FRESH FROM PERFORMING at the Champions League Final in Milan last weekend and ahead of her appearance on Graham Norton tonight, Alicia Keys is in the spotlight for a whole other reason.
She wrote an essay for Lena Dunham’s LennyLetter this week outlining why she no longer wears makeup.
She’s written how she tried to fit in for years by wearing makeup but decided against recently
She began:
We all get to a point in our lives (especially girls) where we try to be perfect.
And Keys then went on to describe her time in school:
Or how about in junior high school? Where all the “pretty” girls are wearing lipstick and eyeliner and mascara. Some of them are so skilled they even look like those models in every magazine you ever read — the ones who made you feel slightly uncomfortable with yourself or misrepresented or just unseen.
And since she has stopped wearing makeup, it’s been a revelation:
“I swear it is the strongest, most empowered, most free, and most honestly beautiful that I have ever felt”
Her essay finished on this note:
cause I don’t want to cover up anymore. Not my face, not my mind, not my soul, not my thoughts, not my dreams, not my struggles, not my emotional growth. Nothing.
So many women have applauded her honesty
“Do what makes you feel good”
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Some questioned whether her stance might be applied to others unfairly
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But for the most part her honest assessment of her choices has gone down well
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You can read the full essay over on LennyLetter.com now.
