Looking good may not be absolutely essential for making home work, but when you feel good about how you look, everything in life runs more smoothly. Like it or not, our appearance usually effects our self esteem, which, in turn, affects how we function in everyday tasks.
What it takes to feel good about how you look varies from person to person. It certainly doesn't have to mean feeling gorgeous or even pretty. For many of us, it just means looking presentable most of the time. That's what I'm aiming for in this random set of tips: looking presentable—particularly when you're after a certain age. I'm focusing on at-home days, but the makeup ideas are for every situation.
I'm aiming these ideas at women, but not because I think women have a special duty to always be "fixed." We have no more duty to be gussied up than men do. I'm sharing these tips for women because I am a woman! This is what I know.
Here we go:
• If you are home for the day, resist the urge to stay in your PJ's until ... let's say noon. You know what I mean. Or at least many of you do. Most people have done it. I sure have. But if you are home a lot, unless you are ill or the mother of a newborn, put the clothes on early. If you are one of those noble women who dresses as soon as she gets out of bed, even when no one else is around, I salute you. You've developed a habit that lets you get your day truly started early. That's the real benefit of dressing first thing in the morning.
• Invest in one of those fancy sonic toothbrushes. I don't mean the ones for $10. Go for the deluxe kind. I like the Phillips Sonicare Essence 5600, but your dentist may prefer something else. You can buy one system for around $40 and buy multiple heads for the family. This brush leaves my teeth and mouth feeling absolutely clean and fresh. I feel good about my teeth all day now that I use it.
• Your beauty routine does not need to be fancy, unless you like fancy. But you'll feel better about yourself if you wash your face, slap the moisturizer on, and follow with some tinted moisturizer. Fix your hair in a simple style and you're done.
• The previous tip is about the basics, but most of us want to do more. My single most important tip is to have lipstick or balm all over the place—in the kitchen, in your purse, in your car, in the bedroom. Go for light color and a little gloss. This is especially important for aging women like myself. We absolutely need a little color on our lips, because we lose pigment as we age. A little gloss will make the lips look plumper. Just a swipe of colored gloss brightens the face a lot. Apply many times throughout the day.
• I say the following with love to my fellow aging sisters: When it comes to makeup, less is way better than more. Use tinted moisturizer with a light hand. Heavy foundation just gets stuck in the lines and wrinkles. Minimize the eye shadow for the same reason (or skip it). Do use mascara or your eyes will look too faded. Finally, as absolutely essential as lip color is, the fact is, bright colors simply draw attention to lip wrinkles. Keep it light! Resist the red. Or deep coral. Or dark plum.
Feeling like you won't scare the checkout lady or the mail carrier will make you feel good as you go about the day. But what is most important is that you'll feel good when you look in the mirror, and that matters.
If you'd like to share your own home memories or tips (or recipes), send ideas to tkwolford@aol.com. Or you can write me via traditional mail at The Farmer's Exchange, P.O. Box 45, New Paris, IN 46553.