One of the greatest pleasures I have had over the past 18 months has been the way that I have been able to finally put faces to the names of so many amazing older women. I have been involved with Look Fabulous Forever for nearly eight years and knew that, as a business, we spoke to an interesting cohort of women who liked our approach, but having a conversation with all of you via Super Troopers, our Teatime at the Ritz videos and more recently via zoom has been a reassuring revelation.
It may sound extremely foolhardy, but I did absolutely no market research before I launched LFF back in 2013. I worked on the principle ‘if I build it, they will come’.
I trusted my gut that there’d be many thousands of women, who like me, felt at best ignored and at worst disdained by a beauty industry that saw the juxtaposition of the words ‘beauty and older women’ as a rather tragic oxymoron. Over the past eight years and in particular since the pandemic began, I feel very confident to assert that six beliefs which are deeply ingrained in the DNA of all the large beauty companies are in fact complete myths. How can I be so sure? Because of every conversation I have had with our fabulous customers and supporters since day one.
Beauty Myth 1: Older Women Don’t Want Beauty
Beauty Myth 1: Older Women Don’t Want Beauty
The first myth is that older women are not interested in engaging with their own beauty. Let me explain what I mean by this. If I go with my daughter to buy makeup in a beauty hall, the usually very young saleswoman will only engage with her and will assume that I am not there for my own beauty needs. At a certain point most beauty companies stop trying to sell us makeup. I think it actually starts quite early (40s? Definitely by our 50s.) They just switch to selling us skincare. The messages and images that they use go from ‘Get the London Look’ to ‘Prevent the 7 Visible Signs of Ageing.’ Despite switching the message, the models they use tend to be in their thirties. Even when they engage the services of Helen Mirren and Jane Fonda, at vast expense, it’s not their beauty that the products are enhancing, it’s their enduring youthfulness, even if in Fonda’s case, that youthfulness is the work of a skilful surgeon.
Beauty Myth 2: Less is More with Makeup the Older You Get
Beauty Myth 2: Less is More with Makeup the Older You Get
I can remember the first time I read this in a beauty article. The implication within the text was that makeup looked slightly tragic on an older face. It said words to the effect that: “Far from helping your looks, makeup can accentuate your facial lines and sit in your wrinkles if you’re not very careful. So use a light touch the older you get.” This is just not true, especially if the formulation of the products understands and works with the needs of older skin. The truth is that ageing on a face is perceived as a loss of contrast between the features (eyebrows, eyes, cheeks and lips) and the face surrounding those features). Young faces are highly contrasted between face and features. That contrast gradually fades with age, so that my 73 year old face has lost considerable definition especially from my eyes and lips. Adding makeup is a daily 10 minute miracle. Colour and definition is instantly restored and I look like the very best version of the real me. My mantra is ‘More is Better’ when it comes to makeup on an older face.
Beauty Myth 3: Older Women Won’t Buy Makeup Online
Beauty Myth 3: Older Women Won’t Buy Makeup Online
A man who worked for Chanel makeup told me before I launched LFF that I was on a hiding to nothing in trying to sell makeup to older women. “They’re just not where the market is, so, nice idea, but you are doomed to failure”. So far, so normal. I wonder what he would have said if I’d told him that the business would also be online. There is a continuing and very pervasive myth that older women can’t manage technology or understand the internet. My contention would be that for most women, certainly up to the age of 80 that is a total myth. If you are 80 you may well have encountered the first home and work computers in your 50s. I acquired my first very beautiful turquoise blue Apple Mac when I needed it for a Masters degree I was studying for in the early 1990s. It’s the older men who tended to miss out on the necessary skills, often because they had women to manage the technology for them in the form of secretaries and wives. The other part of this myth is that makeup cannot be sold online. Obviously there has been some resistance but we do everything we possibly can at LFF to support and guide you with videos, guidance, information and a real-live human customer service adviser if you get really stuck!
Beauty Myth 4: Older Women Don’t Need Special Formulations
Beauty Myth 4: Older Women Don’t Need Special Formulations
The myth here is that ‘Makeup is makeup whether you are 20 or 90’. No it absolutely is not. What will suit a young skin cannot look the same on an older skin. Why? Because of the way that skin inevitably ages - regardless of how much ‘work’ you have done. Skin is the largest organ in the body and the most exposed to the elements. Sun damage and pollutants will wreak havoc without protection. Also your lifestyle, including smoking, drinking alcohol and poor sleep which will all leave their mark. The biggest step change comes with the menopause and its attendant loss of oestrogen, elastin and collagen. There is much that you can do with a good thorough regime of skincare to ameliorate some of these losses but skin inevitably performs differently with age. It’s thirstier for a start and the surface is looser and prone to sagging. There is likely to be uneven skin tone and blemishes in the form of age spots. The reason that the beauty industry doesn’t acknowledge these changes (maybe apart from the formulations for foundation) is because they’d have to admit that anti-ageing is the biggest myth of all. I am so proud of LFF makeup because, from day one I wanted something specifically made for my older skin. Every product asks ‘what’s needed here?’ And then supplies it in just the right formulations to help you to look fabulous (forever!).
Beauty Myth 5: Older Woman Can be ‘Still Beautiful’ but never Beautiful
Beauty Myth 5: Older Woman Can be ‘Still Beautiful’ but never Beautiful
Who are the beauties of our age? Fashion in faces change over time so our perceptions of beauty in its male and female form change too. Would Marilyn Monroe be considered beautiful today or Brigitte Bardot as she was in her heyday, or Audrey Hepburn with her elfin face? Maybe, maybe not, however the ideal of beauty is invariably young, which is why most Hollywood actors (male and female) have their aestheticians and plastic surgeons on speed dial. So, is Sophia Loren beautiful in her 80s or merely ‘Still Beautiful’? My contention would be that some faces become more rather than less beautiful with age. Take Dame Judi Dench. In her younger years Dame Judi was a perfectly nice looking woman with a fantastically expressive face. I think that in her 80s Judi Dench has the most beautiful face that she’s ever had. Every day I look at the photos of our Super Troopers and see so much beauty! I would suggest that many of the women we speak with at LFF have become more assured and comfortable in their own skin as time has gone on and that their beautiful older faces are now the very best expression of who they really are.
Beauty Myth 6: Older Women Should Never Wear Bright Lipstick
Beauty Myth 6: Older Women Should Never Wear Bright Lipstick
This myth makes me so cross that I feel that it’s incumbent on me to always wear a really shouty lipstick! Many of the women who used to visit our shops and many of our online customers are reluctant to experiment with a stronger lip colour. Posts often pop up on Facebook of someone trying out (say) Fuchsia or Poppy with a caption under their photograph reading “I’m not sure about this colour on me - what do you all think?” Then about a hundred plus women encourage the Super Trooper to persevere by telling her that she looks great - and she always does look great. The point is that there is absolutely no reason why an older face cannot wear a punchy lip colour apart from the myth that it won’t suit her and the myth that she’s past her beauty sell-by date.
I am so glad that I was very naive when I decided to launch a makeup beauty brand specifically focussed on older facial needs. The myths that I have discussed here could well have convinced me that such a business couldn’t possibly succeed. I am so glad that I trusted my instinct that if I still enjoyed all things makeup and beauty, so would many thousands of women like me. Thank you to everyone reading this who enjoys what we offer you at Look Fabulous Forever and for proving conclusively that these six beauty myths are both unjust and untrue.
Tricia x
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