Holiday Makeup. Three Key Points. And TikTok.

By Erica and Karen

We are in the midst of the holiday season. We imagine we should be upping our makeup game, an objective that has always eluded us. Karen was reminded how ignorant she was when she fell and bashed her face. She was told she needed concealer. She had to find out what that was, and then needed emergency advice about how to get it on—and off.

Luckily there are more fun things to learn about makeup.

Let’s start at the top.

• Eyes

We do use eye shadow. Karen in particular uses quite a lot—blue from L’Oreal. She does not follow anyone’s advice, but in case you are smarter than she is, and wants some advice, you can get it on TikTok. Of course. Here’s some eye shadow thinking.

Karen goes for eye color, rather than Erica’s more understated neutral, because she has invisible eyelashes. So she is thinking about trying false ones. But she is basically terrified. She can only imagine what falls eyelashes look like if you put them on wrong. This product seems simple enough, though how eyelashes could be magnetic is unclear. Any advice? Or shall we again turn to TikTok?

Maybe we’ll just stick with eyebrow color, as our hairdressers have advised. There are tons of options—we usually go for something a little dark, and simple. Though Karen might try dark blue.

• Cheeks

Moving on down, we need a bit of color. Tis the season for a little glow, so we might try this. We have been told that older women should not use glowy makeup but we think that advice is way out of date—and out of line. We like sparkle and shine. But apparently, if you like a grown-up, matte, face, concealer is appropriate. (We’re glad it has multiple uses as we have some left over.) Check this out. If you are neither the glowy nor the matte type, try dewy. We’re not sure dewy is the look we want, but maybe now is a time to rethink old preconceptions.

• Lips

Even if you are an advocate of restrained color on your face, try some fun lipstick. We’ve been told to tone it down, but again, we disagree. It’s the holidays, and we can do whatever we want to. We might try a bright red. Here’s a set of great choices. Thank you, Vogue! Or—another novel idea—how about metallic lipstick? Shine on!

As we alluded to at the beginning, it is probably unwise to take makeup advice from us. But what you can take from us is that we think the nain purpose of makeup is to have fun. If you approach it the same way, you can’t really go wrong. After the first few decades, you know you look great no matter what!

Having said that—if you are a TikTok makeup advisor—or even just a regular one—please give us some hints!