Make-up and the Menopause

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Oh, congratulations coolgranny! Bet you're glad your DH managed to 'woo' you in the bedroom after all...

What on earth did I miss?? (not "unpleasant face" BTW, meant to be "quizzical")

Yes do tell !!

Tee hee! Not sure I can repeat the poster's words as I'd probably get deleted too!

If make up disappearing was the only downside of the menopause I'd be a happy camper.

Give it up Jude - I am a very occasional wearer of slap, most of the time I CBA and putting on the slap adds not a lot to my life anyway. I stopped wearing any in the early 70's along with stopping bra wearing. I went back into bra's and the odd bit of foundation in the early 80's because work meant being braless wasn't a good idea and a bit of foundation and mascara made me feel more 'professional' (stop laughing at the back, I wasn't in that kind of profession). The menopause presents so many challenges, I'd suggest dealing with them in small bites.

Can you decide what matters most to you in the make up line and just use that.

For example I always wear eyebrow pencil and a touch of (powder) blusher, even if I am not wearing foundation or powder. Perhaps by just using a few high lighting cosmetics they will not disappear when you have a hot sweat.

Perhaps treat yourself to an eyelash and eyebrow tint, and experiment with fake tans - I know it sounds bad but these days there are some really natural-looking ones on the market, and you won't need foundation.

I have never used much make up anyway but all my life I have found that foundation cream has melted/gone greasy on my face and given me a lot of spots the next day. Not just during the menopause.
I will read this thread with interest as I would love a foundation that stays in place.

Have you tried Estee Lauder Doublewear ? That stuff doesn't budge. If you enquire at the counter; they will give you a seven day tester pot to see how you get on. I do wear make up and this one has staying power

that's the thing, everything is so expensive, if you could get a small pot for a pound or so, then I would try more but to pay lots to just end up giving it away is against the grain

I agree reiki and have, in the past, made expensive mistakes. I don't buy without a sample now

I enjoy wearing make-up but do not put it on all of the time.

I think to make sure your face is hair free of whiskers etc etc is a good thing to do, and to look after the shape of your brows is important.

Cleansing and moisturising and keeping the skin looking healthy is a nice thing to do. The make up is secondary to all of this. I agree with lynnie1 about Doublewear. I like NARS and find it gives good allover cover.

I also like EL's Doublewear, covers up a load of sins! Use a good moisuriser underneath, and it will be there for the day.

My mother never, ever, even in the early stages of dementia, failed to 'put her face on' as she called it, first thing in the morning. I only use it if I am going out, eg volunteering or to meet friends, the grandchildren see me bare faced, and comment if I turn up to collect them with lipstick on.

Mascara does make me feel better, made a difference to my recent passport photo!

NudeJude I too suffer from a hot head, although I think I might be lucky because it's the only menopause symptom I get. But it is bad and I now wear my hair in an asymmetric bob cut short into my neck because of how wet my hair gets at the back. It is so embarrassing when drops of sweat water suddenly hit the table in a café or somewhere and that's the first sign you get.

I don't have any solution to the hair dripping problem, but I can tell you what I do make up wise, some of which have already been mentioned.

Get your eyebrows and eyelashes done, or learn to do them yourself because it's not hard. It takes me longer to do it myself, but it's worth it.

Use a moisturiser with a fake tan built in. It builds up a natural healthy looking colour and evens out your skin tone. I use the one by Simple, but there's others out there. It doesn't contain any SPF, so I use it as a night cream several times a week and then just use my usual moisturiser in the day time.

If I want to wear makeup then the foundation I use is Revlon's ColorStay liquid foundation for Normal/Dry skin, but it's also available for Combination/Oily skin. It doesn't budge, but you do need to learn to apply it quite quickly to get the best finish. EL Double wear is great, but at almost 3 times the price it's too expensive for me. If I'm really going to town with my makeup, I also use Revlon's ColorStay concealer. If I think I can get away with it for a few hours, I just use Garnier's original BB Cream in Light and hope for the best.

Panda eyes became a thing of the past for me when I discovered tubing mascara. The original one is Blinc, but several big brands do one now. I honestly believe tubing mascaras are played down because they would take away a big share of the maraca market if they were advertised more! You don't get great volume, so if you like big fat lashes, then you're out of luck, but if you like natural looking longer lashes then go for a tubing mascara. I now use a Japanese brand mascara called DHC Double Protection Mascara that I buy from Amazon and love it.

