“Are you alright Radhika? You look quite tired. Are you ill? Late night?”

These are the responses I tend to elicit when I walk into the office wearing no make-up. On the occasions when I do decide to stick on a bit of powder and mascara, the reaction is quite different.

“You look nice today. Did you have a relaxing weekend? It really shows.” People have even remarked (in surprise): “You look quite pretty.”

Welcome to the politics of wearing make-up (or not) in the workplace.

Chances are if a woman has a totally bare face, she’ll be told by both male and female colleagues that she looks exhausted, hungover or ill. Tired and pale. It doesn’t matter if she’s actually healthier and happier than she’s ever been; people are so used to seeing made-up women at work that an au naturale face seems anything but natural.

Foundation, mascara, blusher, lipstick - these are the things that apparently make us seem 'well groomed'. Shockingly, a senior female consultant told me recently that some of the positive feedback she’d received in her annual review was to do with make-up. She was praised for coming across as “smart” and “well-presented” – comments her bosses would never think to direct towards male employees.