‘I feel powerful’: Midlife celebs are embracing the no-make-up selfie

The face is familiar, famously so, but something’s different about the eyes. Michelle Pfeiffer, blonde hair tousled, casual in a cowl-neck jumper, smiles from an Instagram selfie, triggering a double-take. Not a jot of make-up. Au naturel Insta selfies also spill from Halle Berry, Drew Barrymore, Helen Mirren, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Lopez and Gwyneth Paltrow.

The typically pancaked and powdered celebrity corners of social media are witnessing a new phenomenon: celebrities aged in their 40s, 50s and 60s revealing their apparently barefaced selves in a bid for realistic representation. In the words of 57-year-old model Paulina Porizkova: “I post them because I’d love to see my peers do the same. I have a craving to see real faces of my age, so I don’t feel so alone in ageing.”

For Melbourne psychologist and author Meredith Fuller, female stars of a certain age celebrating their make-up-free portraits isn’t just brave, it’s necessary. “It’s, ‘Judge me for who I am, for my work, for my truth,’ ” she says.

But candid selfies aren’t just about authenticity. Fuller, who works with women on issues involving ageing and identity, believes pictures of nude faces of actors and models underline the flexibility of persona: “It’s about having a right to choose when and where you do wear make-up, and the opportunity to present different parts of ourselves at different times.”

“These women are embracing the notion that they’re interesting to other people because of their curiosity for life, ability to laugh, try new things and have fun.”

Singer Alicia Keys stopped wearing make-up for several years in her mid-30s when just the very idea of going without it made her feel uncomfortable. Shot bare-faced for the cover of her 2016 album Here, she admitted the experience was “the most empowered, most free and most honestly beautiful that I’ve ever felt”. Now 41, she still shares no-make-up posts on Instagram – not because she doesn’t like make-up (she does), but because she never wants to feel that she has to wear it.

“If we can’t go out the front door unless we have this one particular look, that’s debilitating and defining,” agrees Fuller. “Instead, these women are embracing the notion that they’re interesting to other people because of their curiosity for life, ability to laugh, try new things and have fun.”

As Porizkova told The Guardian last month while promoting her new book, No Filter: “If you feel shame for not looking the way you used to, you can either fix your face or get rid of the shame.” She’s choosing the latter: “I feel powerful now. Awesome, no?”

To read more from Good Weekend magazine, visit our page at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times.