Makeup After 60 That Looks Fresh And Real

Your makeup didn’t suddenly “stop working” because you forgot how to blend it. Skin after 60 gets drier, thinner, and more textured, and that means the same powder, matte foundation, and shimmer you wore for years can start reading as dusty, heavy, or weirdly settled into lines you never noticed before. I’m Marcy, and I’m saying the quiet part out loud: the rules changed, so our routine has to change too. 

I walk through the biggest mindset shift that makes everything easier. Stop asking, “Does this make me look younger?” and start asking, “Do I look fresh, healthy, and alive?” From there, we get practical: hydration first, skincare and SPF that support your skin, and why less product usually looks better on mature skin. I share my go-to swaps like cream products, lightweight base makeup with a soft glow, and why heavy powder can age you fast. We also talk brows (yes, they become a full-time job), easy eye makeup tweaks, and the difference between glow and glitter. 

You’ll also hear a bit of real life, from travel updates to the routines that keep me feeling good, plus my no-nonsense advice on decluttering old makeup and returning products you hate instead of suffering through them. If you’re ready for makeup after 60 that looks like you on a good day, press play, then subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review so more of us can age intentionally together.

Transcript

Welcome And Life Update

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Hello, and welcome back to AGNA for Sissies. My name is Marcy Backis, and I am your host. Well, welcome back, the podcast where we say the quiet parts out loud about getting older. And we do it with a whole lot of humor. That's always my goal. A little bit of sass, that's just me, and zero patience for nonsense. That is also me. I am your host, Marcy, and around here, we are not trying to be 25 again. We are trying to feel good, live smart, and actually enjoy this stage of our life. Because let's be honest, aging ain't for sissies, but it can be done intentionally. And that's exactly what we're doing here. Ugh, I just came back from a trip to California. Since the last time we talked, I went and spent Mother's Day with my oldest Kyle. We had a great time. Had a really good time. We are really working on our adult relationship and it's going in a really good direction. And it makes me really happy. I always thought I understood my children. Maybe I didn't as much as I thought I did, and that's okay because I'm learning to figure it out now. And we just had a great time. We went with my friend Mary and her husband Dave. We went to the LA County Fair. I marched around on that blacktop for hours and didn't really realize that having chemo and radiation last year still is affecting me. And you know what it is? The radiation, especially that I do not handle the heat like I used to. Doesn't mean I still don't love it because I am a lizard, but I don't handle it well. And uh, but what a what a good time. Bought some beautiful earrings, ate some fun food, not too much. We went to a great brunch at King's Hawaiian. If you love those King's Hawaiian rolls, they have a restaurant in Torrance. It's very old school, very 50s feeling. It's been around since the 50s. Put on a great Mother's Day brunch. So shout out to King's Hawaiian rolls that was just the best. And oh, I had some French toast. They're made with their King's Hawaiian bread. Ooh, so good. They had a chocolate foul. It just was all delicious. It was just delicious. The goodies and the savory and the sweet, and that was fun. I was supposed to go to Disneyland, but my bestie got sick, so didn't do that, but spend some time with friends. Went to my old office, saw my buddies there. It was really nice. But you know what? Nothing better than coming home. Nothing. I love coming home. And it's a beautiful day here in Chicago. I'm up in my little palace in the sky looking out, and it is a gorgeous sunny day. Not super warm. What does my phone say? It's 61 right now. So it's not super warm, but that is not cold by any means here in Chicago. So that's what's been going on with me. I feel good. Dealing with a little bit of leg weakness, not sure what that's about, but we'll work on that and figure it out. I

