As I Get Older, I Wear Less Make-Up

This is full make-up in 2019 - glasses, moisturiser, a dab of bronzer and a red lip.
Done and out. Thank you dear Gavin for inspiring this post. It's all his fault.

I know we are supposed to be ashamed of getting older, hide it at all costs and pretend that all the measures we take aren't being taken at all. Surgery! Injections! Fillers! Make up! Oh the amount of money we can spend trying to fake our youth. And for what? To please whom? When a funny and wise older woman regales you with fascinating tales of her youth and travels, are you looking at her wrinkles and thinning lips or are you hoping rather desperately that you can be just like her when you grow up? Well I have always been the latter.

90s Robyn make-up - berry lip, face powder, eye-liner, several earrings and a Hooch! Work and weekend all the same.

This is my make-up regime now (work (L) and weekend (R)) which just lands up making me look a bit tired and crazy. Never mind, took my glasses off. I look fine.

And as such, I have chosen not to spend my money on 'fixing' my face. No judgies at all. You all do what you want to do. But I think that my face is beautiful. Well it's a bit weird, I'll admit when I look at it closely (see above). But thankfully my eyesight is TERRIBLE so when I look at my face in the morning, before the glasses go on, I think it looks wonderful! And so I have taken to wearing less and less make-up. For several reasons really. Let me explain in 5 easy steps:

1. I don't think I need it. As I have grown into self-acceptance, and my eyesight isn't what it used to be, I can't remember what I used to try and cover/enhance/change with make-up. I mean, my face is fine, so what do I need loads of make-up for? So on a weekend or holiday, I moisturise with SPF, I pop on my Elizabeth Arden 8 hour lip balm and bob my cheeks with a bit of Body Shop bronzer-as-blush. And that's it. Off I go out into the world as a 50-year-old woman who carries herself with the confidence and attitude of someone who thinks that she looks like she looks great without having to make much of an effort. Which she hasn't, as explained. Keep up.
2. I can't wear much eye makeup. I wear glasses. Thick and rather edgy-cool glasses. And that's all the eye make-up I can take. If I wear mascara, the insides of my glasses become streaked with it. So that's a no. Eyeshadow would no doubt add a bit of polish and mystery, but you can't really see it through the distortion of my lenses, so I gave up on that as wasted time. And I have small eyes and eyeliner (worn as I did in the 90s, as Kate Middleton still does, lining the inside of my eyes) just makes my eyes look smaller. And a bit bruised. And like I haven't let go of the 90s, if we are honest with ourselves. Which we are when we get a bit older, right?
3. I don't want to look like I am stuck in the 90s. So many of us get a bit stuck in that style-rut of what we liked when we were most excited about life. I am 28 in my head, and that was 1997. In '97 I wore berry-red lipstick, face powder and the aforementioned eyeliner. I wore synthetic wrap dresses over cropped pants with fringing on them. Google it. It was all the rage in the late 90s. But if I was still wearing that 22 years later, I would look like someone who isn't relevant, who hasn't kept up. And I don't want to look like that. So I have stripped back the make-up and changed the lip colour. And keep changing it. I mean shades of red are plentiful.
4. Powder and foundation feel uptight. As I get older I definitely have developed an aversion to looking or being uptight. I really don't know what you need powder and foundation for when a bit of BB cream or a light tinted moisturiser does the trick of evening out skin tone beautifully. I am of the strong opinion that foundation ages you. I definitely looked older when I was wearing full coverage on my face. And it looked fake and stiff. The glow of tinted moisturiser is so much fresher and more up to date than a foundation, and so I have given that up for good. Not even for a special occasion, will I wear foundation. My skin thanks me for it every day.
5. I wear glasses. Did I mention that before? For many of us older people, glasses are a way of life. I have embraced it fully. I make sure that I have the most noticeable, cool, stylish frames I can muster and these give better shape to my face than contouring ever could. Once the moisturiser and glasses are on, all I need is a slick of red lipstick and we are good to go. For those of you who need specs, I strongly encourage you to try this trick. I will write a whole blog post about it soon, so look out for it.

I know that this blog post is the exact opposite of every piece of make-up advice you have ever been given. Beauty is a trillion dollar industry that feeds off women feeling like they need to own 63 different products to make themselves presentable to the world. Well at my age, I will quote Dame Helen Mirren and say, "fuck off". You don't. And you especially don't when you are older and softer and glorious in your life experience. I will never be a rich Internet influencer on this basis. Or probably a dame, mores the pity. But my skin will glow, and I will continue to walk with confidence. I welcome you to join me.