RSSThe First 4 Ways To Modify Makeup For Age
September 23, 2008
When we get older, our faces become interesting and strong. They hold their families together and are getting their inner selves in order. By 50, we’re just starting to get into gear.
We’d all like the skin we had when we were 20. We’d like the skin we had when we were 5, if it comes right down to it. But that’s not the deal. You can fight hard to preserve what you have, but you need a hefty bit of time and income at your disposal.
What I really look like.
Help from iPhoto.
Makeup that looks fabulous changes with age just as everything else does. Your face is not the same as it was 20 years ago. It’s better. Your character is beginning to shine through. The makeup can take a back seat.
I saw this post at Sugar Shock Beauty blog on How Not To Look Old. Fabulous After 40 wrote this. (In a funny aside, I mistakenly typed in www.fabulousover40.com and found this. Damn, I got to get me a song!)
Once I gave it some thought, there seemed to be loads of ways to flatter mature faces with makeup. I came up with 12, which will be divided into 3 articles.
In no particular order, here are the first 4. They’re all about the eyes.
1. No powder under the eyes. It puts emphasis on wrinkles by drying the skin surface, making it less pliable. It also seems to make the creases look deeper.
A little powder under the inner corner to set the concealer is ok, but practice restraint. The whole area looks better, softer, more illuminated when it looks moist.
A dusting of powder over the upper eyelid so that eyeshadow doesn’t catch and deposit all in one place is a good idea, but not necessary if you don’t wear eyeshadow.
2. Moisturizer and more moisturizer under the eyes. Apply it several times a day, tapped on with a finger, right over the makeup. Paula’s Choice Hydrating Treatment Cream is lovely and light, and very effective because it has the ability to form a thin film of a perfect consistency (You can read about this is more detail in the article Unrivaled Products 2 : Hydrating Treatment Cream ).
Makeup seems to stay put, though I know you’d think it would smear all over. Just don’t get up too close to the eyeliner/mascara ; it’s not really a problem since you tap the cream right directly over the lines and those are more at and under the outside corner.
The trick is to use just a little film of it, and tap in up and down so the makeup underneath stays in place. Stay a good ½” away from the lower eyelid so none of the cream makes its way into your eyes or smudges your eye makeup. You’re tapping it in a wide arc from near the inner corner (very little or none at the inner corner), along the top rim of the cheekbone, under the eye, and up around near the outer corner, basically right over skin with lines.
The eye area looks moist but not oily. The lines are eased and less noticeable.
3. A concealer that blends with minimal effort is a necessity. Apply concealer over well moisturized skin. It is too easy for this product to look cakey and then lines are more obvious.
Have a look here at this article about Ben Nye Neutralizer Crayon for a nice product that blends with just a touch. Paula’s Choice Soft Cream Concealer is also very good. These are very skin friendly colors in a terrific product.
Bobbi Brown makes slightly heavier concealers in very decent colors. These are a little heavy but if you moisturize first, they blend out well.
Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer kit.
Check out this video at BB on how to choose and apply concealer.
I agree with her about the color. However, the idea of using 2 colors, one above the other, now…that seems like a lot of concealer, doesn’t it?
In my hands, the amount she applies looks heavy on skin that can’t take it well. The model in the video must be all of 20. I need to see Bobbi put that much product on my almost-50 skin. BUT, the Corrector that she applies before the Concealer deserves some consideration, and will get it in an upcoming article.
As for Bobbi’s recommendation of powder after … I stick to my guns that over 40, you need to be careful. Creamy concealers do migrate into lines, but a very thin dusting of a very sheer and finely ground powder suffices. The touch of the tip of a warm finger during the day also deletes the line effect.
Many women prefer concealer to be exactly the color of foundation or a little lighter but I don’t. It’s often noticeable and I don’t think it sculpts the face in the best way possible. Concealers that dry and do not budge are favored as well, but for me, they’re just too hard to blend. I will have nothing to do with products that make me tug at my skin, especially around my eyes.
4. No shimmer under the eyes. There is no need to draw attention to this area. Do not go higher than the cheekbones with the product, and as you swing up and around the corner of the eye, stay far away from any skin that wrinkles when you smile.
Have a look at the AGT articles 6 Makeup Shimmer Do’s and 10 Wrong Ways To Use Shimmer In Makeup for more on this topic.
Comments
Got something to say? I hope so.
-
A Greener Tea
Web Maintenence by Rick Beckman
