Prep & Fix: Make-Up Tips For Women Over 40

If your make-up routine is making you turn more into a Picasso modern artwork than a goddess, maybe it’s time to rethink the way you apply it and the product you choose.

According to beauty industry guru Trish McEvoy, “what time takes away, we can bring back with makeup.” Of course, there are no real beauty tips to make women look younger. The best thing to do is just accept ourselves and look the best we can. In our 50s, the main questions are usually how to make skin look even and glowy without emphasising lines and how to get eye definition without a harsh result. So the trick is to lift and breathe life back into our face with the right make-up textures and colours.

Where to start with?

If you feel lost in the beauty market jungle, go for smaller, more bespoke makeup brands that specifically cater to mature ladies like Look Fabulous Forever , founded by Tricia Cusden, also author of Living the Life More Fabulous, (a handbook about beauty, style, and empowerment for older women); or Studio 10 by Grace Fodor. Her motto? “We don’t do antiaging makeup – we do age perfect makeup. Makeup for mature skins that highlights sculpts, contours and perfects”. Whatever you choose, the most important thing when we age is to treat ourselves with products made especially for us.

6 Basic Beauty Heroes

As well as using the right professional brushes and a good magnifying mirror, all makeup artists agree midlife women should invest in the following 6 basic beauty heroes:

• Primer (applied post-moisturiser and pre-make-up, it fills in the tiny lines and smooths out your pores)
• Cream concealer to brighten and lift the under-eye area (should be one or two shades lighter than your foundation, and yellow in tone)
• Long-lasting foundation (better if applied over a sheer tinted moisturizer or luminous serum),
• Cream blush which doubles up as a cheek and lip colour
• Natural Eyeshadows (a palette comprised of browns and pinks and a silky finish resistant to creasing or smudging)
• Blackest black mascara, to make eyes pop. Since we want our lashes to look full and lush, avoid lengthening and curling ones and choose a thickening formula

Tips & tricks from the insiders

OPT FOR A MULTI-TASKING BB CREAM | “It combines moisturizer, anti-ageing ingredients to reduce wrinkles and lines and more colour than a tinted moisturizer. It evens out skin tone and you see an immediate brightening effect.  Just layer it over a moisturizer if your skin is very dry, layer foundation on top of the BB for additional coverage and spot correct any brown spots or blemishes with a touch-up stick.” – Bobbi Brown

APPLY CONCEALER BEFORE LIPSTICK | “Scrub the lips, then apply a concealer that’s the same colour as your skin all over the lip with a foundation brush. Add a balm on top to set, which provides extra hydration. Outline with a liner, fill them in, and use a lip brush or your finger to apply the colour.” — Pat McGrath

BRIGHTEN YOUR EYES| One of the first areas to show signs of ageing are the eyes. Begin by brightening the upper and under the eye using the Triangle of Light technique: create an upside-down triangle under each eye, gently pressing the product into the skin. It makes the area look dramatically lifted.” — Trish McEvoy

USE THE RIGHT FOUNDATION | “The older you are, the more necessary it is for you to have to wear foundation. However, opt for something like a BB cream or a light tinted moisturiser because you don’t want to look too cakey – anything with a heavy, dense formula will simply sit on top of the skin and in the wrinkles making you look older.” – Mary Greenwell

WEAR RED LIPSTICK | “I adore red lips on older women. There is something about the combination of silvery-white hair and red lips that is alluring in the best possible way, and it helps them look full and luscious. I keep being told older women shouldn’t wear red lipstick. Nonsense – go for it. We older women often find that our lipstick is rather reluctant to stay put. Partly to blame are the fine lines around the mouth, which cause lipstick to feather and spread. Luckily there is a solution: lip prime”. – Tricia Cusden

USE AN EYELINER PENCIL AND APPLY MASCARA GENEROUSLY| To give mature eyes a quick lift, draw your eyeliner pencil along your upper lash line and flick up and out at the corner of the eye. When applying mascara, don’t forget those tiny bottom lashes. A coat of mascara on the bottom lashes will make your eyes look larger.” – Charlotte Tilbury

Remember, it’s not about “anti-aging.” It’s about looking, and more importantly, feeling your best at any age!

Like this post? Support Us or Sign up to our newsletter to get more articles like this delivered straight to your inbox!