Image via dailymail

Who doesn't envy Gwyneth Paltrow? The woman has everything. Seriously, everything. And to make matters worse, she can get away with showing up at parties looking like this. The Brit papers describe her as "spotty" and "red faced" but really, don't hate on the fact that what we're seeing here is no makeup, no artifice, just pure and perfect Gwyneth.

We've all seen the supposed "no makeup" faces that don't match the faces that the pappies catch after grueling sessions with the personal trainers and I know, I know, you're used to looking at her with the smoky eye and the carefully concealed freckles and obviously it was a really warm, humid Hamptons afternoon to make her so shiny, but try to forget the Gwyneth face that you're accustomed to seeing and try to see the real person here. Obvs, she's unbelievably beautiful (thanks to a great roll of the DNA dice) but what's more important here is that her skin is amazing. She's got a wrinkle up in the forehead area, proving that she abstains from the 'Tox (and also, as you know, I make heroic efforts to protect myself from the UVA and despite that, a similar Crevice appeared on my brow in my late twenties as well) but the skin around her eyes is amazing.

Bravo for Gwyneth for having the bravado to step out in the nude (facially, that is).

Could your skin stand up to the super zoom of a paparrazo's $10,000 camera? Honestly, mine can't, unless I spent an entire month detoxing, drinking Borba and taking my Perricone vitamins, moisturizing every night and wearing sunscreen every day, weekend peels, and then perhaps also through daily prayer (or perhaps just reading the labels off of bottles of Philosophy)...just maybe I could handle the pressure of a macro lens. Well played, Paltrow, well played.

What about you? How much camouflage do you need before social events? Could you just walk out of the shower and into a soirée?