A *lot* of those "no makeup" pictures were from movies.

So rather than "no makeup" they're "lots of makeup that's meant to make this person look bad"?

carefully lit and touched up

Yeah, there's the whole thing of touching up and improving (or not, I guess - more than once I find that the touched pictures lost something in the process) that's never possible when looking at mirrors, even with all the makeup and hair style and lighting.

I wanna see before and after shots of a man in Manscara.

What was the other wacky male makeup thing?

Most of the makeup-less shots are candids, which are almost always less flattering.

Seriously -- the Marilyn makeup-less pictures aren't candids; they're posed, but just with no makeup. Which is why her makeup-less pictures look so much better than the other actors' makeup-less pictures.

The Halle makeup-less picture seemed posed(ish), and it's notable that her makeup-less picture is one of the only "good" ones.

(Also, I think I've been living in a cave, because there are about 3 of those actors who I don't even recognize, in either state [makeup-less AND made-up].)

A *lot* of those "no makeup" pictures were from movies.

So rather than "no makeup" they're "lots of makeup that's meant to make this person look bad"?

See, I *knew* that you can't trust the made-up photos, in the sense that they've been colored and curled (or straightened) and carefully lit and then retouched in Photoshop (or whatever) afterwards.

But to find that I can't trust the makeup-less photos? Man.

But to find that I can't trust the makeup-less photos?

Is there anything you can trust on the internets these days? I mean, besides LOLcats....

Hmm... some of the no make up pictures are from movies, most notably the one of charlize theron, I think. But plenty are just paparazzi pics.

I think Julia Roberts is rather pretty without makeup, though the lighter color of her hair is not great.

The widow's peak and heart-shapedness of Marilyn's face is always so startling.

Is there anything you can trust on the internets these days? I mean, besides LOLcats....

I also trust the FAILBlog, xkcd, and Dinosaur Comics.

How many of these movies can you recognize by their fonts? [link]

McCain Takes $2300 Contribution from Owner of Gay Sex Site Manhunt

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Those curtains are hideous.

If a picture of two shirtless men making out is worksafe for you, then this site is worksafe.

Is there anything you can trust on the internets these days? I mean, besides LOLcats....

PhD comics is practically a documentary.

But plenty are just paparazzi pics.

Yeah, but -- they're exceedingly unflattering shots, which is, I supposed, the hallmark of the paparazzi picture industry. If someone wanted to do a fair comparison of No Makeup vs. Makeup, it should be done the way the Marilyn one was -- with the no makeup picture being a posed shot, instead of an attempt to make the person look as bad as humanly possible.

I remember when we were back on whatever board it was that allowed user pics, and I would occasionally make my user pic a horrible shot of me -- weird angle, blinked at the wrong time, mouth gaping like a hooked trout, etc. -- mostly for Rio's amusement.

[Interlude: COME BACK RIO!!!!]

But I don't actually look as bad as those pictures made me look, not even in a makeup-less state.

A comparison should actually involve, you know, comparable things. If you slapped some makeup on -- was it Drew Barrymore? -- but got the same weird angle, gaping mouth, puffy face, she'd still look bad. Just with makeup.

(Hmm. In retrospect, I seem to be arguing against some point that no one has actually made. So I'm arguing with the pixels of the Interweb, I guess. Chalk it up to not enough coffee yet.)