When forty starts approaching many women panic. T hey start rushing off to plastic surgeons to discuss face lifts only to be told they are much too young and not to return for several years. Forty is not the beginning of the end; a few lines certainly don’t mean the whole face is disintegrating and a bit of overweight can be removed, even though it may take longer. All that is really needed is a beauty reassessment, a rethink of makeup, hair style and color.
In order to maintain energy, healthy hair and skin, more attention must be paid to exercise and diet. The effects of years of careless diet and body neglect will start to show in thirties; from then on weight control is much harder and it takes more effort and longer to improve skin and hair health.
The body needs more help to function efficiently; the skin is beginning to lose its elasticity, hair may lose its color and texture and make up needs a different approach. Around forty is when many women who have never had skin problem in their lives discover the distress of specific forms of acne, psoriasis, blackheads, whiteheads and enlarged pores. Brown spots can appear and don’t disappear. Skin color can change or go patchy and this discoloration is often due to sluggish circulation, exercise or a brisk walk will improve the tone and soft cream or fluid foundation in the correct shade will do the rest. If there are broken veins or blemishes to hide, use a camouflage cream or stick. Aim to look well, rather than slavishly using the latest fashion colors to look trendy.
A light hand with make up is essential, heavy make up is ageing, as are dark colors and hard lines. Choose a foundation to improve your natural tone perhaps with a little extra pink or peach in it. Avoid cool beiges unless you have a naturally high color, in which case a mud beige will act as camouflage and try a green tinted moisturizer underneath. Skin shouldn’t look too powdered or shine too much, although this is unlikely as most skins dry out as they get older. Too matt a finish looks lifeless, so be particularly careful not to use powdery make up or powder under the eyes or on the area of the brow bone. Powder sinks into every slight imperfection, is bad for delicate skin and makes the eyes look lifeless. Use translucent powder.
A neutral color or just a shade lighter than your foundation and fluff it on very lightly with a puff. Be careful on lines running from nose to mouth. They are the first place foundation and powder sink into, giving a tired impression. Use blusher sparingly. I f it is very well blended it is flattering, but beware of adding to an already high skin tone and looking feverish. Beware of iridescent eye make up, shine can emphasize the smallest blemish and avoid very bright colors.
Eyebrows need to be kept trim, neither too thin nor too prominent. If your eyelids tend to drop at the outer corner, keep eye liner and shadow ‘lifted’, with slightly more depth of shadow towards the temple. Cream your lips at night to keep them soft and blot carefully before putting on lipstick. If the mouth tends to drop at the corner, extend the outline of the lower lip upwards and don’t take the color on the top lip all the way into the corner.