A Lunchtime Main Meal Reset

SPEAKER_00 3:20

went and worked out this morning as I always do. And I think I shared with you guys a while back, but I'll share it again. I made a big change in mine and Craig's eating habits. I work out. I don't like to eat before I work out. If I do, I like like half a low carb bagel. If you ever haven't had a Royo bagel, R-O-Y-O, they are big New York-y looking bagels, but they've only got like three grams of carbs in them because they're high in fiber and you know how that whole math works, the carb math. Anyways, they're delicious. You can get them at Whole Foods or you can order them online. But I don't eat a lot, that's to say, before I go to the gym. When I get home from the gym, I'm starving. So I usually eat a good lunch. And then I would have to make dinner for Craig. And then, of course, if you've cooked dinner, you're going to eat dinner. And I just felt like, and I didn't always want it. And so I asked Craig a while ago if I could switch our main meal to lunchtime, about one o'clock. Not noon, but one o'clock. I do it between one and one thirty. And then we're on our own for dinner time. If you want a piece of string cheese, if you want some cottage cheese, or if he wants to make some soup, he can do what he wants. But I've made my main meal. Today we had, oh, delicious raviolis, and I excuse me, I've got the hiccups today. A delicious sauce with fresh tomatoes, zucchini, some chicken broth, um, green onions, a little butter, a little sour cream, not a lot, a little. And made that into a delicious sauce. Tossed the raviolis in that. It was delicious. Absolutely delicious. So I'm really enjoying having that main meal. He comes, he works um next door at the cathedral. He's in charge of St. James in Chicago, the Episcopal Church, our cathedral, is going through some remodeling changes. And Craig is in charge of that. So he just works next door. He comes home, has his lunch, and then he goes back. So I am telling you that was a great change. And if you're able to make that change, if you're um not, I get it. It's not for everybody's lifestyle, probably a little bit more of the retired people. Or if you're working, both of you agree to have your bigger meal at lunchtime and then do something late for dinner and don't put it on someone to cook it. And if Craig can't make it home, I still cook lunch and then he just eats it when he gets home. So I am sticking with what works for me. It's been great. I went on my vacation this weekend, ate lots of fun things, but I really keep it under check. It did not gain any weight. Kyle gave me my favorite C's candy for Mother's Day, Bordeaux. Oh, so yummy. I enjoyed those and did not gain weight. I work out while I'm gone too. So um I go into whatever gyms at the hotel and do the best I can. But

Why Makeup Stops Working After 60

SPEAKER_00 6:27

I thought it would be fun to talk about makeup today. Makeup after 60. Because it's different, people. It's really different. Because apparently, one day you wake up a makeup you've worn for 20 years suddenly looks like drywall, glitter dust, or emotional damage. Honestly, nobody warns you. One minute you're blending foundation, and the next you're looking at like craters on the sides of your mouth. I have these damn like lines on the side of my mouth, and my facial gal in California said it's because of how I hold my mouth. So there you go. The next minute it's settling into places you didn't even know existed. And honestly, the rules have changed. But the good news is some of the changes are actually better. Makeup has improved. Um, the addition of like silicones and and uh all those types of things, I think there's a lot of choices, and I thought it'd be fun to kind of talk about it today. And and the first thing is why our makeup stops working the same. So, according to the article that I read, and honestly, my own face confirms it, our skin changes a lot as we age. Things become either drier, thinner is the biggest problem for me under my eyes, thinner, less firm. Well, God knows I have that, and more textured. And I've got that. I don't know about you, I have all of the above, which means makeup starts behaving differently. And suddenly powder looks heavy, matte foundation looks aggressive, and shimmer starts highlighting things we're not trying to feature. It's rude, honestly. It really is. You know, and I've been, I would say the last five years especially, I've been experimenting trying to do what looks better and what looks best for me, not worrying about other people. And so we're gonna talk about some of the biggest makeup mistakes after 60. Um the article I read about one of the biggest mistakes women make, and I found this article in Real Simple Magazine, because it is the one magazine I still subscribe to, and I do because I get a lot of information for my podcast from it. Um if you're trying to wear makeup the same way you did at 35, stop and listen. I say this lovingly because I've done it too, and I I struggle, especially with eyebrows right now. At some point, you have to stop asking, does this makeup make me look younger? And start asking, does this makeup make me look fresh, healthy, and alive? You gotta stop with does this makeup make me look younger? No, it doesn't. What you want to ask yourself, do I look fresh? Do I look healthy and do I look alive? Because those, my friends, are different goals. And honestly, fresh and rested wins every single time. So here's the deal for me. I don't know about you, but I don't wear makeup every day anymore. I go to the gym five days a week, I'm in the pool five days a week. I don't put makeup on, but I do put a little light something on when I'm done at the gym. All right. So

Travel Checklist And Packing Reminder

SPEAKER_00 10:04

I want to give you a quick little reminder before I get too busy. If you missed my travel episode, I made a super simple travel checklist and I put it on my website. I also talked about um Sudoku method of packing, which is on my website. I did it this time, it worked great. I will never pack any other way than the Sudoku method. If you don't know what it is, Google it or go on my website. I have a little um listing for it of how to do it, and I have an example. Um, I will never pack any other way. Okay, because unlike modern makeup trends, I want something that actually is easy to understand. And that Sudoku is easy peasy lemon squeezy. I also have my travel guide up there. So check that out on my website, Marcybackismedia.com. All right.

