Gwyneth Paltrow has ''never been a make-up person''.

The 47-year-old actress is a ''little bit of a tomboy'' who much prefers to have clean and clear skin and she associates using cosmetics with going to work.

Going barefaced for People's Beautiful issue, she told the magazine: ''I've never been a make-up person really. I always love not wearing make-up. For me, make-up has always meant that I'm going to work.

''I went to an all-girls school and we didn't wear make-up. We weren't dressing up for anyone. All through junior high and high school, make-up never became part of my routine.

''And I think part of that is because I was always a little bit of a tomboy. I like the feeling of having clean skin.''

The 'Iron Man' actress - who has 15-year-old Apple and 14-year-old Moses with ex-husband Chris Martin thinks ideas of beauty have made great progress over the years because more ''body types, skin colours, hair colours and cultures are included in that ideal'' now than when she was a teenager.

She said: ''When I was in my formative years, we were told that beauty was basically a Barbie doll; by the time my daughter was in her formative years, that had changed tremendously.

''And I've always thought that's real progression. When I think about me being a kid in the early '80s and what I was shown as examples is much different than what she was shown.

''As we continue to become more inclusive around our ideas of what is aspirational beauty, we all win.''

Gwyneth - who is married to producer Brad Falchuk - thinks there is an ''irony'' in the fact a lot of women only ''really accept'' themselves when they get older and start showing the signs of ageing.

She said: ''The more you know yourself and accept yourself, the more you accept who you are and what you look like wholeheartedly.

''I always think there's sort of an irony that when you really accept yourself - physically - is when you have grey hair. I do think there's a truth to that.''