Dabbling in beauty products can be a fun hobby and a profitable livelihood for some…cue Rihanna! But it’s also nice when you can give the cosmetics a rest and rock your natural beauty. What better day to do that than on April 26, which is National No Makeup Day! Created in 2011, the day aims to help women feel empowered and confident without makeup. Many people regularly go sans makeup and embrace their natural skin. Here are some of our favorite Black celebrity women who fearlessly flaunt their makeup-free faces.
1. Gabrielle Union, 52
Gabrielle Union, the ’90s bombshell, who many agree is aging gracefully (if at all), is not afraid to post those makeup-less selfies. With her fresh face being front and center in the camera, the Bring It On star’s brown freckles draw all the attention. Union has posted what her real skin looks like more frequently in recent years.
But in 2009, she did her first makeup-free cover shoot for People magazine. Ten years later, she went back for another shoot where she discussed how she feels about not wearing makeup. The mother-of-one told the publication, “For the most part, I feel most like myself without makeup. 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.”
