Wear Red in the Right Shade for Valentine's Day for Women Over 40

Women over 40 can wear red for Valentine's Day and year round just by picking the right shade for their skin. This is a guide for older women who want to get their red on.

Picking the Right Shade of Red For Women Over 40: Your most flattering shade depends mostly on your skin tone. Darker women usually look best in blood reds. Look for deep burgundy and garnet hues. Medium complexions are well suited to true reds like you'd see on a fire engine. Dark and medium olive skin looks especially good with orange-toned reds. Blue-toned cherry reds and crimsons favor fair skinned blondes. If you're fair skinned with red hair, opt for terra cotta and brick.

If you know all this but you still have trouble telling a tomato red from a cherry red, try holding a piece of white paper against that red dress you're looking at. The contrast will help you spot the undertones.

More Ways for Older Women to Wear Red: You don't have to wait until you're 50 to wear red eyeglass frames but it doesn't hurt. It's an effective and subtle way to add color to your face especially if you don't usually wear makeup. Red high heels are trickier because any contrasting shoe color can shorten your legs. As far as red tights, I think only very young and very skinny women look good in any colored tights. On Valentine's Day, no one has to know you're wearing red underwear unless you want to tell them. Women over 40 can certainly indulge in red lipstick in the right shade, but keep it sheer if you want to downplay wrinkles and always be meticulous about the application. Got to keep it off your teeth.

As far as hair color, I used to wonder if previous generations of older women were suffering from some kind of epidemic with all that orange hair going on. Then, I found out how dramatically home hair color improved in recent decades. You still may want to get a stylist's advice on your best options for going redder. You'll usually be safe staying within a couple shades of your natural color. Then again, Sharon Osborne makes that dark cherry red work. Of course, red fades faster so consider the maintenance.

Older women shouldn't hesitate to break out a red dress for Valentine's Day. Just make sure it's the right shade for you.