Dissertation

A new personalised beauty platform may be the answer to
solving these problems that women face on a regular basis . For
example, employing Independent Makeup Artists as opposed
to brand-specific sales assistants, may help towards creating
a safe space for women to discuss their concerns and ask for
advice. It is also important the these makeup artists are of
a similar age, or perhaps even older than the consumer. As
Kaur discusses, “a woman who is going through hot flushes...
menopausal, struggling perhaps with their skin getting drier,
doesn’t want to go and talk to a young, 20/30 year old who
has no idea what she’s going through...she wants is...a friend,
someone who understands what they’re going through, or
maybe even someone that’s further along the journey than
she is” (Appendix F.4). This is an idea supported by Marketing
Consultant Beau Green, who states “Boomers look to their
peers in terms of advice and guidance for making fashion
decisions...you generally don’t want to have a 22-yearold
working with a 60-year-old client” (Hughes, A. 2014);
addressing this issue may be beneficial for both the brand and
[Fig 39] Beauty Bible (2011). [Fig 40] Pretty Honest (2016). [Fig 41] The Invisible Woman (2015).
consumer, allowing them to share a friendship-like bond.
Several beauty books and guides to ageing have a come about in the past few years;
including ‘The Anti-Ageing Beauty Bible’ by Fairley, J and Stacey, S and Sali Hughes’
‘Pretty Honest’. Many of these ‘beauty bibles’ make suggestions about the best products
and most effective methods for skincare and makeup on an ageing complexion, but none
manage to mention the confliction between the way these brands address the consumer
and the way the consumer wants to be addressed. As Sindy Kaur discusses, “what I can
see is a big backlash against the anti ageing message”, “so many women are anti the
anti ageing message, and what they are saying is they want to look like me, but on a
good day, so the emphasis is more now things like glowing, not younger...what they’re
saying now is that 50 is the new 30, so older women don’t want to be categorised...they
don’t want to be treated differently” (Appendix F.4). This idea is supported by a recent
Mintel report, which discussed how “46% of Baby Boomers (aged 50-68) report feeling
that people of their age group are stereotyped in advertising, compared with 38% on
average” and how perhaps “another strategy is to target older shoppers by including
them together with people of other age groups in the same campaigns, so as to not
make it seem like they are being singled out or stereotyped” (Mitskavets, I. 2015). These
woman are truly living the ‘New Middle Age’, a term coined by WGSN, their recent report
on ‘Boomers’ suggests that “as technology increases the average life expectancy, old
age now starts at 74, with middle age lasting at least nine years longer than current
estimates” (Bell, A. 2015). (See Appendix D.5 for further research).
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