WHETHER YOUNG OR OLD WOMAN PAY THE PRICE FOR BEAUTY

Surely that was a mistake, I thought, over one hundred pounds for a few cosmetics?

I hadn’t paid much attention to the item prices as I’d clicked the goods into my basket. I really needed these things. I was down to the last dregs with most of my cosmetics so I tapped in my card details and paid up, because I’m worth it! Also, the only way I will leave the house without a face full of slap is under the cover of huge sunglasses or a cardboard box!

Looking presentable is an expensive business. Last week I forked out £70 to have my hair coloured and £15 for a professional manicure.

According to research the average annual spend of women on beauty last year in the UK in the 45 to 54-year-old age group, was £2,238.

Women over the age of 50 have become the biggest buyers of beauty products in Britain.

For the first time, it has been claimed, older women have surpassed the younger generation in terms of spending money on their looks. The rise is attributed to the marketing of anti-ageing products, and the realisation from cosmetic brands and media that the mature woman still cares a lot about her appearance.

Research revealed older woman have been inspired by cosmetic companies using mature cover girls like 70-year-old Helen Mirren, 70-year-old Charlotte Rampling and 78-year-old Jane Fonda.

The 55-64-year-old age group spend £2,190.45 a year, this has risen by 4.9 percent and is the biggest growth area in the UK.

Back in the 2000s the peak spending age would have been the late thirties age group. The peak spending age on beauty now is 49 when women perhaps realise they have to work harder to maintain their looks.

Women seem to agree that whatever the cost of looking good, it’s worth it! And with 35 percent of females admitting that they intend to have cosmetic surgery either now or in the future, the cost of being beautiful looks set to increase.

The desire to be beautiful is as old as civilisation. Archaeologists have found the earliest signs of cosmetics being used in Egypt, in the form of artefacts of eye make-up, dating back to the fourth millennium BC. The ancient Egyptians used 21 different vegetable oils for a range of beauty purposes. Even Medieval noblewomen were known to swallow arsenic to improve their complexions, then dab their cheeks with bat’s blood for that healthy glow.

The beauty business is booming and will continue to do so as long as we desire to hold back the hands of time and make ourselves look more attractive.

But spending huge amounts on our looks is more than mere vanity. Being attractive can have huge social advantages – studies indicate that good looking people are judged to be more intelligent and better lovers than the less attractive of the species, they also earn more and are more likely to marry.

If love, social position, money and matrimony are as dependent on our looks as studies suggest, then it’s a good investment to keep ourselves looking young and beautiful (perhaps the Americans, who apparently spend more on beauty than education, have got it right).

The evidence of this is nowhere more prevalent than in the world of celebrity, where ageing actors battle against the march of time with Botox, fad diets and cosmetic surgery in an effort to stay looking younger. Their livelihood is dependent on their appearance and with a body that’s ageing daily, that’s a precarious position to be in professionally.

Kim Kardashian and Beyoncé reportedly spend a jaw-dropping one million dollars a year on their looks. While Rihanna allegedly spends $56,000 a week on her image!

This is rumoured to include the services of an on call dermatologist, lash fixer, tanner and hair stylist.

We all have a certain idea of what ‘beautiful’ is, whether it be a Tilda Swinton pale and interesting androgynous look, or the over-the-top glamour of the Kardashians (I still don’t know who these people are!).

Whatever our ideal of beauty is, it costs! And it seems whether we’re old or young, we women are willing to pay for it.

Dolly Parton once quipped of her image; “You’d be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap!” she wasn’t wrong!