Welcome to the first in our exciting new beauty series for 40 + women with Janet Muggivan – the founder of Beauty Dossier, a video based online beauty course for just $80 designed specifically to address beauty issues that arise for women in their 40s, 50s and 60s.
Here, Janet, who has worked in the beauty industry for 30 years, talks about how your make-up routine can give you the confidence boost you need, especially for women as they get older.
Can beauty impact your confidence, or does confidence impact your beauty?
For me, beauty and confidence are completely intertwined.
When we’ve left our teens and twenties behind us, there is a self-acceptance that comes with age that is absolutely wonderful. It continues to flourish and women’s confidence comes into its own usually after about 40.
We’ve had all the usual thrills that life throws our way,… health issues, relationship woes, financial hardships, career dramas, but we come out the other side knowing who we are and hopefully, stronger and better for those troubles.
This self-assurance and confidence is what makes us beautiful. Think about women in your life who you consider beautiful. You may be surprised to realise that they are actually not classically beautiful, but rather very comfortable in their own skin.
What do you think about celebrity beauty?
We see the young celebrities today who have perfect faces and bodies and have careers based singularly on being a “celebrity”, but I often wonder the price is of valuing one’s self solely on one’s looks.
Ageing for the naturally gorgeous must be a frightening place if you are not forced to develop resilience, humour and compassion along the way. For example, when I look at Meryl Streep’s face now, I think there is a gorgeous woman! She has wrinkles, a little grey hair but her eyes are alive and she is usually laughing. She is not a classic beauty, but to me she is absolutely radiant.
What is your beauty philosophy?
The beauty I am interested in is REAL beauty, borne of a woman’s individuality. Embrace what makes you different. Freckles? Fantastic. A nose with character? Bring it on! A few wrinkles, or as I call them…Life Lines, yay! Turn them into laughter lines with good skincare.
I believe real women don’t want, or need to look perfect. They just want to look the best possible version of themselves. For some that might mean nothing more than sunscreen and lip balm. I know friends who don’t wear any make-up, but they take great care of their skin, perhaps have their brows professionally done regularly, and they look after their hair.
For others, it’s red lips and dark lashes. The best thing about beauty as we get older is we get to write our own script. We get to determine what we feel makes us look our best.
Why do you think beauty is important as we age?
In a world where we are all pulled in a million directions between family, work and friends, a few minutes each day on skincare where you are looking after YOU, is psychologically therapeutic as well as having visible benefits for your complexion.
Then, if you feel better with a few make-up products well applied, your confidence and therefore your presence, is at its highest. I know personally if I am feeling a bit flat or tired, once I have applied my make-up I automatically feel better.
What’s the biggest beauty issue for women as they age?
The most common issue for many women as we age is we lose confidence in HOW to apply make-up. The make-up we’ve been wearing in our 20’s and 30’s is no longer as flattering as it used to be.
This is due to of a number of reasons. Loss of volume in our faces, lines, thinning brows, our hair greys, etc. We need to learn the New Basics for our age. The tutorials the young girls do don’t work on us, and can actually make us look older than we are.
Also, we don’t want to go to stores and be hard sold by young girls when we feel they can’t relate to our needs. Therefore, for many of us, beauty just gets put in the” too hard” basket. Information is power. Brush up on the new products and better techniques for smart women (I hate the term “Mature Women”!!).
Beauty can be your best weapon in helping to make you feel confident every single day.
About Janet Muggivan
Janet Muggivan, a beauty industry authority, combines her passion for helping women feel and look the best they can through her new Beauty Dossier Online Training Course, aimed at women 45+.
Well known within the beauty industry, Janet has over 30 years experience in training, marketing, sale and PR across numerous beauty brands. As passionate today as the day she started, Janet’s beauty philosophy relates to women’s CONFIDENCE!
A staunch believer in practical beauty, think of Janet as your “friend in the know”. What do you need? What should you avoid? She tells it like it is, in a light-hearted way and believes in empowering women with knowledge so they are in control. She is particularly interested in the mature demographic as she believes it is an audience often neglected.
Janet is an award-winning communications specialist and served on the Board of Look Good…Feel Better, the cosmetic industry charity, for over 22 years.
The Carousel would like to thank Janet Muggivan for the first in her beauty series for women 40-plus. For more great beauty tips and hints from the Beauty Dossier, click here.
Next week Janet looks at why women 40+ need to update their make-up?
