Have you ever bumped into a friend on a no-makeup day and experienced the 'are you feeling ok?' reaction?
Anyone who can identify with this will know it's amazing how differently you're treated during those brave moments when you ditch the concealer, mascara and blusher in favour of a barely-there look.
Similarly, if you arrive in the office with a full face of makeup, everyone will want to know if you've got a hot date planned that evening.
With this in mind, Bustle blogger Brinton Parker conducted an experiment to find out how different amounts of makeup changed what people said to her.
"The first time he saw me without makeup, my boyfriend asked me if I was sick," Parker writes.
This prompted Parker to try out a variety of beauty looks over three days, starting from "absolutely no makeup" to "average/natural" followed by "heavy."
Responses on day one included "Rough weekend?" and "Girl, you look as exhausted as I feel," although one classmate did have the courage to say Parker looked "nice."
Her natural look on day two was greeted with an all-round more positive reaction. "You look really pretty today! What mascara do you use?" said a friend.
When Parker applied more makeup then she'd ever usually wear on day three, she was told "You're ready for the weekend, huh? You look ready to party," and "You look so fierce!
Her conclusion?
"While this experiment probably won't change my normal beauty routine, it did inspire me to feel confident regardless of which face I have on."
Now that's a beauty lesson we can all learn from.
Read Parker's full experiment at Bustle.com
MORE BEAUTY!