Terry Prone: Why girls are right to slap on some slap

Amanda Byram without make-up

We can all relax a bit after reading a new survey that says 65pc of Irish women would never go to work without make-up on.

Facing the day becomes a little easier when your female co-workers are fully dressed and have slung some slap on their dials.

On the other hand, 35pc of women in this country may be coming to their place of work every day without make-up on. Frankly, someone needs to find that 35pc and set them right.

Women should wear make-up to work. That's all there is to it. Now, I don't want to infringe on anybody's human rights, but come on.

Make-up is what turns a face from something close to an old, peeled wall into something worth looking at.

Of course you look natural and real when you encounter your own shining face, fresh from the shower, in the bathroom mirror.

But gravity and stress ensure that the shining morning face doesn't always weather well. So what others see a few hours later is not what you saw at dawn.

Of course, you can also say that people should accept you as you are. If that's what turns you on and if you can get away with the approach, more power to your paint-free face.

Just be aware that other research done, aside from this survey from cosmetic firm Make Up For Ever, has repeatedly found that women who pitch up for work without any make-up tend to be regarded by their colleagues as somewhat under-dressed. It's a bit like turning up without tights on.

ambitious

In junior roles it may look good. In informal start-ups peopled by under-25s, maybe. But if you're an ambitious woman who wants to make her way to the top, you might think again about going without tights and going without make-up.

Going bare-naked in the face may make you feel independent and spirited but the fact is that if you do not put the smallest bit of foundation on, but choose instead to arrive at your desk displaying your splotches, dry flaky bits, pimples, wrinkles and shiny oily portions, you may get yourself noticed for the wrong reasons.

A bit like that fad, last year, for facially naked selfies, where celebs posted pictures of themselves without make-up on. It was a worthy charity cause but a brief fad, and I'll give you one guess why. Right. Looking at even the most attractive celeb (like Amanda Byram, for instance) with pale eyebrows and eyelashes and a mouth that melts into the rest of her complexion is not pleasurable.

The "take me as I am, respect me for what I do" stance is fine. But the way to establish respect is by behaviour.

If anyone is reduced to making a statement about their individual worth by leaving off make-up, they have a tenuous grasp on the real world.