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"20-year-old Indiana University student Annie Garau was sick of &amp;quot;hurling mental insults&amp;quot; at her reflection and decided to try going makeup-free for one year to see if anything changed [via Lexington Herald-Leader].  This past Saturday marked day 200 and &amp;quot;it has been an interesting seven months,&amp;quot; Garau writes. When she would go out with friends, guys would talk to her less, and she&amp;#039;d feel more awkward while dancing and talking to new people. Basically, &amp;quot;I found that most guys thought that they preferred women without makeup, but subconsciously, they were attracted to those who had used makeup in a subtle way.&amp;quot; She felt so uncomfortable that she eventually ended up avoiding big parties at school altogether. Most people admire Garau&amp;#039;s commitment to the experiment, but immediately shut down the idea of participating themselves. Her friends allowed her to take pictures of them makeup-free for her blog, but immediately started tearing themselves to pieces and reapplied their looks. &amp;quot;Discussing things you don&amp;#039;t like about yourself is always a good conversation-starter in a group of girls. Each girl tries to top the other. Throbbing zit beats frizzy hair which beats too small of a thigh gap,&amp;quot; Garau notes.  Though her social life is different, she finds that her attitude toward appearances has changed. &amp;quot;I still don&amp;#039;t exactly see myself as beautiful, but I care a whole lot less. I&amp;#039;ve started relying more on my other assets,&amp;quot; she writes. &amp;quot;Working on kindness, humor and positivity has helped me change in meaningful ways. I still haven&amp;#039;t decided if or how I&amp;#039;ll use makeup in 2015, but I will always enjoy the feeling of being the only girl in the room who can honestly sing Beyonc\u00E9&amp;#039;s famous lyric, &amp;#039;I woke up like this.&amp;#039;&amp;quot; Follow Tess on  Twitter. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/news/a29295/student-goes-makeup-free-for-one-year/>