What are your top 5 beauty items that you can't do without ?

Tweezers
Eucerin Aquaphor soothing skin balm (I use it as lip balm)
Elemis pro collagen Rose cleansing balm
Guerlain Abeille Royale renew and repair serum (very pricey but a little goes a long way)
CCS Footcare cream
(Yup - everything is dry or sprouting)

Goodness, where did this old thread suddenly spring from? I was going to comment till I realised I’d given my list of 25 items already.

Tweezers
Eyebrow pencil
Lipstick
Straighteners
Moisturiser

Simple soap
moisturiser
eyebrow pencil
conditioner
hairdryer

Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish
Clarins hand cream
Any hand cream in lots of places
Trinny eye shadow
Vaseline

Best even though not five is : loreal day and night cream from the wrinkle expert range, revolution x Soph eye palette,Rimmel Kate moss lipstick ,Corsodyl toothpaste , bare minerals highlighter ,st moriz bronzer ,w7 ebony blush perfection ,no7 eyeliner

Comb - not beauty aid. Fingers do the job too!

Can't do without my
Coconut body balm (does face, feet, lips)
Camomile moisturiser
Bicarbonate of soda and lemon juice for hair wash
Yves Rocher 5in1 foundation
Roll-on deodorant

TerriBull I also agree with you (and Shakira Caine!) about foundation. If you watch makeup artists on YouTube like the wonderful Lisa Eldridge, you see how little foundation they use. It's all about making your skin look its best and covering your whole face with foundation can be so aging. Lisa only uses products where they're needed, leaving the skin looking natural. She's done a couple of tutorials with more mature women that are great, so anyone looking to update their look might find it worthwhile to check her out on YouTube.

I really can't do without

Eye cream
Body lotion
Hand cream
Perfume
Clinique soap bar

I use tweezers very rarely as I get my eyebrows waxed by my beautician,and my moustache. Only cost me £12 which I find very reasonable

I would agree with you ( and Shakira Caine!) I think that dabbing a bit of touche éclat under eyes does wonders and a tinted light moisteriser evens skintone with no look of foundation settling into lines.The less products with powder in them the better, so a bit of cream blusher instead.Eyeshadow settles into creases as well.
I need;
Touche eclat
BB cream,
Eyebrow filler/or pencil
Mascara,
Peach coloured lipstick.

Could I step into the arena on the debate raging as to whether or not to wear foundation. I always wore it at one time it would have been the most essential item in my make up bag and wouldn't go out without it. A few years ago I read an interview with Shakira Caine (wife of Michael) where she was talking about her beauty routine in which she said she stopped wearing foundation because it tended to emphasise creases and lines once women reached a certain age. I'm inclined to agree with her, she has of course got a great colouring, but I found myself studying friends the same age as me and decided that the more slap on the face the more lines they seemed to have. I ditched my foundation a while back I still use lots of moisturiser and admit to buying Touche Elcat because I have a slightly uneven skin tone on the skin above my eyelids and below my brow, but other than that I just stick to eyebrow products, mascara and lipstick. Again I had always worn make up since teens, sometimes quite a lot, but these days a lot less.

Wilma I am so with you on this one. At least you got your friend to look good on her wedding day - a result. However she must have got used to a lifetime of bare skin and that is how she wants to be.

I love buying new makeup today as much as I did in my teens. In fact a few people on this thread have mentioned how good Clarins Concealer is, so I am off to buy a tube tomorrow.

Tweezers

Elemis day cream

Blusher

Mascara

Foundation

I have uneven skin tone and use Heliocare factor 60 tinted moisturiser every day, for going out I would add a Lancôme foundation and a Clarins under eye concealer.Shu Umera or Lancôme eyeshadow and mascara. Shu Umera lipstick. That's 6 items and I haven't got to shampoo etc.

Nankate I agree with you about not wearing makeup.

