Not looking old can cost a lot less

Published 5:15 pm Tuesday, June 16, 2009

How could I miss the 8-inch column in the June 9 Herald, all about the most flattering lipstick shades for the over-40 female? (“Tips from ‘How Not to Look Old.’”)

My 17-year career as an Avon rep has sharply trained my eye to pick up on makeup tips. The trouble came in the last sentence of an otherwise handy guide to the application of color on the lips of women of a certain age. The author of the quoted bestseller “How Not To Look Old” suggests several different lipsticks, the cheapest of which is $14!

In today’s economic fashion belt-tightening, how spendy is that? Avon’s lipsticks top out at $9, and are on sale so much that no self-respecting glamour queen need lay out more than $5.99 for a tube of lip color.

Lest one assume this is nothing more than a sneaky way to toot my own horn, here is an even cheaper, non-Avon tip: To combat zits, rub a paste of a crushed aspirin (pure, anti-acne, salicylic acid!) into the offending spots. You don’t get more penny-pinching than that!

Marjorie D. Heidrich

Everett