Remember the early 2000 when ‘Fallin’ was blasting from every radio station straight into your soul as if Alicia Keys knew how to speak to your heart? 15 years later, she still owns that secret path like so many before her! Role models. Influencers. The true kind!
While the MTV VMAs 2016 Red Carpet rolled out and everyone tried to outshine everyone else by wearing the shortest, shiniest, fluffiest dress or the glitziest accessories, the craziest hairdos and the most intricate makeup, along came Alicia Keys with no makeup whatsoever and the world stops turning! First time in a loooong series of events I felt like writing something valuable about the Red Carpet madness – and … it wasn’t even about Alicia’s red dress from the Just Cavalli Pre Fall 2016 collection!
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3 Months ago, soon after launching a new video (In Common) Alicia Keys decided to let us all know that she will come undone because:
‘… 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.’
It could’ve been a celebrity whim. A new ‘element’ in her artistic road, a replica after the feedback to her ‘In Common’ video (where she appeared without makeup). Yet, event after event, Alicia Keys showed strength and honesty, remaining true to the unmasked credo.
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At the BET Awards this year or an NBC Universal event Alicia Keys appeared with no makeup yet absolutely radiant and flawless. What’s her secret? Is she hiding something, is she wearing some kind of invisible makeup, a new formula adding glow and, maybe like a Saint aura?
That’s what we’re more willing to accept – aren’t we? – that a secret formula is behind beauty. Some masterfully executed nip & tuck operation, a heavily worked gym body, hours and hours of endless spa treatments and the latest hairdo, the most outstanding accessories and clothes available to the human population.
When instead, Alicia Keys is simply talking about being true to your inner self. Stop hiding and start living to your fullest natural self. Hair, eyes, cheeks, lips – it’s all Alicia, baby! No secret, no hiding, no concealing, not anymore #nomakeup. If you think that’s bland, then please note that Alicia’s bold no-makeup appearance has been the trending topic on every social media platform since last night.
Because at some point we all should learn to be free, to live free. We’re taught to follow the rules of the social game. What if the game is wrong and it’s only meant to keep us prisoners of our insecurities, consumers tormented by a ‘never enough’ society?
The commercials we’re constantly harassed with only teach us that we need to buy more. Buy to be happier, buy to be prettier, buy to be better. But we’re never happier or prettier just by buying a new pair of pants. Au contraire – we feel so much stronger when we resist the new season’s temptations and buy smarter. We feel so much prettier just by carrying a flower in our hair and not the latest contouring cosmetics.
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We feel so much stronger when we let go of those tormenting insecurities whispering us that we’re not skinny enough, that our hair isn’t straight enough and that our skin isn’t flawless enough. When we just are, as we are.
Thank you Alicia Keys! 15 years in my heart, more inspiring than ever before!
2 comments
I am soooooo glad you brought this up.
Firstly she is one of my favourite artists out there so I*ll try not to be biased. True to be told, it is a bit easy for her to go out without any makeup because she has great skin and got great facial features.
What a strong political statement she is making and I think it is a clear slap on the face of that talentless Kreature who was a presenter ( I think, I didnt watch it ) and alikes who are constantly playing with the uber se* female stereotypes.
I am fine with other women who think they need to cover what they consider imperfections , I am one of them as I dont go down stairs without lipstick, ever. What I am totally against is the lacquered bimbo .
Happy to have you on board, discussing this #nomakeup story!
I’m still following the after effect of Alicia Keys not wearing makeup – indeed she’s lucky to have amazing features and that hair (maaajor hair envy -_^) steals so much attention – and why not? It’s not like she has extensions, right? I would be proud if had her hair too! Strangely enough, people (women) seem to think that Alicia without makeup looks like she had a headcold or something! At such point we’re used to seeing people with makeup that the lack of it suggests illness -_-.
All those so called ‘influencers’ like Kendall and her famous family just pale in comparison with the real statement Alicia is making by just leaving makeup aside. The courage! The sanity of mind and spirit!
I understand your attitude towards other women but I think we should all try living with #nomakeup. For one day. For two days… Covering up doesn’t change who we are, so why doing it? It feels like a Don Quijote-ean fight, yet I dream of a world without cover-ups. Without paint and contouring. A world in which we would all just love our bodies and each-other as we are…
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