Ms. Kendal, who wears no makeup, says that for many in the fashion and beauty industries, perhaps like Emmanuelle Alt, Tonne Goodman and Caroline de Maigret, going bare is the everyday mode. “Makeup is about creating an image, maybe a fantasy, and we’re working with it every day,” Ms. Kendal said. “I don’t wear it because it’s not about me.”

Ms. Weiss agreed. “A full face and fake eyelashes are not the norm with editors,” she said, adding that “I’m really low maintenance” is the most common claim of her interview subjects, often models, actresses, stylists and editors. “We’re conditioned to think that you should be a bit embarrassed of your beauty routines or how much you do,” she said. “The more you do, the more sort of frivolous you are, maybe.”

When the blogger Leandra Medine, known as the Man Repeller, wrote a post last month explaining why her daily routine doesn’t include makeup (part laziness and part comfort with her looks), it was so popular it crashed the site, she said. The article, which she said was written in 20 minutes, addressed comments (some of them insults) about going out in public without cosmetics. Ms. Medine said the response was overwhelmingly positive, but she was surprised it had struck such a nerve. “I don’t necessarily see my not wearing makeup as a social comment or that it’s because I work in a female-dominated industry,” she said. “I don’t say in the morning, ‘Look Leandra, here are a bunch of women, put that bronzer down.’ It’s more that I’m busy and whatever helps you get out the door and go to sleep easier.”

Sutton Foster, the Tony-winning actress, is also a fan of the bare face. Though Ms. Foster is often in full pancake makeup, rouge, lipstick and lashes, playing glamorous characters onstage such as Reno Sweeney in “Anything Goes,” her usual offstage look is makeup-free. “In the morning, getting ready and going out in the world, I’d rather spend my time doing other things than staring at myself in the mirror,” she said.