Who Says An Older Woman Can't Wear Red Lipstick

Author's Note: Fact or fiction? This is written for a fiction challenge. Some of it may sound like fact, and it is, but remember it is mostly fiction.

Let me tell you what an older woman can do, wear, and say. It can be important after having lived a long and full life, mostly caring for others, that you begin taking better care of yourself.

People will tell you what you should or shouldn't do. They will tell you what to wear, and they will tell you what to say, or they won't pay any attention to what you say.

And here I am, to tell you what I think of all of this. Maybe a few of the instructions below will help you to feel freer in this life to do as you wish.

Now it is not everyone telling you, but enough to get the message. "Aren't you kind of old to be wearing red lipstick?"

For someone close to your age, say, "Yes, I am almost your age, and I agree, you probably shouldn't wear red lipstick as you couldn't pull it off."

For a younger married woman, say, "You may want to pay attention to who your husband is looking at when you are out with him. Is it the plain Jane or the woman with the red lips?"

I like the Red Hat Society, which was founded in 1997. I love the colors red and purple, and think that all women should wear them. Their clothing, hair, lipstick, and glasses should all be those colors and shades of those colors.

I like that some of them dress up in boas and have fun. The Red Hat ladies wear red and purple because of this comment: “When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple, with a red hat which doesn’t go and doesn’t suit me, which has become the motto of the Red Hat Ladies. It is to remind members not to be invisible, to have fun, and not act their age."

The Red Hat Society was for those 50 and older, and now it has opened up to younger members.

The truth, though, is I was old enough to be in the society when I was 27 years old. I started selling Avon a few years before and was told that to sell the product, I would need to wear the product. The blue eye shadow was a big seller as I started to wear it.

Then I moved and met Mary Kay. Selling MK started soon after that, which meant wearing pink and other colorful garb. Standing out from others. Helping women take care of their skin first, most importantly, then how to apply makeup came next.

The woman in the photo above could use a few makeup tips from a makeup artist. Outlining her lips would help with her lipstick, although the color is great. Her full lip isn't included with her use of the lipstick. Some women do that on purpose. Stop that.

Her eyeliner is perfect, although it doesn't need to extend to the corner of her eye by her nose, just the middle to the end of her eye on both the top and bottom. And I recommend she curl her eyelashes and fix her eyebrows. As we age, our eyebrows diminish.

Then I will end with this - I know this is not something anyone wants to hear, but these are four things that will help to have fewer wrinkles as we age:

1. Use a good skin care product.

2. Do not smoke, or stop smoking.

3. Too much sun, or sun worshiping, is hard on the skin. Have vitamin D checked if you avoid the sun altogether, or as much as possible. You may need to take a supplement.

4. Drinking with a straw can increase wrinkles.