Hydration First Then Cream And Glow

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Let's talk about makeup swaps that actually make a difference. And honestly, a lot of these are less about makeup and more about hydration and softness. Key, key, key word I just said hydration. If you are putting on anything on non-hydrated skin, it's gonna look like crap. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate, do all of your skincare, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate before you start putting on any makeup whatsoever. We need to switch to cream products, which I have. So one of the things I put on when I'm done at the gym is I put on my moisturizer and then I put on Lumi and or Loom Loom Loomy. Lumi from um L'Oreal. It's and it it's it's a shimmery kind of coverage, but it's not like glitter, it blurs. It's really good, and it's a great base for daytime if that's all you want to wear. It's really great. Because if you're still looking using a lot of powders, you're gonna look dusty. And dusty makes things look old. So is that looking dewy and fresh? No. Moisturize your skin, use cream products, use a cream powder. Um, also, L'Oreal has a great um liquid blush. It comes in a tube. It's great. I can't think of the name, and I'm gonna tell you before I forget: their telescoping mascara is the best mascara I've ever used in my life. Telescoping L'Oreal mascara. Those are my go-tos. I apparently it's all L'Oreal that I love right now, and that is a fact. Less matte, more glow. So that loomy that I talked about gives you a glow. Not oily, not disco ball. We don't need glitter, you know. Stay, stay, staying alive, staying alive. Because overly matte makeup can make our skin look flatter and older. So you do need cream, but not cream flat. You need cream with a glow, okay? And honestly, we've earned a little glow. And that um, I think it's the loomy blush, too, is um, it gives you a little glow, not glitter, glow. Go lighter on the foundation. I don't care what foundation you're using, it cannot be heavy. And use a lot less product. And if you're putting it on freshly moisturized skin, people, your foundation's gonna go on better. And it's also going to go on with less. You don't need as much. Heavy foundation can settle into lines and texture, which is unfair because the more coverage we want, the worse it looks. It's just the way it goes. And make it make sense to me, but it's the way it goes. The more we want to cover, the worse it looks. So, what are we trying to do? We're trying to be moisturized. Oh, also use a base. Once you've moisturized and you do all that, make sure you're putting on. I can't think of the name of it. It's like, oh, I can't think of the name. Anyways, you want a base, and then you want to go into your makeup. Again, less is more, less is more. We don't want to mask, we want to enhance what we have. We want to look fresh. We don't want to look younger, we want to look dewy. Got it? All right.

Brows And Mascara Fix The Face

SPEAKER_00 14:39

Okay, eyebrows have become a full-time job, and they have for me. I've got uh from chemo, I've got a couple spots that didn't grow back. Um, I have really good eyebrows, but they're blotchy now. And they disappear, they become uneven and randomly grow one aggressive hair overnight. I have ones that if I rub my fingers, they're like bristly. I have to get those out. I have some gray ones. Eyebrows are a whole thing. And now apparently, brows frame the face more as we age. Wonderful. One more responsibility. Really concentrate on your brows. Get a good brow person, use good brow products. That's all I can say. Really learn how to do your brows correctly. And I have had days where they've been too dark. I have days, I don't know. I'm I think I finally found a pencil I like. And I think I'm getting down to doing them right. But man, I've gone, I've gone. If you've seen me and I've had bad brows recently, my apologies. I do have a great brow, girl. I have all that, but when I do them on a daily basis, when I fill in, sometimes I'm too aggressive. I'm sorry if I've had aggressive brows and I have offended you. I will do my best. All right. Oh, what am I not doing this week? I am not feeling bad this week for not remembering everybody's birthday. I have a huge family. I don't, I think about people all the time. Just know that family, love you, think about you. If I forgot your birthday, sorry. Friends, if I forgot your birthday, sorry. I'm not gonna give myself a hard time for forgetting people's birthdays. It's I'm just not. I I'm doing my best out here, people. I'm doing my best. And if you forget mine, I'm not offended. So it goes both ways. Don't worry about it. So that's what I'm not doing anymore. I'm not feeling bad. And guess what? Last week I wasn't feeling bad about Diet Coke. Hear this. That's my Diet Coke from Circle K. Mmm. Taking a good sip from it and not feeling bad about it either. All right. So

