Do You Wear Makeup to Bed to Impress a Partner?

Remember that terrifying anecdote about a woman who didn't remove her makeup for a month? Apparently the thought of aging a decade in thirty days isn't enough to deter some women from hitting the sack with a full face of makeup. A study by Ergoflex UK (a mattress supplier) profiled 1,500 U.K. women about their nighttime cleansing habits, and found that one out of four go to bed with makeup on in order to maintain the illusion of looking fresh-faced and long-lashed 24/7.

Why go to bed with mascara, lipstick, and a sprig of fake eyelashes glued on? To wake up looking beautiful, of course. This Sleeping Beauty complex is really kind of horrifying, as it seems to reflect both a deep insecurity in oneself as well as a deep-seated fear of losing one's partner — unless you have voluminous eyelashes at 6 AM sharp every morning.

Here are some other frightening stats from the study about the women who keep their makeup on:

• 95 percent keep it a secret from their partners

• 45 percent tell their partners that they've taken their makeup off before bed, even though they haven't

• 59 percent felt like wearing makeup to bed negatively affected the quality of their sleep

• 33 percent felt like their skin had worsened due to wearing makeup 'round-the-clock

Of course, it's pretty obvious that poor sleep and a complexion that can't breathe are not the way to look good in the long run. Wearing makeup overnight is a surefire way to dull your beauty down, which will turn this whole process into a vicious cycle of disguise. Listen, taking makeup off shouldn't make you feel like you're a princess turning back into an old hag. Gently wash your face, give yourself a facial massage, pat in some rosehip oil. Light some candles if you need to. Your skin will glow, promise, and you won't wake up with eyelash dandruff.

Image: Fotolia