There’s An Art to Makeup Application
Makeup is a secret weapon for enhancing your best features, disguising flaws, and creating a more youthful, radiant look. There’s an art to it and it’s important to use the right products for your skin tone and shade and formulations that don’t dry out the skin or cause irritation as this can speed up aging and make you look less attractive. Ahead are some bad makeup habits that could be harming your skin, aging you faster creating an unnatural look.
1. Too Much Makeup
Makeup should enhance your natural beauty and make your best features pop, so you don’t want to overdo it as you can risk looking unnatural, older, and less attractive. Your best bet is to create glowing skin and highlight one feature. If you do a heavy eye, keep the lips and cheeks nude and if you keep the eyes simple, go for a bold lipstick.
2. Cakey Matte Foundation
Using heavy matte foundations or applying too much base can dry out and age your skin and create a harsh mask-like effect as cakey foundation can settle into fine lines and wrinkles. You want to create a natural dewy canvas by using a lightweight hydrating satin base and even adding a drop of oil or illuminator to it.
3. Harsh Unnatural Brows
A well-defined manicured brow frames your face, disguises a droopy brow and opens up the eye area. Tread lightly though as thick overdrawn brows, tattooed brows, bleached brows, and brushed-up grows can look severe, unflattering and ugly. Never draw outside your natural eyebrow line, always use brow colors that compliment your natural shade and go easily on the brow fillers.
4. Bad Blush Technique
Don’t overload on the blush as this can take you into clown territory. It’s also best to steer clear of heavy powder formulations and overly shimmering blushes as these can highlight fine lines, wrinkles and skin imperfections. Go for liquid satin blushes and stains with a hint of luminosity and always apply blush to the apples of your cheeks and blend upwards towards your temples. If you apply it too low on the cheeks it can drag your face down making you look older, and if you go too high it can look unnatural.
5. Clumpy Mascara
There’s an art to applying mascara, again you want to enhance your eyes and lashes, not overload them. Apply a single coat of mascara, curling them out and upwards, and fanning them out at the wings. When you use too much mascara lashes can look clumpy, messy, and spider-like which can make your eyes look tired and smaller. Also always apply mascara to the top and bottom lashes otherwise you can highlight a droopy brow and exaggerate fine lines and wrinkles.
6. Forget the Contouring
Contouring is a makeup technique that uses light and dark shades to sculpt the face, define cheekbones, and enhance your facial features. The application can be as difficult as it sounds and if you don’t know what you’re doing or are heavy-handed you can create harsh lines and make your face look dirty and unnatural. Leave it to the makeup pros and highlight your cheekbones with bronzer or an illuminating blush instead.
7. Avoid Excess Powder
It’s good to set your makeup with a setting powder after application but tread lightly as heavy matte formulations can dry out the skin, settle into fine lines and wrinkles, and clog the pores causing breakouts and blemishes. Go for a lightweight power with a hint of shimmer, a light dusting of bronzer, or better still try a hydrating setting spray.
8. Aging Lipstick Shades
Lipstick is an important finishing touch in your makeup routine but using the wrong shade or heavy matte formulations can make lips look thinner and draw attention to signs of aging. It’s best to opt for hydrating satin textures in shades best suited to your skin tone.
9. Lip Liners Lessons
Lip liner has always been a tricky topic as it can look outdated, unnatural, and unattractive. As you age lips lose their elasticity and fullness so applying lip liner before lipstick is a good idea to help define and plump the lips and help lipstick stay in place. Go for a lip liner in a similar shade to your lips and apply it just outside their natural border and never overline or apply a liner that is too dark or light for your lipstick shade as it can look harsh, tacky and fake.
10. Beware Bold Eyes
Bright and dark bold eye shadows and winged eyes can look clownish and ruin your appearance, especially if they aren’t applied or blended well. As you age it’s better to stick to softer, neutral shades that complement your eye and skin color or just add a hint of highlighter. Dark heavy eyeliner can also look too severe, is prone to smudging, and makes your eyes look smaller. And remember the rule of thumb: If you’re doing a heavy eye keep the lips and cheeks nude and natural.
11. Overdoing the Highlighter
Applying a highlighter or an illuminating product to your skin can create a nice dewy glow but tread lightly. If you overdo the highlighter it can make your face look shiny and oily and emphasize signs of aging or skin imperfections. It’s best to just apply a hint on the cheekbones to add definition and create a natural flush.
12. Neglecting Your Neck
Remember your neck is an extension of your face, so it’s important to blend your foundation past your jawline and onto the neck or you can create a stark contrast and unnatural look. It’s also important to use a neck cream, as the skin on our neck is more prone to sagging and aged signs and no amount of makeup can disguise this.
13. Conceal Don’t Reveal
Concealer should be applied after foundation to disguise dark circles and fine lines around the eyes as well as blemishes and uneven skin texture. Always use a lightweight, buildable concealer in a hydrating formulation and apply in thin layers as thick, matte textures or applying too much can create a cakey, creased, aged appearance that highlights wrinkles and imperfections
14. Glitter Fails
It’s best to forget glitter eyeshadows or sparkling makeup products as they look childish, are unflattering and can settle into fine lines drawing more attention to them. If you do want a hint of sparkle, apply it sparingly, ideally just a light dusting on the inner corners of your eyes not the entire lid.
15. Pay Attention to Your Prep
It’s important to have a good daily skincare routine using clean, vitamin and antioxidant-rich products to nourish your skin and fight signs of aging. Before applying makeup, create a clean canvas by doing a double cleanse and always apply moisturizer to hydrate the skin followed by a primer to help your makeup set and stay put. Makeup sliding off your face is an instant ticket to looking older and less attractive.