Makeup is a secret weapon for enhancing your natural beauty and making your best features pop. Do it right, and makeup works magic to add a youthful glow and disguise flaws like large pores, fine lines, and wrinkles. “As we age it’s important to adapt our makeup routine to our changing face and sagging skin, ” says makeup artist Katrina Raftery. So if you’re still applying the same makeup the same way over 40 as you did in your twenties, chances are instead of revitalizing your appearance it’s aging you.
1. Don’t Neglect Your Prep
First things first, before applying foundation or makeup, you need to prep your skin, Raftery advises. As we age the skin becomes drier and loses collagen which amounts to fine lines and wrinkles according to the beauty experts at Real Simple. So it’s important to have a daily anti-aging skincare routine and always apply a nourishing moisturizer prior to foundation. If the texture of your skin is dry, dull, and flaky makeup can exaggerate fine lines and make wrinkles more noticeable.
2. Fix Those Flaws
It’s also important to address skin texture issues like large pores, rough skin, rosacea, and visible veins as makeup isn’t a magic cure-all. Treat large pores and remove dead flaky skin with regular exfoliation and hydrating hyaluronic acid serums. If you suffer from redness, rosacea or breakouts use clean, gentle skincare products that are comedogenic. Always apply eye cream before makeup as dryness or dark circles can accentuate fine lines and crow’s feet under makeup.
3. Stop Skipping Primer
In addition to a good skincare routine and hydrating your face with moisturizer before applying makeup, as we age it’s more important than ever to use a primer prior to applying foundation. A primer creates a smooth base for makeup and can diminish the appearance of large pores, fine lines, and wrinkles and ensure your foundation doesn’t slide off your face.
4. Flawed Foundation
Applying too much foundation or using a heavy matte cakey base is aging you according to the beauty editors at InStyle. Not only will you look overly made up, but matte makeup can make your skin appear dull, and a thick foundation application will settle into the crevices of fine lines and wrinkles, highlighting not disguising them. Choosing the wrong foundation shade is also a no-no, if it’s too light or too dark you will create an unnatural look. It’s also important when applying foundation not to neglect your neck, as this can create a stark contrast that highlights signs of aging.
5. Conceal Don’t Reveal
If you use a heavy concealer or one that doesn’t suit your skin shade you will draw attention to large pores, imperfections, and signs of aging. A heavy concealer can cake and crease, especially around the eyes which will highlight crow’s feet and sagging skin.
6. Avoid Excess Powder
It’s important to set your makeup to help it stay put as your foundation and makeup can slip and highlight wrinkles, sagging, and signs of aging. Don’t overdo it, however, as your skin is already drier with age so applying excessive or heavy matte power will make it look flat, dry, dull, and cakey which is an instant ticket to an older appearance.
7. Blush Overload
Leave the “Strawberry Girl” blush trend as seen in Vogue to Hailey Bieber and the twenty-somethings. Applying too much blush or a heavy powder blush can make you look unnatural, overly made up, and older than you are. It’s better to go for a subtle, well-blended flush in a cream or liquid formulation in a soft peach or pink shade or something close to your skin tone.
8. Highlighter Warning
Powder highlighters can also emphasize wrinkles and aged, rough skin texture. Switch out your powder highlighter for a cream or liquid formulation in a soft neutral shade to give your skin a more natural youthful glow. Give glossy glimmering highlighters a miss also as they’ll show up wrinkles fast.
9.Forget the Contouring
We’ve all seen the TikTok videos where makeup gurus show you how to contour, but word of warning, clever contouring is a younger woman’s game. Rather than defining and enhancing your natural features as you age heavy contouring can create harsh lines and shadows, making you look older.
10. Steer Clear of Shimmer
As we age, our eyelids droop and crow’s feet and wrinkles start to appear around our eyes. The last thing you want to do is draw attention to this, which is what you’re doing when you apply shimmering or glittering eyeshadows, especially in bold colors and with a heavy hand. Leave the glittery to the younger women, skip eyeshadow altogether, or just do a subtle swipe on the top of your lids in a warm, neutral tone.
11. Mascara Matters
Mascara can open up your eyes, but if you’re only applying it to the upper lashes, this can make your eyes look droopy. Apply mascara to upper and lower lashes and ideally fan them out a bit at the wings to create volume, lift, and a more youthful look.
12. Avoid Blue-Based Reds
Like our skin, our lips lose their plumpness as we age, so the last thing you want to do is make them look thinner. Wearing dark lipsticks, especially blue-based reds is a surefire way to draw attention to thin lips. It’s better to go for glossy, creamier formulas in soft pink or nude shades that match your natural lip color as these will make your lips look fuller and more hydrated.
13. Give Matte Lipsticks A Miss
In addition to choosing a lighter shade pay attention to your lipstick formula. Lips lose moisture and dry out as we get older and matte lipsticks can make things look even worse. Switch out your matte lipstick for a creamier moisturizing lip balm with a hint of tint that matches your natural lip.
14. Line Those Lips
Lips lose their fullness and shape with age and if you’re skipping lip liner, your lipstick will bleed into the fine lines around the mouth making you look older. Use a lip liner before lipstick to add fullness to your pout and help your lipstick stay put. Make sure it’s in a complementary shade to your lipstick as a contrasting color looks tacky and will age you even more.
15. Brow Job
Your eyebrows frame your face and a full well-groomed eye can open up your eyes and disguise a droopy brow. If your eyebrows are sparse or over-plucked they are aging you. Get a professional brow job or use a brow pencil —some even come with fibers that cling to your natural brows to plump them up— to shape and fill them.