Skincare And SPF Beat More Coverage

SPEAKER_00 16:53

the real secret is skincare, and I've mentioned this, and we're gonna get into it a little bit more. Skincare matters more now than piling on makeup. You need to be hydrated, you need to moisturize, you need to use SPF. And honestly, that's probably the biggest shift after 60. We stop trying to cover everything and we start trying to support our skin. That feels healthier, healthier mentally, too. And I actually now buy that I told you about when I was in Golden, and I got that sample of stuff that I put on the bottom of my feet, magnesium, and it makes me fall asleep. And they had given me some samples of their skincare. I ordered their skincare, absolutely love it. Their under-eye cream with CBD in it is a game changer. And I put that in where I have texture and weird lines by the sides of my mouth, and it looks, is it does it erase it? No. Does it look better? Yes. And when I put on makeup, do I look better? Yes, because it's going on a good, good, good foundation. So hydration moisture SBF. And honestly, that's probably the biggest shift after 60. We stop trying to cover everything, we start trying to support our skin that feels healthier mentally, too. We don't need to mask people. We don't need to look younger, we just need to look good. This is the part I really want women to hear. You do not need to erase every line, you do not need to look 25, and you do not need to chase youth forever. Honestly, that sounds exhausting, doesn't it? What we want is rested, healthy, confident, and being comfortable in our own skin. Own it. Own it. If you've got crinkles and wrinkles and frinkles, just own it and do your best. Remember, there's a huge difference between trying to look younger and want to look your best. One feels impossible, the other one feels empowering. And this is my job, people, to empower you in life. All right, one more quick pause. I want to make sure where you know where else you can find me. If you're loving this conversation, I've got two other podcasts you need to check out. Inside Marcy's Mind, we're going to be talking about AI this week. We talk about life hacks, real life situations, anything that's pissing me off sometimes. Sometimes I think the things that you really want to say and you can't. And unbottled, which is all about sobriety, real talk, and what it actually looks like to change your life. And everything lives over on my website, marcybackusmedia.com. It also where all you can find all of your podcasts. So you can keep up with me in one place. Go check these out and then come right back here.

Beauty Rule Freedom And Final Cleanup

SPEAKER_00 19:54

The freedom of aging, honestly. Honestly, one of the best things about getting older is realizing we don't have to follow every beauty rule anymore. Now, I am not going to lie. TikTok, Instagram have grabbed me here and there, and I have fallen into traps I should not have fallen in. I am not 25 anymore. I'm 65. And even that Laura Geller, that makeup looks horrible on me. And everybody that was 65 and older was trying to sell less powder. I don't, I'm sorry, Laura Geller. Powder is powder. It settles into the lines, it makes you look older. I don't like it. I also fell into the Jones Road bomb. Now their bombs are nice, except for their foundations are not. They're heavy and masky. Don't like them. I use the L'Oreal serum. I love L'Oreal, apparently. It wasn't funny until now. Everything I have is L'Oreal. Again, L'Oreal is owned by Lancome. Just know that. So their skincare, everything about them. You might as well buy them and not Landcomb. So I use their serum foundation and I don't use a lot of it. And I always put it on with a brush so that it's not heavy and masky. All right. One of the best things about getting older is realizing we don't have to follow those beauty rules anymore. As I said, if you love lipstick, wear it. If you don't, don't. If you want glam, go glam. If you want tinted moisturizer and peace, great choice. The freedom is realizing there is no right way to age. On a daily basis, I'm a gloss, I'm a very heavily moisturized gloss lip, lip gloss wearing gal. And um a little bit of honestly, that telescoping mascara is the best. It doesn't clump. It's so good to your lashes. It looks It looks good. It lengthens without clumping. It's phenomenal. And when I want to do glam, I do glam. Again, the freedom is realizing there's no right way to age. Alright, my friends, I hope I gave you a little bit of information. I hope I gave you some freedom to either go with less makeup, no makeup, lots of moisturizer though. And if you're doing your makeup, don't do it the same way. If you're wearing black raccoon eyes, please don't. Don't. If you're circling your eyes in coal eyeliner, please don't. A little wing on the corner is fine, but there are some things we need to stop doing. All right, so if you looked in the mirror lately and thought, why doesn't my makeup work the same anymore? You're not imagining it. Our faces change, our skin changes, and honestly, maybe our approach should too. Mine has. Not because we're giving up, but because we're evolving. Because around here, we're not aging quietly, we're aging intentionally, and we are going to intentionally do some awesome makeup. Thank you for spending this time with me as always. If this episode made you laugh, rethink your makeup drawer, or finally throw away that powder from 2009. Okay, before I go any further, get rid of old shit. Do not keep old crappy makeup in your drawer. Get rid of it. I keep just the things I use. And if I'm not using it anymore, in the bin, it goes. Trash bin, that is. Not the bin under your under your um sink. Keep just what looks good on you. If you try, and here's another little handy hint. If wherever you're getting your makeup these days, if it's at CVS, Walgreens, Ulta, they do take makeup back. If you try something and don't like it, you can return it. Keep your receipts. Do not live with a lipstick you hate, a gloss you won't wear, and blush that makes you look like a clown. Take it back, try something else. Make sure you follow, share it with a friend, and come back next week because we've got a lot more life to live. And we're gonna do it our way, doggone it. I'll see you next time. Go out and do something positive in this crazy ass world.