BEAUTY CHANGES. SO SHOULD THE WAY WE USE IT.

The products are better, the choices are bigger and the rules are different. But great beauty still comes down to understanding what works for you.
By Tamela Clarke

I have always loved beauty.

I love the products, the ritual and the transformation. I love what a great lip can do to a face, what fragrance can do to a mood and what happens when you finally find a product that works exactly the way you hoped it would.

What has changed isn’t my love of beauty. It’s the way I approach it. There was a time when many of us learned beauty primarily from the women around us. Our grandmothers had products they swore by. Our mothers passed down their own rules. Then there were beauty counters, magazines and makeup artists who introduced us to something new.

Today, beauty comes at us from everywhere. We can open our phones and find thousands of tutorials, reviews, routines and recommendations. A product can become nearly impossible to find days after going viral. We know what’s launching, what’s trending and what someone says we absolutely need before we’ve even had a chance to decide whether it makes sense for us.

We have more access to beauty than any generation of women before us. More access, however, doesn’t mean everything is meant for everybody.

That’s where I think knowing yourself becomes important.

MY BEAUTY ROUTINE WAS ALLOWED TO CHANGE

At some point, you realize the products you’ve used for years may not behave exactly the way they once did. Skin changes. Texture changes. Hydration changes. What you want from your makeup may change, too. That doesn’t mean beauty becomes less interesting as we get older. I actually think the opposite can happen.

You know more. You start paying attention to how a foundation sits on your skin instead of buying it simply because everyone is talking about it. You notice whether a blush gives your face life or just gives you color. You understand that the finish, formula and placement can matter just as much as the shade.

The beauty industry is beginning to reflect that shift, too. Complexion products increasingly combine color with skincare benefits. Skin tints, lighter buildable coverage and more flexible formulas have expanded, while cream, liquid and hydrating color products give us more choices in how we want our makeup to look and feel.

The goal isn’t to use less beauty because you’re getting older. The goal is to get better at choosing your beauty.

I DON’T WANT BEAUTY TO MAKE ME LOOK YOUNGER. I WANT IT TO MAKE ME LOOK GOOD.

There is a difference. I don’t think every conversation about beauty and women over 40 needs to begin with how to erase something. Erase the line. Cover the spot. Lift this. Tighten that. Hide this. Of course I want my skin to look good. I care about how my makeup looks. I pay attention to the changes I see, and I’m interested in the products, treatments and techniques that can help me look my best. But looking my best and trying to recreate my younger face are not the same goal. Beauty should still be fun. I still want color. I still want a beautiful lip. I still want lashes. I still want a gorgeous fragrance. I still want to walk through a beauty department and discover something I didn’t know I needed until I tried it.

Getting older doesn’t require disappearing from the beauty conversation. It should make the conversation better.

OUR GRANDMOTHERS HAD BEAUTY RULES. WE HAVE BEAUTY OPTIONS.

I think about how different our beauty experience is from the generations before us. There were women who wouldn’t leave the house without lipstick. There were powders, cold creams and beauty rituals passed from one generation to another. Some of those women knew exactly what worked for them and stayed with it for decades.

There is something I appreciate about that. They weren’t being introduced to a new routine every time they picked up their phones. But I wouldn’t trade today’s beauty world for theirs. We have extraordinary choices now. Better shade ranges. Different finishes. Skincare ingredients incorporated into makeup. Creams, liquids, balms, serums, tints and hybrids that didn’t exist in the beauty bags many of us grew up seeing. And beauty continues to evolve. Personalization, social media, digital shopping and even artificial intelligence are changing how we discover products and decide what might work for us.

More choice can be wonderful. It just requires more discernment.

BEAUTY OVER 40 DOESN’T HAVE TO BE BORING

One thing I don’t want this publication to become is a place where women are handed a list of things they’re supposedly no longer allowed to wear. I don’t believe personal style works that way, and I don’t believe beauty does either. Maybe a technique changes. Maybe a formula changes. Maybe the placement changes. That doesn’t automatically mean the color has to disappear. If a bold lip makes you feel incredible, wear the lip. If you love blush, wear blush. If you like a beautiful eye, create one.

The interesting part is figuring out how you want to wear it now.

That’s also why I pay attention to trends without feeling obligated to participate in every one. A younger woman can show me a product or technique I’ve never considered, and I can decide whether there is something in it for me. Maybe I love the color but want a different formula. Maybe I like the idea but change the placement. Maybe I try it exactly as it is. Or maybe I leave it alone.

Knowing what works for you doesn’t close you off from what’s new. It gives you a better filter for deciding what’s worth trying.

THE BEAUTY INDUSTRY IS FINALLY PAYING MORE ATTENTION

Women over 40 are hardly a small beauty audience, although the industry hasn’t always spoken to us particularly well. That’s beginning to change. Beauty brands and industry publications are paying more attention to what women in their 40s, 50s and beyond actually want from beauty: performance, education, better formulas, better representation and products developed with changing skin in mind.

That matters to me because I don’t want brands simply putting an older woman in an advertisement and calling that inclusion. I want better products. Better information. Better shade and formula choices. And conversations about beauty that recognize that women don’t suddenly stop caring about beauty because they’ve reached a certain birthday. We are still buying it. We are still wearing it. We are still discovering it.

And we’re experienced enough to expect it to work.

WHAT’S ACTUALLY ON MY BEAUTY COUNTER

With all of those choices, I’ve become much more interested in what earns a place in my own routine. I don’t think a product has to be new to be good, and I don’t think something has to be marketed specifically to women over 40 for me to use it.

It just has to work.

The products below are things I actually use, reach for or genuinely recommend. Some are longtime favorites. Others are newer discoveries. What they have in common is that they’ve earned their place.

Beauty changes. Products change. Our faces change. And I think our relationship with beauty should have room to change with all of it. I don’t want to follow every beauty rule I learned years ago, and I don’t want to chase every new rule the internet creates tomorrow. I want to keep discovering beauty, enjoying it and getting better at understanding what works for me.

Because loving beauty and knowing your beauty are two different things.

WANT TO SHOP MY CURRENT BEAUTY FAVORITES?
I’ve collected the beauty products I’m actually using and recommending right now in one place.

SHOP MY BEAUTY FAVORITES ↓