
If not at the gym, when is it acceptable to be seen by others without makeup? Are heading towards waking up before husband does to wash your make-up off and put it on again before he wakes up?
to echo a lot of you: i tend to ‘go as i am.’ the exceptions being:
-barring a cataclysmic event, i apply clear mascara to my eyebrows before i leave the apartment every day. (italian genes. sigh.) if i go to the gym / jogging path at the end of the day and my eyebrows have decided to get frisky, ill apply another coat to settle them back down into a more socially acceptable silhouette again.
-working out in the early AM (all, like, 5 times ive done this …. ), i will wear a super-hydrating lip gloss because i feel like when i wake up my lips are dry (even with quaffing water through the night and smearing on overnight treatments ಠ_ಠ); and
-if i am going from work or some other event for which ive applied mascara and i have a eureka reminder moment that said mascara is not waterproof (shouldnt happen, sometimes it does (despite my personal rule that im not allowed to buy makeup unless all cognitive functions are firing on all cylinders)). in which case ill remove it so folks dont think zombies have taken over the gym / jogging path.
in terms of ever having dressed crazy / fun at the gym — nope nope nope nope nope. im not the most graceful gazelle in the herd, so i dont like to draw attention to myself ….
a significant problem i have in this realm is actually more my hair — its pretty long + thick and curly, and doesnt tend to stay in ponytails (even low ones) for an entire run (and the face-framing bits come out of the bobby pins or barrettes). braids have failed miserably cause i have layers and the hair just slips out and makes me look like the kid from the ‘firestarter’ movie (http://screencrave.frsucrave.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/firestarter.jpg). headbands give me headaches or slip / pop off 🙁 ive poured so much money into various iterations of hair ties and clips, i should buy stock in the ‘goody’ brand. after much trial and error, i find that what works is to pull the top half of my hair up on top of my head in a super-high / dorky mini ponytail (a la pebbles from the flintstones) — this gets the shorter / more challenging bits off of my face for the duration of the run, and the longest part in the back kind of just stays put. it has the unfortunate side effect of making me look like im trying too hard to look cute (and failing miserably), i fear, but im working on giving up feeling self-conscious about this because its the comfiest way for me to run. 🙁
sigh. i just want a cone of invisibility i can work out in …. like that art project re: street bathrooms? id totally pay extra for a gym that has treadmills inside of these: http://www.hoax-slayer.com/one-way-glass-toilet.shtml
ok, end babble 🙂
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