Aisling McDermott on Beauty: Sleeping in your makeup: is it really all that bad?

Charlotte Tilbury, famous make-up artist and creator of one of the best make-up and skincare ranges around, has one of the worst kept secrets in the beauty world. She has always been honest about the fact that she never lets her husband see her without make-up. She goes to bed with a full face of make-up and gets up in the middle of the night to briefly remove it. Then she puts it all back on again before her man can see her barefaced.

She’s not alone. Nancy Dell’Olio never takes her make-up off either. To “save time”, she goes to bed fully made up and simply spritzes her face with water to freshen up the make-up in the morning.

Lady Gaga also goes to bed in her make-up seven nights a week, while a British poll surveyed 1,500 women and found that a quarter of them slept in their makeup all the time. Not just on nights they were tired, but because they didn’t want their partner to see them without it.

Now if I were an armchair psychologist I might speculate that perhaps there is something very wrong here with self image and security – but I’m not so I won’t. I leave you to draw your own conclusions.

This practice has become a talking point again because Tilbury recently gave Kim Kardashian the green light to sleep in her make-up. Even people who know nothing about Kim can guess that she wears a lot of make-up. Along with her big bum, she is also known for wearing tonnes of slap and of making the wretched practice of contouring popular.

I really wish she hadn’t, because as Bobbi Brown has been quoted as saying, “it looks like dirt on your face”.

So is sleeping in your make-up really that bad then? In a word, yes. The make-up blocks your pores and all the grime and sweat of the day means that old skin cells can glue themselves to your face because you’re not washing them off. You are giving bacteria free rein to gallop around causing spots and blackheads and your skin won’t have the opportunity to become refreshed by the hydrating and soothing ingredients in your night-time routine. It will become dehydrated and as a result look older.

The odd night is okay, but even if it’s just a quick swipe with cotton wool and micellar water, do your best to remove it.