My mum is knocking on the door of sixty and she looks great. She has a tendency to shy away. Not wanting to draw attention to herself, she won’t get dolled up. Nonsense I say! There’s a way of doing things- you can be elegant, well groomed, fancy, as opposed to tarty, mutton not lamb. My mother wouldn’t shop in Topshop, but why not? Have a look, you don’t have to buy a mini-skirt.

Today I cajoled the poor woman into having an age appropriate makeover. She wasn’t keen.

 

Here are my rules for makeup for the lovely lady who isn’t 40 any more:-

• Exfoliate and moisture, but you already know that.
• Base- not too cakey if you please, keep the formulations dewy but with some coverage to cover any pigmentation. Get some primer on and SPF is a must.                         e.g.No7 lift and illuminate, l’Oreal Nutrilift, Laura Mercier tinted moisturiser
• Conceal- use a brush, get right into the corners of the nose and eyes where dull skin and broken vessels can lurk
• Powder-I don’t necessarily think powder is an older lady’s friend. It can sit in the wrinkles and dry patches you might have. But you must…
• Highlight- use a cream/fluid and a powder to set it.            e.g. Benefit high beam, MAC mineralise powder.
• Blush- as with most makeup I feel a combination of textures makes for staying power. For Mum I used By Terry Hyaluronic Blush and a Nars blush (in Amour) 
• Lips- just be mindful here that dark colours can make your lips look thinner. I used a brown rose on my mum but there’s no reason you can’t wear bright red if you want e.g. Rimmel Moisture Renew in Notting hill Nude 
• Brows– I can’t emphasise enough the structural importance of these. Use a kit with a firm brush and fill in any sparse areas, it will really frame your eyes. e.g. This kit by Sleek
• Eyes- here you want to accentuate subtly. So brown eyeliner in the base of your lashes. A darker powder for the socket line, lots of light shimmer under the brow, on the top lid and in the inside corner. And lashings of mascara.   

Like my dad said, “she scrubs up nicely “.

I think if you want to put a bit of makeup on or go all out you should do it. I know an eighty year old lady who wears false eyelashes every day and looks fantastic. Good on her.