I use a lip stain for colour on my lips and then something moisturising on top. At the moment I love Revlon's fat lip pencils that come in different finishes. The shade called Honey is my current favourite.

This all might sound a lot, but it's not really when you break it down. Apart from the DHC mascara, I think you can buy everything I've mentioned in Boots. In one way it's been a real pain finding out what works best for me, but I love trying new things so it gave me a great excuse! Hope this helps.

Two useful links for makeup and skin care

MakeupAlley
Beautypedia

WilmaKnickersfit - What a lot of useful ideas and information, and thanks to all you other ladies for your thoughts and advice.

My Mum ALWAYS wore a little bit of slap, even up until she died aged 83. She always looked so lovely, and I feel that I'm letting her down by giving up on makeup altogether, so I shall try the various ideas, as and when I can. Unfortunately, getting into town to get samples etc is really difficult too, as I'm disabled, and find the shops a bit daunting these days. Bearing this in mind, I came across a product by MAC online last night and so went on their website to follow it up. They have a live chat available for advice etc., and the person I spoke to was very helpful, but said that they couldn't do samples with their online service, even though I explained my difficulties. I thought that this was very short sighted in these days of online shopping, and while she did ask questions so that she could advise me on the colour I should get, I would be very reluctant to spend £25.50 on what amounts to pure guess work. Does anyone know of any online suppliers that do send out samples?

NudeJude if I were you I wouldn't pay for the samples because you'll probably only get small sachets with small amounts of the products. Also, some brands only supply samples when you buy something from them. Estee Lauder does some product samples and I know it does skin care and fragrance samples, but I don't know about makeup or if you can get samples without buying something. You can get makeup samples for a very good price from Paula's Choice but I don't think she does anything that will help you with your head sweats.

When I want to try something new and I don't want to pay for the full size product, I look for it on eBay. You can buy samples there for brands that do samples and usually you'll get several samples for your money and that will give you a good chance to try it out. Lots of people buy products and either don't open or only try once or twice, you can buy these on eBay too. I only buy samples from sellers in the UK. If you do give eBay a try, just watch that you don't pay too much. Remember that you can buy almost all makeup online direct from the company or from shops like Boots on Superdrug.

Hope this helps.

I am a great fan of Jane Iredale mineral foundation. I use Dream Tint Moisture Tint which you put on with a brush. And using the brush is real easy after a couple of tries - it feels light and even when I sweat, [I play a lot of tennis] I can come back home and it is still on. I need waterproof moisturiser though and I always put a couple of drops of lavender essential oil in a new mascara which allows me to keep it on for longer without any irritation.
It seems like once you find a good base the other stuff seems to stay put!
I take off the mascara with a DIY pot I make of a mix of extra virgin coconut oil and castor oil. I also use that for full face wash/clean at night, removing it with hot flannel or muslin. Then eye cream and moisturiser after.

I must look up `tubing mascara` it sounds interesting !

Eyelash and eyebrow dye or waterproof mascara

Powder blusher

Maybeline 24hr lipstick does not come off unless you use a makeup remover .

BTW are you on HRT ? it stopped all my menopause symptoms including the sweats .

I just could not give up makeup , it makes me feel so much better about my appearance . Perhaps go into Boots for a makeover (free) and some advice xx

On the make up topic, only indirectly connected to the menopause, as I am ageing, I am also finding that my pale skin tone is even paler. I'm having trouble finding a suitably pale foundation/BB cream. I've tried Ivory, Porcelain, and various others which sound as though they are really light. Only to find that they're still too dark and heavy. Does anyone else have this problem and how did you solve it?

Blinko the Dainty Doll range is especially for fairer complexions. It's by Nicola Roberts who was the very fair red head in the girl band Girls Aloud. I've got a feeling that it's been recently discontinued though, because none of the stockists on the website are selling it now. But you can get it from Amazon and eBay. You can see the range on the website here

Dainty Doll

Do you really want to suffer the menopause? It is optional these days.

Hi Wilma (love your moniker, btw) thanks so much. I'll try Amazon and eBay.

You're welcome.

Esspee I don't understand what you mean. How is the menopause optional?