Guest post by Candice L.
Remember when you were a new mom, when your only job was to take care of your baby and everyone wanted to help? You got showered with attention; everyone offered to sit and hold the baby while you’d take a bath or a nap or do your hair. Older women and moms would remind you gently to take care of yourself.
Then, in almost the blink of an eye, you became that older mom. The offers to help were non-existent, because the “help” had changed. Taking care of your child or children wasn’t your only job anymore… you were also the family manager, the receptionist, the cook, the cleaner, the taxi service, and played any other role that was required. Often, all on top of juggling a full time career, a relationship and a home.
As a mature mom of older children, now I understand why those women reminded me to take care of myself in those early days. In the midst of the scheduling storm that is a mom’s life, there’s often one person who we forget to put some effort into: ourselves. Maybe it’s because we believe we’re too busy or we think it’s selfish to prioritize how we look and feel over anything. Or maybe it’s just because over the past few years, we’ve just forgotten how.
Recently, I’ve been thinking about the lack of effort I’ve been putting into myself to feel my best. Here I am, like many of you, with a family I love, a career I truly care about, closer to financial freedom than I’ve been before. I’m more self-aware, more skilled and talented than ever, and more able to easily navigate what life throws at me. You know, like a pandemic.
Sometimes, I remind myself of what I’ve achieved and overcome in life and feel so confident in who I am on the inside (certainly a bonus of getting out of the insecure 20s and 30s!). But then sometimes, I look in the mirror and see that I have neglected to take care of that woman on the outside, and I feel like I’ve lost myself.
So I made a commitment to start on a journey towards self care and finding easy, manageable ways to get the outside to match the inside. In this journey, I’ve made some interesting revelations about aging and beauty, especially as a busy older mom. These realizations have been instrumental in changing my mindset about aging, beauty, motherhood and self care – and thanks to some new discoveries, have set me on a path to a newfound confidence I never thought I’d have as a mature mom living a chaotic life.
I’m often busy, tired, and overwhelmed.
I’m in the busiest part of my life so far, hands down. My career is taking off and I’m giving it my all. I’m making sure my aging parents have everything they need. I’m playing taxi on a regular basis, taking kids to all their activities and managing everyone’s schedules. Sometimes I feel like a super mom, but other times I worry that I can’t possibly balance all my responsibilities without making sacrifices.
Although nearly 50% of the workforce is female, women still disproportionately take care of childcare and household duties. This unfair split has been exacerbated by the pandemic as many women were forced to leave their jobs and care for newly confined families.
Spending time doing our makeup or hair, sometimes even dressing nice, can feel like a waste. But it goes a long way in how we feel about ourselves, and we deserve to feel good!
As I’ve aged, I’ve noticed my skin changing.
The normal rhythms of life have shown up in the forms of two deep lines between my eyebrows and creases besides my eyes even when I’m not smiling. My face looks more tired, my skin tone more red, and I notice some dark spots and discoloration cropping up.
I thought I was doomed, the only solution to improve my skin was surgery or injections – neither of which I want to go through. But it turns out, thanks to a little research and older women and mature moms who take the time to write reviews, I discovered that there are quality, natural products you can use at home that have proven ingredients to improve the look of my skin.
Many women wonder if it’s too late to change our skin without surgery or injections. If you’re like me, maybe you constantly felt like you should be doing something to ward off these changes, but didn’t know the first step… and the beauty industry certainly isn’t helping us.
I don’t see myself represented by the beauty industry.
Even brands that claim to make “anti-aging” products still only show young women in their advertisements. If they do share images of an older woman, someone has already brushed over every line and photoshopped every freckle.
This isn’t a representation of reality.
We see older women celebrities who have frozen their faces to avoid the aging process. Those women are often celebrated for not aging a day, but, again, that’s not realistic for the majority of us. Most celebrities are people who have enough time and finances to make fighting the aging process a full-time job.
Still, the media only choosing these faces to represent their brands sends a message whether it’s intentional or not. And that message makes the us regular women feel insecure about the completely natural, normal aging process.
The beauty industry fosters insecurity, so it can sell you products designed to fix flaws that were never really flaws in the first place.
But it’s time to get one thing straight:
Mature women are beautiful, and we deserve to feel that way.
When you strip away all the negative messaging, all the feelings of inadequacy, insecurity, and fear, it allows us to feel beautiful, confident and adored.
We know who we are, what we want. We’re more confident in our careers, in our friendships and relationships, and in our parental roles.
I’ve have lived enough to know now, more than ever, that time passes quickly, and we only have one life. I don’t intend to waste another moment not loving myself.
Finally, a makeup brand designed for me: a busy, mature mom.
In my journey towards finding ways to take better care of myself and to feel happier with the skin I’m in, I found Fiera Cosmetics. Fiera is a pro-age company committed to developing products that are scientifically formulated for mature skin.
Fièra doesn’t see makeup as a way to cover up who you are, but rather as a form of self-care.
Your skincare routine is me-time, a moment to relax and let your mind wander.
Makeup is a way to express yourself and your style.
Beauty is a way to boost your confidence.
There’s nothing wrong with exactly the way you are, and Fièra believes that products can help you enhance those great features that you already have so that you can both look and feel spectacular.
I’m loving their products I know you will too!
My favorite Fièra products you just have to try:
Here you can browse through Fièra’s product line. The following are some of the crowd favorites (including mine):
- The famous Fièra Luxury Concealer is one of the only concealers on the market genuinely made with mature skin in mind. It is designed to give thick, full coverage that will never sink into fine lines and wrinkles.
This concealer also offers a two-in-one anti-aging and cover-up benefit, lifting and firming your skin with collagen and hyaluronic acid while also acting as a concealer. This double-whammy makes it perfect for the busy mature woman, who likes to have products that care for and pamper her already-beautiful skin while acting as a makeup product as well. It also comes with a high quality application brush FREE.
This is like a skin treatment, moisturizer and makeup all in one, and has actually replaced many of my products.
- For a flawless makeup look, there’s the Fièra Beauty Bundle which includes two o:
- The Fièra Luxury Concealer
- The Fièra HD Matte Finishing Powder
- The Fièra Concealer Brush
- The Fièra Finishing Powder Brush
- The Fièra Luxury Neck Cream is ideal for ultimate self-love and pampering.We often forget about our necks and instead only pay attention to wrinkles on the face. However, the skin on your neck is very sensitive, and susceptible to damage.This cream is the best way to show your neck the TLC it deserves.
- Both the Fièra Apple Stem Cell Serum and the Fièra Citrus Stem C Serum will even out your skin tone, rejuvenate your skin, and leave it looking plump and healthy.
They also smell great, and they have ethically sourced, all natural ingredients that are never tested on animals.
These citrus and apple products are perfect for a mature mom who is beautiful inside and out. She holds herself to a moral standard in her day-to-day life, so naturally she wants to support businesses that do the same thing.
- A quartz roller is an effective method for firming up sagging skin and waking up dull skin in the morning. Along with that, it’s simply fun, relaxing, and it feels good.
As you’ll notice if you read their glowing reviews, these makeups, creams, and serums are not just beauty products. They are investments in your mental well-being and an opportunity to feel and look your best, knowing they were made for mature skin.
Fièra isn’t a beauty brand that’s based around making you feel insecure. In fact, Fièra wants mature women to realize that we do deserve to feel beautiful at every age. And as a busy but proud mature mom, that’s a beauty brand I can believe in.