Over the last few days there has been an influx of photographs dominating my newsfeed on Facebook.  Many of my friends have been posting photos of themselves sans make-up in the latest craze of ‘selfies’.

Why?

Well, it’s all in aid of cancer research and awareness – people are posting a photo of themselves without makeup and donating a small amount of money to a cancer charity of their choice.

I have to say I’ve really enjoyed seeing all the photos.  It’s lovely to see everyone at their most natural – almost as if they’re letting the world see the ‘real’ them, freckles and all.  There is so much natural beauty out there that we never let each other see because we make ourselves put on this mask every morning.

Then the inevitable happened and I got ‘nominated’.

Instant dread.

It has been at least fifteen years since I went without make-up.  I don’t wear much – just BB cream and mascara.  I think it makes me look better, and if I look better I feel better about myself.  The thought of sharing a photo of myself without make-up… *shudder*

I may as well post a photo of myself naked.

That’s how important it is to me – I feel naked without my make-up on.

When I was little I used to watch my Mum putting on her makeup in the bathroom mirror – again, not a lot, just eyeshadow and mascara.  She always used to joke about “putting her face on” in the morning.  She didn’t like the way her eyes looked without mascara – us redheads have pale eyelashes, which mean that our eyes aren’t particularly defined.

I grew up believing that I too needed mascara to look better.  The story passed down through the generations just like I wrote about in this post I wrote a couple of weeks ago.

Anyway, back to now and this ‘make-up free selfie’ nomination…  I’m sweating just thinking about it.

And that means I have to do it.

If I’m scared of doing something, I’ve told myself that the only option I have is to face it head on.

So, as an exercise in bravery I decided to give it a go.

And here I am.  Make-up free:

As part of my nomination I have also donated £25 to Ben Lindon’s London Marathon fund for Brain Tumour Research.  Ben is my cousin’s husband – he was diagnosed with an incurable, inoperable brain tumour about five years ago.  He had intensive radiotherapy and now has to have regular chemotherapy (every six weeks as a minimum) for the rest of his life.  He was told that he would never be able to father a child.  Then, in 2012, my cousin gave birth to their little miracle – Martha Rose.  She is now 18 months old and Ben and Kate (my cousin) are currently expecting little miracle #2, due in June this year.  It’s an incredibly uplifting story and a very worthwhile cause.

So I nominate all of you (yep, ALL of you) who are reading this, to post a make-up free selfie on Facebook and donate some money to a charity of your choice.  If you choose Ben’s campaign (he’s still quite a way off his target) that would be awesome, though of course it’s completely up to you.

Please feel free to share this blog post amongst your friends.  Thank you 🙂