Cameron Diaz, Laura Prepon and the famous women promoting unairbrushed beauty with make-up free selfies

10 women who defy the demand for filtered, airbrushed perfection

Laura Prepon (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Turner)

Cameron Diaz’s recent make-up free selfie arrived with an important message about ageing, self-confidence and acceptance. But her selfie also transmitted another message: that Diaz is defying the polish and perfection women in the public eye feel compelled to project for fear of losing work. And she isn't alone. In sharing a photo of herself sans cosmetics with her 2.3 million followers, the actress, 43, joined a number of high profile actresses and models appearing without make-up on their Twitter feeds.

In a world where the depictions of flawless faces propagated on social media continue to damage self-worth, their images are important in helping the body positivity movement push forward.

They are also brave. High-profile women have long been victims of an insidious ageism that threatens their careers and reduces their likelihood of being cast for roles or campaigns, regardless of the talent and dexterity they have demonstrated time and time again. Aged 32, ageism is something Anne Hathaway is already so familiar with she was almost nonchalant when asked about it in a recent interview. The Oscar-winning actress explained that watching women almost a decade her junior be selected for roles for women supposed to be in their 50s is “just the way things are”.

“For me I feel like if I-it's almost as if we have failed if we don't remain 25 for the rest of our lives,” Diaz said in 2014. “Like we are failures. It's a personal failure, our fault that at 40 years old that I still don't look like I'm 25.”

These images are significant: they engender body positivity, undermine the obsession with Photoshopped, false and unattainable perfection that affect young girls and women and help real faces become more familiar than the false, crease-free ones flooding social media and fashion.

Here are 10 women who defy the demand for filtered, airbrushed perfection by sharing their own make-up free images with millions of followers.

Tyra Banks, 42, recognises the importance of projecting an honest image to her followers, something she apty summarised in a caption for her own make-up free selfe.

“You know how people say #nofilter but you know there's a freakin' filter on their pic?," she wrote. "Or maybe there's a smidge of retouching going on but they're lying and saying it's all raw and real? Well, this morning, I decided to give you a taste of the really real me. I wanted to smooth out my dark circles so badly!!! But I was like, “Naw, Ty. Show 'em the REAL you.” So...here I am. Raw. And there YOU are...looking at me, studying this picture. Maybe you're thinking, “Whoa, she looks ROUGH.” And if you are, great! You deserve to see the REAL me. The REALLY real me."