Beauty Ideas for Women Over 40
They say write what you know. I’m sure I must have been born wearing mascara and lipstick, so a beauty blog is a natural fit for me. However, some say that a beauty blog targeted to Baby Boomers and the leading edge of Gen X doesn’t make sense, as they are already entrenched in their purchase and product usage habits. I say baloney to that!
A few years ago, I worked as a focus group moderator for a major cosmetics manufacturer on the launch of a new skincare and makeup brand targeted to “older” women. I helped them get feedback from Boomer women on some of the new products in the line and on the launch advertising. The products were specially formulated for drier skin and had clever light particles to give the illusion of smoother skin. I loved the products that I tried! Nevertheless, the recession hit, the company pulled the plug on the brand and gave up on targeting that group of women with unique products. Too bad.
As we all know, as we get older our skin changes, becoming dryer and less elastic. In response, many of us switch to a more emollient moisturizer or start using moisturizer if we didn’t when we were younger. But often, we don’t think about other changes that we should be making, like adding other skincare products to our regimen, starting to use foundation or concealer if we didn’t previously, changing up the kind of makeup we use and tweaking the color palette.
By and large, there’s often no way to figure out which products work better for older skin other than trial and error. If you shop at Sephora or department stores, do make use of the salespeople and makeup artists. For instance, I love Urban Decay’s eyeshadow and though I wish I could wear the bright colors, at this stage of the game, I buy the neutrals. In order to get a smoother, long-lasting look, I bought the brand’s eyeshadow primer. In fact, I also bought the colored primers with gold, silver and copper shimmers that can be worn alone. What I didn’t know was that, lovely as the colors were, the formulation was drying. It actually made my eyeshadow look cracked, and it made my eyelids feel dry and itchy. I mentioned that to one of the Sephora makeup artists next time I came into the store. He recommended a creamier primer from Lorac instead. Much better.
So my goal is to help you find your way among all the beauty products out there. And to figure out what works and what doesn’t from your comments too.
Oh, I’m so happy to find another over-40 beauty blogger. There doesn’t seem to be too many of us around.
Wow, I couldn’t tell from your post, BlushandBarbells! Yay! Thanks for visiting and hope you’ll check in from time to time. I found you through your comment on Pear-Shaped Gal’s blog 🙂
Hello and Happy Birthday to you! I like that you have a blog for women over 40 for discussions designed for our unique beauty and issues that may arise from changes related to age. I find that my eyes just don’t pop like they used to..I think my eyelids have drooped and perhaps my skin got a little thinner around the area. I really love the colors in the plum pallet, you can do so much with those colors. I would probably try putting some peach in tne inner corner of my eyes to brighten, the lightet plum on tne lid and I might line my lower with a darker shade in the pallet…beautuful day or night colors. 🙂
Thank you, Marti, for the birthday wishes, for your kind words and for trying to enter the giveaway. I love the look that you would create with the em cosmetics Tokyo Plums palette. It sounds perfect.