I have a couple of friends too who both wear mascara and lipstick, but leave their faces bare. I have known them for more than 30 years, so I've seen them grow older. Both of them now have quite uneven skin tone and it crosses my mind every now and then how much better they would look if they slapped on a tinted moisturiser or a BB cream - anything to even out their skin tone. We do talk about cosmetics and toiletries, but they don't try many different things. I'm a good bit younger than both of them and they indulge my youthful enthusiasm about it all.

One of them remarried a few years ago and wasn't planning on wearing face makeup on her wedding day. She'd bought a strapless purple bridesmaid dress as her wedding dress because she'd always said she would wear purple if she ever remarried. She even bought a tiara that cost more than the dress , but she wasn't planning on doing anything special with her hair and makeup.

It took a lot of diplomatic persuasion and help to get her face and hair to look as gorgeous as her 'attire'. She agreed to have a makeup lesson at home from a friend's daughter who did wedding and special occasion makeup, and she showed her how to do a simple and natural look.

The decider for my friend was comparing the photo of herself taken on her phone in the shop wearing her wedding dress and her normal makeup, and an 'after' photo taken on the phone with her face made up. Her lovely smooth skin now looked beautiful because the tone had been evened out and her many red thread veins has disappeared.

On the day her husband kept telling her how wonderful she looked and the wedding photos were stunning. She thank me for being such a great maid of honour and persuading her about the hair and makeup. Yet after the honeymoon it was back to normal and I don't think she's ever used the new makeup she bought since.

What I find strange is they both talk about hating looking older and both keep slim and fit , but say they can't be bothered with makeup other than mascara and the same lipstick they have worn for years. They'll always be my friends, but I do get the urge to give them a make over!

I don't wear much makeup and none if I'm just at home, but I can see how much fresher I look with a more even skin tone.

oh dear, that last post didn't make sense

tired

Mine was cut too short last week to put up

I usually have my hair up, when I'm out, so no brushing required.

pollyparrot I never comb my hair

(no, I'm not a complete slob, I do use a brush and carry a very small one in my bag, but rarely brush my hair when I'm out. I see women in the 'powder rooms' of shops applying more lippie and brushing their hair, but I never do )

If I have to stick to 5, it would be tweezers, face wipes, day cream, night cream, Batiste dry shampoo.

If it's what I actually need, and what stops me frightening the horses when I venture out, I'd add volumising shampoo, face serum or facial oil, eye cream, foundation, cream blusher, lip pencil, lippy, eye pencil, brow pencil, mascara, eye liner, perfume, hand cream, body butter, nail cream, nail varnish, nail varnish remover, volumising mousse, concealer, cuticle cream. The only thing I've given up in recent years is eye shadow, on the orders of my contact lens optician (I still use it on special occasions though).

Apart from the Batiste, I'm a tart when it comes to brands - anything decent that's on special offer will do.

I'm sure you look good Polly with you neat brows and styled hair.

The joy of getting older is you can make your own decisions in life and either wear or not wear makeup.

Do we have to count sun cream - or is that an essential like shampoo etc?

My eyes are sensitive too so I wear very little, if any eye makeup, and never any makeup at home

Blimey, Nankate I still have my brows done and comb my hair. Not wearing makeup doesn't mean I'm a scarecrow!

If I didn't wear a bit of makeup I'd frighten the public. I'm not much better with it on to be truthful. My five items would be 1 high factor sun cream,2 bare minerals powder to cover my red face, 3 coconut oil to moisturise everywhere, 4 tweezers/razor (I think these should be counted as one because there both for removing hair) and Kerastase shampoo

Now this is going to cause a bit of a stir. It is not meant to be offensive to those who don't wear makeup.

I have two or three friends who wear no makeup and I have this great desire to put a bit of slap on their face to even out their skin tone, a bit of blusher, a dab of lipstick and some mascara voila a younger looking face.

Finally those who have straggly eyebrows really make me want to whip out the tweezers and sort them out.

Makeup doesn't have to look false or overdone. I NEVER leave the house without putting on makeup and tidying my hair.