The 6 Most Common Makeup Mistakes Made By Women Over 50

If your make-up doesn’t help your face look as fresh as it used to be, don’t blame it on your age but on the products and techniques, you may not have yet mastered in your 50s.

We’ve all been there: foundations that don’t stay true to our complexion, heavy blushes that don’t blend into our skin, eyeliners that make us look like our eyes are hooded or even the wrong shade of lipstick that would turn us into Morticia Addams.  

After 50, what women tend not to realise is that they need to evolve their make-up along with their style.

Crunchytales has spotted the biggest and most common mistakes mature women make. The first one? “Choosing not to wear makeup at all because they don’t know what techniques are suited for them at the moment,” says Jodi Urichuk, L’Oréal Paris Canadian Makeup Artist & Expert.

Here are the “faux-pas” you should avoid when applying make-up in your 50s

Skipping the primer

Primer is an essential step to make your makeup last.  By using it, the final result is a more flawless and radiant skin.

“Women over 50 need a primer because it will give your face an instant lift – says fashion and beauty editor Anne Maree Gale, founder of What Every Woman Needs – The key is to make sure it is the same base as your foundation — oil or water — so they don’t repel each other“.

Using too much foundation

Too much foundation can make your skin look cakey and can settle into wrinkles, making them more obvious.

“As you get older you have to choose a product, especially a concealer or a foundation, for texture,” says Hollywood make-up artist Sandy Linter. “You don’t want it to make your pores look bigger. And the wrong product can bring out the wrinkles instead of diffusing them. No makeup can hide wrinkles completely, but sometimes when you’re well made up they’re not nearly so obvious.“

A light, sheer foundation that you can build up in any area where you want extra coverage would normally suit you best. 

Of course, the more your skin is well-hydrated, the better the foundation will work out for you. Also, be sure to use a shade which matches your skin tone – darker tones are an instant ager.

Over-powdering the face

Another common error is overdoing it with face powder. It may be useful for setting makeup and mattifying the skin, especially in certain areas where you may want coverage, like the T-zone, but it should be applied in very fine layers or it can really accentuate pores and flatten your complexion. 

You get the same problem when using a powder blush: the dry finish can accentuate signs of ageing on mature skin that is already dehydrated. 

According to experts at Prime Prometics, as we age, “liquid or cream blushes in most cases will be the best choices as they can hydrate and blend well with the skin. In addition, these formulas are less likely to settle into your fine lines and wrinkles”.  

Wearing too much eyeliner

Always use a light hand with products like eyeliner. Rimming the entire top and bottom lashes with a hard black line is never the answer to making your eyes appear bigger. Instead, go with a softer brown—or even better, use something that brings out the colour of your eyes and get a thick, creamy crayon liner. Then smudge it gently under the outer third of your eye. Don’t do a harsh line corner to corner — use a brush to smudge and blend the crayon for a softer, younger look.

Choosing the wrong shade of lipstick

As we age, our natural lip line can begin to fade which makes lipstick more prone to bleeding and feathering. Avoid wearing dark colours that are matte, and go easy on texture as it might migrate.

“Another big mistake is choosing the wrong shade of lipstick. It’s important to not only look at how it interacts with your skin tone, but also with the colour of your teeth,” says makeup artist Mandie Brice. “Certain shades that are yellow-based or red-based can make teeth look more yellow, which is a sign of ageing.”

Skipping the definition of eyebrows

If you like us are a victim of ’90s thin brows, you are probably now dealing with sparse ones. Forgetting to fill them in at all is a big mistake as that tends to make our faces a bit dull. Investing in an eyebrow pencil or coloured brow gel with a wand is the best move you could make at this age to add definition to your entire face and look fresh.

These are only a few mistakes we should avoid. If you want to improve your make-up techniques, we recommend following some online tutorials or heading to your local beauty centre to try things on in person and get advice from the pros.

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