I know you’ve read this countless times: The journalist arrives to interview the celebrity and finds the star “without a smidge of makeup, which only enhances her perfectly flawless face.” Gag. The truth? The celeb is probably wearing some very natural looking makeup, which probably took some major time.

“It takes a lot of time and attention to get the ‘no makeup’ look,” says Suki Kramer, founder of natural skin care line Suki. “It actually takes more time to look like you’re not wearing any than to get the glam look.” Besides, no celeb would ever go to a high-profile interview without at least some strategically placed makeup.

That’s why we applaud Lady Gaga. In an interview with “Harper’s Bazaar” in 2011 — the issue in which she appeared on the cover with “no makeup” — she explained just how hard it was to get that barefaced look. “There’s this idea that it’s all natural, but everything’s been staged to look natural,” said Gaga. “Don’t you think that what’s on the cover of a magazine is quite artificial?” Well said, Gaga.