Alicia Keys is not wearing makeup anymore: so what?

Here's what she says about it. 

I'm too weary of hashtag campaigns to form a truly coherent opinion on this, so why don't you tell me what you think?

Here are my scattered thoughts: lots of women who don't want to wear makeup already don't wear makeup. But it's shitty that other women, especially but not exclusively public figures, who don't want to wear makeup feel pressured to do so when their male counterparts don't. I totally agree that makeup should not be a requirement and that it's no fun if you're just wearing it because you think you aren't good enough or won't be treated properly without it. I understand that pressure myself. It's especially shitty for girls in middle school and high school who are still figuring out who they are.

(Also, isn't it nice that someone can feel good about how her face looks without makeup when she has a professional photographer and excellent lighting?)

But people--women and men--wear makeup for a lot of other reasons besides "covering up," and there's something troubling, I think, about suggesting that someone who wears makeup must be insecure or fake or hiding something. It's that whole "take her swimming on the first date" bullshit, which is a strange sentiment coming from a woman who says in her essay that she is sick of the judgement of other women.

It's fine as a personal choice, and the desire to connect with other people who feel the same way makes sense. But the idea that #nomakeup needs to be a social movement ("revolution") is where she loses me.

Quick question: What's your favorite moisturizer?

So I find myself, for really the first time in my life, dealing with dry/tight skin. I'm thinking it must be an age thing. It's dry in my apartment because the heat is on all the time now, and my face also get a little chapped from walking out in the wind everyday. But neither of these things are new. I have always lived in dry and/or cold and/or windy places. And I've always had oily/combination skin year-round. For the last month or so, it's been sliding toward the dry end of the combination spectrum.

My Paula's Choice Skin Balancing Moisture Gel, which has always served me admirably in the past if I ever felt a little dry, really isn't cutting it right now. So I thought I'd ask:

What's your favorite moisturizer? Cheap is good, of course.

I'm particularly interested in hearing from people who deal with a little oiliness and some breakouts too. Real combination skin havers.

(Isn't it interesting how "skin type" can be a part of identity, especially for those of us who are really into performing/doing femininity? It seems to be correlated to gender identity. It's not, "My skin feels a little dry lately," so much as, "I am now the type of person who has dry skin." Does that make sense to anyone but me?)