My posts on makeup for the (shall we say) more experienced women continue to get lots of hits. So this morning, I was thinking of what can make a woman look older when it comes to slapping on the makeup. I’d say:
- Too much powder. You know that old lady look? Where it looks like the poor old thing has fallen into a large bowl of white flour? That’s the look you want to avoid. Nothing worse that a powdery, cakey look to the face.
- Too much blush or blush in a thick stripe a’la the 1980s. I have to admit to loving blushers and bronzers, especially because they can help contour and slim the face. But if you have pale skin like me, it’s very easy to go overboard or end up looking like an oompa loompa. So you need discipline when it comes to application and the right technique. Probably it also involves an eternal search for the HG of blush or bronzer – because a bronzer that looks wow in the pan, can look meh on your skin.
- Too much eyeliner or mascara. A thick line of eyeliner is probably best left to the 1960s when that look was in. And the upturning of the eyeliner to mimic a cat’s eye – very few people can carry this off and I think you’d need to have Audrey Hepburn’s huge doe-like eyes. Similarly, women who wear enough mascara to look like they have tarantulas hanging off their eyes – very ageing. Finding the right mascara though is important because our eyelashes thin out as we get older. So volume boosting mascaras are good and I think that very black mascara works best, although a navy mascara can look good. I think that lining the bottom rim of the eye with eyeliner can be ageing. Just look at the internet gossip over Kate Middleton’s wedding makeup. Vivienne Westwood referred to her sharp line around the eyes as “racoon makeup” and plenty of people have weighed-in on the argument.
- Dark lipstick. There are heaps of fabulous older women on this blog who would disagree with me but….I don’t think dark lipstick on older lips does any favours. It can look too harsh, especially on thinner lips. As we age, our lips get thinner. And I think what you’re wanting to achieve is a luminous, glowing look – lipgloss helps achieve this, as well as giving a softer, light reflecting appearance.
- Too heavy foundation. Older women have a tendency to slap on a lot of foundation in an attempt to conceal fine lines and wrinkles. You actually don’t need to apply much foundation to get the effect you want.
So what techniques can the older woman use to avoid the above?
- Starting with foundation – dot it only on the areas you need most coverage. Most likely the cheeks, chin and side of nose. This would be about 3 to 4 small dots of liquid foundation. Then use a stippling brush to work in the foundation – again, only to the areas you need to conceal.
- Face powder – you don’t need a full mask of powder. Let your skin glow. Using a large brush, simply fluff the powder on the areas where you are likely to get some shine, such as the nose, chin and forehead.
- Blush and bronzer – the application technique I use is the figure 3. Using a large blusher brush, I start on the forehead, just above the pupil and swirl towards the temples, then down and inwards on the cheekbones and back out under the chin area. It’s like you’re drawing the numeral 3. I’m not really one for finding the apples of your cheeks and fluffing blush or bronzer all over this area – I want to avoid the clown look. Start off loading your brush with only a small amount of blush or bronzer. You can always build up if it’s too light. Harder to fix if you’ve applied with a heavy hand.
- Eyeliner and mascara – I only line the top lid with eyeliner and usually this is with a soft eye kohl pencil and dark brown eyeshadow as I don’t like the harsh look of eyeliner. If I ever use a black eyeliner, I will smudge some eyeshadow over the line to soften it. I use eyeshadow or a soft pencil to line the rim of the lower eye area. I usually only do two coats of mascara and never under the eyes – I don’t want the spider’s legs look. I also apply the mascara more to the outer lashes.
I think the older woman wants to go for a natural but polished look, which allows the skin to be revealed. No heavy coverage. No layers of powder. Less is more.
I’ve put together a FOTD for you using a few simple products:
- Neutrogena nourishing eye quad in Tea Biscuit 120. Really like the neutrals in this quad, which I think might now be discontinued. You don’t have to do much thinking with this quad – it’s a great neutral palette that any older woman could use. The base shade goes well with pale skin, giving you a light beige colour that evens out your eyelids. The crease colour is a soft suede brown and I used the accent colour (the dark brown) as an upper eyelid colour, which I smudged with a small brush. I swept what was left on this brush under the eyes. I used the shimmery pink highlighter colour at the inner corners of the eye. This is a trick to make your eye area look brighter.
- Innoxa Lash Define mascara in Black. Two coats.
- Foundation is Rimmel Stay Matte foundation in Ivory. I like this foundation a lot because it provides shine control as well as good coverage. I used three dots for the whole face – on both cheeks and chin area. I used a stippling brush (MAC #187) to stipple and swirl. For any bits I wanted to conceal further, I used MAC Studio Finish concealer in NC15.
- Revlon PhotoReady Translucent Finisher to set the foundation and further control shine. The powder looks hideously white in the compact but goes on beautifully and is translucent.
- Physicians Formula Bronze Booster Glow-Boosting Pressed Bronzer in Light to Medium. LOVE this product.
- Maybelline Color Sensational Lipgloss in Touch of Toffee 255. Just one coat. Really love this neutral, glossy colour. I think it’s universally-flattering.
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