Radiant Beauty

When I had a 9 to 5 office job in the '80s, I remember plastering my face with several layers of makeup, just like every other female in the office. It was the style. Bright red lipstick, loud cheek blush and starched shoulder pads were the norm, the uniform that announced you were vibrant and bright, one of the hip crowd. Mary Kay was my makeup routine of choice. I had a product for every need, from a problem pimple to a quick pick-me-up face spray atomizer to usher in happy hour after a long day at work. I relied on that little face spritz every evening as I left work. Looking back, it was a precursor to taking off my makeup for the day.

In the 90s, sporting Mom jeans and sweats was my thing. The perfect complement to life in the 90s was the occasional gold hoop earrings I'd wear whenever I wanted to look cute and indulge in the fleeting moments of self-care you kind of have to grab when you're raising kids. Gold hoop earrings, Mom jeans and no makeup. That was my uniform while raising kids and working. Tired but happy.

The year 2000 came and went and I was still raising kids. No time for makeup props in between sick visits at the pediatrician and shuffling kids here and there. But there were other things I relied on to feel beautiful. Maybe I could get lucky and sneak a luxurious bath once in a while when the kids were at a sleepover, and I remember a favorite pair of silky black socks I'd wear around the house that made me feel special, or the occasional visit to the beauty salon for a manicure or a beauty cut, where I could commiserate with other women who dwelt in the sanctuary of beauty on lazy Saturday afternoons. Grabbing little tidbits of gossip from an unknown, whose life always happened to resemble something in my own life or always happened to mimic something in the life of a close personal relation, I would always just take it all in and listen. I never joined into the parades of shame they'd spew about the latest this and that. Simply to sit back and relax under the hairdryer with a magazine, armed with a powerful secret. Everybody's life sucked. We were all just pretending to live perfect lives. Those beauty shop moments were priceless.

The year 2010 had me at my most beautiful. Radiant, vibrant skin, a nice figure, I didn't wear much makeup then. My favorite beauty implement in the 2010s was a burgundy matte lipstick. I never left the house without it. It was beauty armor in a small stick. Oddly, this decade had me facing my most serious personal challenges. I felt like a mess on the inside and thought my insecurities showed on the outside. That little burgundy lipstick was my saving grace against all of life's inequities, my personal armor and shield against the world outside. That little burgundy lipstick alone was my sword and shield.

Fast forward to the present. My skin is starting to show signs of aging, with well-defined creases, but I am proud and confident. The burgundy lipstick of 2010 has been replaced by IT Cosmetics' Je Ne Sais Quoi hydrating lip balm. Rather than complex daily skin care treatments, I prefer to simply cleanse my face with Burt's Bee's facial cleansing towelettes. I don't color my gray hair, having followed my father's good advice that it's better to be proud of your gray hair, since it shows you've "been through something".

Looking back over the most formative decades of my life, I now take a little bit of beauty secrets with me. They're all rolled up into the creases of my life, refreshed each day with the daily swipe of a facial towelette. At this stage of my life, I have realized what I didn't know before: beauty comes from within. How odd that as an older woman, now without the benefit of youth, I have finally realized the ultimate secret of radiant beauty.