The Beauty Industry Needs More Of This

One thing I really love seeing in beauty now is women of different ages being included in a way that feels normal. Not in that forced way where one older woman is added into a campaign so everyone can clap for the brand, but where you genuinely see different faces, skin, styles and stages of life all being treated like they belong there.

That’s probably why I always notice moments like the L’Oréal Paris runway known as Le Défilé. It feels very different to what we usually see and more like a reminder that women don’t stop being interesting, stylish or beautiful once they pass a certain age. You see younger women, older women, different backgrounds, different looks, and it just feels more real.

I think this matters so much! Beauty has spent years making women feel like there’s a countdown for them. I’m talking about brands selling with lines such as use this before it’s too late, fix this before it gets worse, cover this, lift that, smooth everything out. And look, I’m not going to sit here and pretend I don’t care about looking good because clearly I do. I love makeup, skincare, treatments and I love seeing what beauty can offer me. I just don’t like the idea that women should start feeling invisible as they get older. The older you get, the less you see of your age in brand campaigns.

There’s something really nice about seeing a woman who isn’t trying to look like the youngest person in the room, but also isn’t fading into the background. She still looks polished, current, confident and completely herself. That’s the kind of beauty I think we need more of, because it gives women permission to evolve without feeling like they’ve somehow missed their moment.

I want to see the 25 year old with amazing skin, but I also want to see the woman in her late 30s figuring out what makeup works for her now. I want to see the 46 year old who still loves a full glam. I want to see women in their 50s, 60s and beyond looking stylish, modern and relevant without the whole conversation being about how good they look “for their age.”

In all honesty, I think that phrase is actually part of the problem. Women don’t need beauty to pretend aging doesn’t happen…clearly it’s happening. But we also don’t need it to make aging sound like the end of everything. Like we need to cling on for dear life. Obviously, things change, like your skin, body, face, and your style might change too. I think it’s much more helpful when beauty acknowledges all this in a normal way instead of making it feel scary. It’s bad enough that we have to dread things like Perimenopause etc.

For me, the best kind of beauty now is still aspirational. I love all the stuff I loved in my 20s and 30s…in fact I love even more now. I just want it to feel like women of all ages are part of that moment, not added in as an afterthought or because a brand is trying to win brownie points.

And let’s be honest…we can tell the difference. We know when something feels genuine, and we know when it feels like a box has been ticked. When beauty includes women properly, it makes the whole space feel better. It gives younger women a better idea of what getting older can look like, and it reminds women who are already there that they’re still very much part of the conversation.

That’s the kind of beauty I’m interested in. Beauty that lets you grow, change, still care, still enjoy it and still feel seen.

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