There is no question that Kim Kardashian is a knock out regardless of what she’s wearing. But seeing her on the cover of the September issue of Allure reminds me just how gorgeous she really is.

Kardashian is typically spackeled with layers of heavy foundation, rings of eyeliner, faux lashes and lots of lipstick. And because she is so pretty, her face isn’t overshadowed by the immense amounts of make-up she usually wears. Few lay people are as lucky.

But for her Allure cover, the reality starlet was done up with a much lighter hand.

We ladies tend to use gobs of cosmetics as a security blanket. In high school, I remember using a MAC pro cake foundation that was fit for the stage because I hated my teenage skin and wanted it to look as “perfect” as possible. I now realize that by using such a heavy foundation, I simply made myself look like a kid with gnarly skin and caked on foundation. Sexy.

Same goes for eyes. At the beginning of college, I rarely left the house without eyeshadow. But as I get older and more comfortable in my skin I’m hard pressed to take out an eye palette unless it is a very special occasion.

That doesn’t mean I don’t care about my looks — I do, very much. And I obviously wear make-up, only now I use it to enhance the features that I already like, not cover the ones that I don’t. Like they say, less really is more.

So take a cue from Kim and remove one thing from your make-up routine tomorrow. It might feel weird at first. But I promise it will eventually feel extremely liberating and make you more confident in the end.

And if you need another reason to go easy on the goop, remember — he isn’t marrying you for your fake eyelashes. And if he is, good luck.

Photo: Left, Kardashian in her standard state. Right, on the cover of Allure looking much more natural.