Alicia Keys just shut down Adam Levine’s makeup policing in the best way possible

anwar danjaji

March 31, 2017 11:23 AM

Ever since she first penned an essay on her no-makeup journey for Lena Dunham's newsletter last year, she’s garnered praise from all parts of the body-positivity community.

Alicia Keys with no make up on.

Expletives included.

Ever since Alicia Keys first penned an essay on her no-makeup journey for Lena Dunham's newsletter last year, she’s garnered praise from all parts of the body-positivity community.

And recently, she taught Adam Levine, her co-star on NBC's The Voice, an important lesson in appearance policing.

In an interview with radio host Howard Stern, the Maroon 5 frontman describes seeing Alicia applying “a bit of makeup.” He said to her, “I thought Alicia doesn’t wear makeup.”

Her response? "I do what the f-ck I want."

Adam says with a chuckle that he responded with “Oh, I love you so much.” But despite their on- and off-camera camaraderie, the comment speaks volumes about the ease with which we make unsolicited comments about each other’s appearances. (And let's not even start on how silly it is that two guys are discussing the validity of women going makeup-less.)

The #nomakeup movement has inspired a slew of women to put their freshest faces forward: Gabrielle Union glowed in a makeup-free freckled Snapchat selfie; one beauty writer boycotted makeup for two weeks to test her confidence, and one college student went her entire junior year to prove you don’t need makeup to feel “valuable."

At the end of the day, like all the choices we make, the decision to wear or not wear makeup should be up to us alone—and not subject to scrutiny from random dudes.

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anwar danjaji