Make-up for the menopause
How to adapt your skincare and make-up during the menopause, with Caroline Barnes
Following decades of perfecting make-up and a beauty regime that works for them, women who hit menopause are having to re-write their beauty rules overnight.
Amongst other things, changing hormonal levels affects not only skin type – changing dry to oily or vice versa – but confidence and self-esteem too. Sometimes women have to go against decades of tried-and-tested beauty rituals to accommodate the changes happening to their bodies.
Symptoms such as hot flushes mean make-up that once stayed put all day can drip off the skin and wear away easily, which can be embarrassing for women especially if they're experiencing symptoms while at work.
With over 30 possible symptoms that can hit from the peri-menopause stage in our forties, women need all the support and confidence-boosting beauty help they can get.
Health & Her - a brand-new platform designed to support women through all aspects of the menopause, agrees. Together, Health & Her and Caroline - a guest expert on the site - have curated their top menopause beauty products plus beauty and skincare tips for women going through the menopause.
Skincare
- Use skincare products to counteract falling collagen levels. VENeffect is a skincare range created by a beauty industry expert and gynaecologist sister-duo that contains phytoestrogen - a plant-based product which mimics oestrogen. Oestrogen levels drop during menopause but it supports our collagen production. As levels of oestrogen fall so too do collagen, causing our skin to sag, loose elasticity and show more wrinkles.
- Don't just assume older skin means dryer skin. For women whose skin gets dryer with age, a richer cream like NEOVADIOL by Vichy is perfect. But don't just assume; not everyone needs lots of extra moisture and hydration - if that's you, adding heavy creams will weigh your skin down. Some skin gets oilier with age. In that case, try salicylic acid to remove oil from pores followed by a good hyaluronic acid to hydrate, but not excessively.
Make up
- For confidence during a hot flush, swap in make-up you can rely on. Switch to a workout foundation as soon as hot flush symptoms start, that way your make-up will stay in place no matter how much you sweat. It's a tried-and-tested method for women going through chemo, who also get hot flushes. I recommend Clinique Superfit foundation, which won't block pores when you sweat, and MAC waterweight concealer - a little goes a long way.
