The right look for you

Every woman has the right to look good and a lot depends on how she wants to portray herself.

As we had said the last time in this column, every woman has the right to look good and a lot depends on how she wants to portray herself. This is because beauty is a lot more to do with how you feel about yourself than how you want to look in front of others. That’s why it’s essential to understand your own style and then try to enhance it with the right look. And that right look depends on your age as well as your attitude. Last time, I talked about the essentials for those in the their twenties and thirties. This time we focus on those in the forties and fifties age groups.

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Forties
This is the time when you know what you really want to look like – hopefully, chic and stylish. Money should be spent on cosmetic creams instead of make-up, and hair colour instead of hair accessories. Following fashion trends is possible in this decade, provided you do your own version. For example, paring down a parrot green eyeshadow to a khakhi green tone instead.

Makeup must have good coverage at this stage. Pigmentation and other spots might start appearing now, so using a concealer would be a good idea.

Must-haves in your vanity box

Coverage: A great foundation and concealer at this stage of your life is almost an essential. Though there are a lot of women around who aren’t comfortable with makeup, by this age, you should definitely start on tinted moisturisers.

Hair colour: A great way to take off many years. Keep the colour more natural-looking (therefore, avoid a dark black). Highlights in a shade of honey could also be fun, but please check with your hairdresser before experimenting.

Blush: Blush sticks are essential to take attention away from dark circles and sallow skin.

Eyebrow mascara: Will instantly give shape and definition to brows. You could try a brow mascara for this.

Eyeliner: This will emphasise and lift up droopy lids. Try using an eggplant-brown cake liner for a soft effect.

Besides using all these products, using your sunscreen regularly with the right SPF is most important, as by this age, your skin needs that special care.

Fifties
I feel this is when you can really let your hair down!! Be experimental without being too outlandish. The older one gets, the paler our hair becomes and so do our eyebrows and so on. The solution is simple, just add more colour on your hair and face.

The products have to be soft and creamy enough to glide on to the skin without dragging on it. Definition will have to be added on to lips, eyes and cheekbones with skin-toned hues.

To restructure a sagging feature, i.e. cheekbones, jawline or browbone, just use a deep brown powder to contour and uplift them. These tricks of the trade are to be learnt before trying them out.

Lipstick is a must to give the face a fresh look without looking too made up. Lips should be outlined with a deep skin-tone pencil. This will restructure the shape as well as stop the colour from bleeding. Lipstick base should also be used before applying lipstick, as this will not only fill in the lines but also prevent the lipstick from smudging.

Must-haves in your vanity box

Lipstick base: Elizabeth Arden’s lipfix. Conditions lips and keeps lipstick on for longer.

Lip and eye pencils: Gives definition without looking too severe.

Lipstick: Deep-toned colours for darker complexions. Lighter skin tones for fairer skins.

Other products can be the same as those I’ve recommended for the other age groups.