Beauty after forty

One of my closest and most beautiful friends, Mia, taught me that you don’t really know the true beauty of a woman until after 40. At that age, wrinkles begin to appear to reveal smiles or permanent frowns. The world will know who ate more vegetables than pork crackling and vice versa. And the kindness within becomes more visible to the outside.

Mia and I had this conversation when we were in our late teens. Even back then, I knew she wasn’t talking about the beauty that luxury creams and face lifts provide. Nor was she referring to the genetic lottery that many celebrities, still beautiful at 40, won.

What makes older women beautiful? I believe that those who took care of themselves – wore sunscreen, didn’t smoke, and continue to exercise have an edge. It will show with time. But then, it is also more than physical. It is the confidence acquired with age. It is accepting the flaws and embracing the strengths. It is having gained the ability to walk away and the capacity to care deeply. It is the appreciation of oneself and one’s life.

Artistic. eccentric, kind, angry, elegant. I believe that after 40, the way we perceive ourselves and how we lived our lives begin to show in our faces.

I pondered on this while I was putting on eye cream and my war paint for work. I looked at myself closely in the mirror.

Have I lived and loved well enough to be beautiful after forty?