What do you see when you look in the mirror? Do you love what you see? Or are you constantly trying to equal the beautiful pictures of your fellow (younger) Instagrammers?

I am a content creator, a photographer, a creative thinker and taking pictures is what I do for a living. Nonetheless making a selfie is always “a thing”, like many other people I am my own worst critic. There really are moments that I wonder why I wanted to be (partly) the face of my own project, that is precisely the moment that I realize why. #abeautifuljourneyintoaging

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Baby Smooth

I love making pictures but I am not a fan of apps that filter the face so you look like you have baby smooth skin, I even feel a bit sorry for people that excessively use them. Because what is the goal of looking baby smooth when you are 40+, 50+ or older? If someone tells you that you look “so much younger” then you are, is that really a compliment or is it age discrimination? As if looking your real age is not good enough. Of course, we can try to look our best, but I think it becomes a problem if you are trying to look younger then your actual age.

The goal shouldn’t be young, it should be healthy. Our society glorifies the power and fertility that are closely associated with the younger years. Admiring a young appearance is quite different from making it a term for being attractive. So people abhor the useless infertile, the decline of old age. But, how unrealistic is that? Now that we are getting older as people? Should we all continue to strive for a younger appearance by doing cosmetic procedures, using filters to fool people with our fake youthful faces?

The work

One of the reasons I started this project is because I want to free women from the idea of eternal youth and perfection. The media is constantly trying to show us as a softer version of forty or a younger, fresher version of fifty. Isn’t it okay to just be forty, fifty or sixty? More and more often the answer is “yes” for both women and men. The call for diversity is becoming increasingly loud, which is a fantastic change. My goal is never to make a woman look younger, I want to capture her most beautiful self thanks to light, makeup, hair and clothing, just like you see in the magazines but without retouching or removing any wrinkles or applying baby smooth skin filters. My “bloomers” are, in my eyes, all beautiful women with faces that tell a life story.

“I can’t think of any better representation of beauty than someone who is unafraid to be herself.” ~ Emma Stone

Selfcare

And what about the need for the perfect selfie? In my opinion, there is not much wrong with that, looking for the best version of yourself in a selfie. As long as it remains realistic and a beautiful version of you. Otherwise, you defraud yourself over and over again, using filters to smoothen the skin and cover wrinkles or change your facial features. And yes, I am vain too, I want to look beautiful and healthy for my age, which is 44 and I am happy about that. I eat healthily, drink a lot of water, I try to sleep 8 hours a night, exercise as often as I can, take my supplements, I use skin care products for mature skin, sun protection and I have facial treatments on a regular basis. Vitality is in my opinion much more important nowadays than age, a healthy appearance instead of a perfectly smooth, wrinkle-free, youthful skin.

True beauty

I think that the vision of women about aging is slowly changing and we are no longer going to focus on wrinkles. And let’s face it, a person’s appearance is not the only reason to find someone attractive, that would be incredibly superficial. We are attracted to someone else for their kindness, wisdom, courage, eloquence intellect, character, creativity, enthusiasm, sense of humor, etc, etc. What makes it attractive is not that you still have the same face and body on your 40th or 50th as on your 20th. What ultimately matters is that you fill your life with experiences that make you the person you need to be and to be completely yourself is probably the most attractive thing there is.

[dropcap]note:[/dropcap]If you are over 40 (and up) and somehow reluctant to make selfish selfies, please go ahead and be your imperfect perfect self!

In this picture I am wearing a dress by Malene Birger and earrings by Amber Sceats.

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