A 'No Makeup' Cafe Is Opening in Tokyo
Grab your sheerest foundation: The “no makeup” trend now has a literal home in Japan. A cafe bar called “Naturalia,” where none of the staff is allowed to wear makeup, is set to open in Tokyo. According to Rocket News 24, this will be the second location for the company.
Originally billed as the “World’s First No-Makeup Cafe Bar,” the establishment was founded to “[promote] the concept of natural beauty in a society obsessed with makeup.” The first location, which opened in October 2015 in Sapporo, has amassed enough of a following for the founders to take the concept to the nearby city.
A crowdfunding campaign for the updated location has already almost doubled its funding goal of 500,000 yen. With three days of potential crowdfunding left, the cafe has already raised 975,000 yen. People seem to be pretty excited to be served by women — yes, the cafe only hires women — who aren’t wearing any makeup.
The bar’s website lists strict rules for hires. The policy includes no excessive hair dye, no smokers, no flashy nails, and no one who has experience working at night in clubs or cabarets. The staffers are allowed to pencil in their eyebrows. Other than that, the policy seems to tie the idea of “no makeup” into an idea of purity.
While the idea of an establishment without the societal pressure of looking a certain way seems nice in theory, no makeup isn’t better or worse than a face full of glitter. Rocket News writes, “These natural-looking girls exude beauty without relying on makeup, which is a breath of fresh air in a country where girlish appearances are paramount.”
Sure, that’s all well and good for people who truly want a break from the made-up faces around them, but there’s nothing superior about choosing not to wear makeup. (In fact, it’s much harder to perfect a cat eye than to simply choose not to wear one.)
Whether you go makeup free or like to leave a little lipstick on your coffee cup, the important thing is doing whatever makes you happy. May I suggest the cat cafe for that?
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