Beauty
Charlotte Hannah
April 05, 2013

What Would Barbie Look Like Without Makeup?


Barbie has long been maligned as an embodiment of the impossible standards of beauty that women in our society are pushed to strive for. With her shiny, pin-straight hair, her ginormous eyes, her airbrushed supermodel features and her literally impossible proportions, Barbie represents everything we’re “supposed to” be, but can’t.

It’s about time somebody took her down a peg.

What would ol’ Barbara Millicent look like if she was just a regular gal – one without glowing, unmarked skin, huge doe eyes, pillowy, pink lips and unrealistically smooth, platinum blonde hair? Graphic designer Eddi Aguirre imagines it would be something like this:

The neat thing is that nothing about her appearance has changed. She still has her perfect jawline, her tiny nose and her big eyes. She’s just not wearing makeup. Her skin is oily, she has bags and dark circles under her eyes, she has dark roots and split ends, she has freckles and smile lines and regular-colored teeth. Oh, and braces, for good measure. She’s just a normal chick, maybe on her way home from the gym. We can’t see anything below her neck, but I’d be willing to wager a guess that she’s wearing yoga pants and Uggs.

Interestingly, the lack of makeup highlights the fact that there’s something very off about Barbie’s au naturel face: her eyes are spaced unnaturally far apart, though it wasn’t noticeable when her eyes were all done up.

What do you think of makeup-free Barbie?