Too old to be young. Too young to be old.

On the down-slope of my 50s, I feel that my main job in life is to see my friends as often as possible, hector them to use sunscreen every day and answer any questions they have about concealer (nearly two decades as a beauty writer, after all.)

Regarding “beauty”, there are two opposing voices constantly at odds in my head: a jaundiced “Oh please, this is silly and expensive” vs “I will spend whatever it takes to get something lovely. If not now, then when?”

This dilemma plays out in these pages.

Also, you can’t just sell stuff to older women by putting a silver-haired model in your ad. We won’t fall for it. Well, most of the time we won’t.

Liza Herz