Our innate craving for beauty

Yesterday dawned a cool, breezy, cloudy day. It also was the day of my first photo shoot for this blog, so I figured I would be posing in the studio all afternoon.

But, come to find out, it was a beautiful day to shoot photos outside. The light was perfect, according to my photographer Donnell. So, out we went. It was actually a good way to illustrate one of my favorite fashion mantras: layer, layer, layer. (Especially as winter slowly creeps toward spring.)

What made the day beautiful for photography? Surprisingly, it was the lack of light and the chilly breeze that tousled my hair.

It wasn't a pretty day by any account, but it was a beautiful day for photography.

That got me thinking about the word "beauty," and the fact that we are drawn to it.

I have never heard a parent say about his or her newborn baby: "He is so pretty." A parent says, "He is so beautiful." Pretty, we save for expertly decorated cupcakes or little girls in Easter dresses.

Beautiful is a sunset or a mountain or that perfect, innocent new life.

That craving for beauty is the reason behind the colors and patterns we use to decorate our homes. It's why we spend hours cultivating a flower garden or walking along a beach for hours looking for a perfect seashell. It's why we vacation to places like Hawaii or Paris or White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

That's why I went with "Pretty Over 50" instead of "Beautiful over 50." 

Human beings are born beautiful. Yes, that's you, and that's me. I was born beautiful and have spent a lot of my life trying to layer on the pretty. 

What I hope to share on this blog is how to use that craving for beauty to your advantage. Some of us try to replicate what we did in our 20s or 30s to enhance what God gave us in the first place.

But as we get older, those things don't work like they used to. 

First tip: Don't try to draw black lines under your eyes. We just can't see close-up as well as we used to, so the lines tend to be too thick and wavy. And then the eyeliner runs into those tiny wrinkles under our eyes. Not beautiful. Not pretty. You might feel naked at first without it, but you'll get used to it. And because you are not weighing down your eyes, you will actually look fresher.

One thing I need help with is lipstick! I have never worn it. Ever. I actually was going to stop and get some at Walgreens before the photo shoot, but I ran out of time. 

What's your lipstick go-to color? I'm thinking a blushy kind of pink would be best, but then I see women with apple-red lips or bright coral and I think maybe I should try that.

Beauty. It may be in the eye of the beholder, but it's also a craving we will never be able to kick. So embrace it and search for it. And when you find it in someone else, tell her.   

True beauty