Age-Defying Makeup Versus "Age-Denying" Makeup

We so often hear that forty is "the new thirty", and I kind of believe that. Having been someone to use sun screen all my adult life, I managed to get through my forties without any real signs of aging on my face. People would tell me I didn't look old enough to have kids my kids' ages, and I was kind of lulled into believing there was the chance I'd fend off those "visible signs of aging" for some amazing length of time. Well, of course, I didn't. My fiftieth birthday came along, and it took about three weeks after it for those visible signs of aging to show up around my eyes. After having spent a little time paying attention to other women in their forties, I noticed that a whole lot of them have no visible signs of aging on their faces. Those who do often are those who have not protected their complexions from sun exposure.

In any case, the fiftieth birthday ushered in the visible signs of aging around my eyes; and about six months later I noticed a crease or two that seemed to show up overnight. On the one hand, it felt good to realize that "the world" is wrong when it tells women they will age beginning in their late twenties. On the other, it was kind of an adjustment to, at that age, have to finally face the reality that I wasn't "magically" invincible to the signs of aging - and so began my quest for a make-up that would be appropriate for this new, "old", me. (For the record, I feel eighteen; which is, I suppose, as pathetic as sort of thinking I may be immune to aging.)

Having not particularly grown out of my younger self who faithfully followed women's magazines and expert beauty advice, I remembered the advice of experts (and others) who said that we must change our look as we enter each new stage of life. While I was not prepared to change the hair that has served me reasonably well (well, actually, it's been pretty much a nightmare all my life; but it's healthy) all my adult life; I decided I should find a makeup foundation that would be more appropriate.

Most of the cosmetics companies have their own version of "age-defying" makeup. Some call it that. Others call it "age re-wind" or some other similar name. It's all the same. It's all for mature women who want to defy their age and look great doing it. I was too old, I thought, to keep using the sheer foundations. I was certainly too old to even consider keeping a back-up Cover Girl Clean Make-Up around in case anything happened to my "real" foundation. It was time I faced the reality of having passed my fiftieth birthday and get myself some respectable, "old people", makeup.

It was with great excitement that I bought the first age-defying foundation. I imagined how I would get it home, put it on, and see those fine lines looks so much better. I imagined how this perfectly appropriate-for-my-age makeup just may make me look five years young, which, of course, would make me look as if my fiftieth birthday was yet to come.

When I got this stuff home and wasted no time giving it a try, I was horrified to discover that it was like putty. Age defying? What's age defying about slathering on an inch of putty and making oneself look like a corpse?!! Realizing that I had wasted my money on that particular brand (a good brand, at that), I went on to try one age-defying foundation after another - only to discover that they're all pretty much for the "putty-inclined". I was talking to a friend about how horrible some of these products are, and she suggested that perhaps they aren't intended for defy age for someone in her fifties, but, instead, to defy age for women in, perhaps, their nineties. She mentioned how very elderly ladies often have very dry skin, and suggested that the slimy putty may be aimed at that kind of complexion.

Well, as "emotionally scarring" as it may be to have to face the reality of some fine lines that I know aren't going away, the fact is that I've been pleasantly surprised to discover that if it weren't for those fine lines (and those couple of creases) I haven't noticed any big changes in the part of the face that doesn't have any lines on it. They're the problem. The sections that haven't yet been ravaged by age are pretty much the same as they've always been. Slimy, greasy, putty, foundation just makes me feel as if my face is suffocating (if, in fact, faces were capable of suffocating).

Recently, I gave it one more shot. (I never said I was happy to have those visible signs of aging.) There it was, on sale at my local CVS pharmacy: Yet another age-rewinding product, with or without sun screen. As I have in the past, I again believed there was at least the chance that this foundation would be different. Boy, oh boy, I was getting ready to look 39 again. (I don't know why I keep having such ridiculous hopes, but I do. Denial, I guess.)

When I tried the new foundation it was different from those other, slimy, greasy, putty, foundations. It was a dry, cake-y, putty, foundation instead. It was so awful I was actually disgusted and angry that anybody in his right mind (let alone people who were supposed to be experts in makeup formulas) would actually think this goop was something any woman would want to cake on her face. Since the only reason I had bought this particular brand was that my other bottle had run out, I didn't feel like spending on yet another higher priced brand. So, instead, I went to the closest store and picked up a bottle of the sheerest Cover Girl Clean Makeup I could find. Through all the decades of being of foundation-wearing age, Cover Girl has always kind of been that back-up foundation that's just kind of always there. It was my first foundation, and I suppose, because it's inexpensive, I've just grown used to picking up that bottle as a back-up from time to time.

Contrary to what anyone who advises older women to slather on putty says, the fact is that a sheer foundation lets what is "alive" about a face still show through. Sheer foundations offer just enough coverage without disguising the fact that the face underneath the foundation is still the face of a living human being. I don't know if these age-defying foundations are truly meant for women in their nineties or if they're supposed to be for those of us who aren't all that experienced at having those visible signs of aging; but until cosmetics companies figure out that it doesn't take all that much putty to camouflage a few fine lines, I'm staying with the foundation aimed at women not nearly my age. I mean, if I want to use the heavy-mask approach to trying to cover up those lines (and my face along with them), I think I'll just get myself a ski mask and be done with it.

I've decided that since my heart is young; and my face still is, after all, only suffering from some fine lines and a couple of creases; I would rather let the fine lines show, along with whatever else it is about my complexion that remains healthy and alive. While there may come a time when I'm so concerned about visible signs of aging I'll resort to a ski mask, there will never be a time when I will resort to puttying up and "death-ifying" the face that, I hope, is still a long way from packing it all in.

I'm going back to my old sheer foundations, because I've decided that age-denying makeup may actually be more age-denying than any of those, "Pack-it-in-and-be-a-putty-faced-corpse" foundations aimed at those of us with "visible signs of aging".

Besides, my fiftieth birthday also brought me the "gift" the need for eyeglasses; so, as long as I don't put them on, I can't see the fines lines in the mirror anyway.

In view of the numbers of Baby Boomers around today, cosmetics companies should bottle up their sheer foundations, call them, "age-denying", and market them to those of us not quite adjusted to having those visible signs of aging seem to creep up on us in the blink of an eye (with fine lines under it).