Harlequin Makeup - Not Acting My Age

Hi, everyone - i'm sick with a cold so today is another self-portrait post from my portfolio.  

I really enjoy doing fantasy-makeup - and this was relatively easy to achieve, using black eyeliner/shadow and lipstick, and a set of false eyelashes. Sometimes, the most dramatic effects can be achieved just by keeping things simple - i used no blush, and only two colours - black and a highlight under the browbone - to do this look.

The eyeliner is all pencil - the blackest black you can find, and preferably waterproof.  

I like UD Perversion eyeliner, as well as Chanel Stylo Yeaux in Noir Intense, and YSL #1.  On the cheaper end, Milani Black is very good as well. 

The lips are MAC Black Knight lipstick, which you can find on eBay, but you can just as easily use black eyeliner if you don't feel like shelling out the cash for something you won't use very often.  Manic Panic makes a black lipstick as well, which i used in high school :).

The fun thing about makeup is that, ultimately, it's ALL fantasy, ALL frivolity.  

I am 40 (ish) now (and in this photo), and still love doing this sort of makeup for my self-portrait photography projects.  

I cut my hair short and colour it platinum blonde.  I wear leather jackets, fitted jeans and big stompy boots.  I certainly don't look "my age".

I'm fortunate in that, it's true.  

I am blessed with good skin (now - the upside to being an acne-riddled oil-slick in my youth is good skin in my 40's) and decent bone structure - the women in my family all look much younger than their age.   

But.  I ALSO started taking very good care of my skin when i was still in high-school; i learned that from my mother and grandmother - beauties into their old age, both of them.  They taught me that no amount of good genes can save you from the ravages you inflict on your skin through sun exposure, smoking, indulging in too much unhealthy food and alcohol, etc.  

Every day i use 50 SPF sunscreen, and i don't drink or smoke.  I consume a ton of water, and i try to get as much sleep as i can - it makes a difference, trust me. And i attempt to keep in shape, exercising/walking/yoga when i can.  

Not as often as i should, though...>.>

But i also look to other older women who don't let the fact that they're no longer in their 20s dictate how they express themselves through fashion and makeup.  

Betsy Johnson, Kate Lamphear, Kim Gordon & Tilda Swinton to name a few - they don't just lie down and die a boring fashion/makeup-death of frumpy clothes, neutral shadows and boring brown eyeliner simply because they're no longer in their first flush of youth. 

Why should i?  I say - i'll never get "too old" for anything, as long as i don't allow it. 

Except, maybe, micro-minis...but i was never much for those, anyway.