Fifty may be the new forty, and forty the new thirty, but
for many of us, the way we dress and apply our makeup hasn’t changed since we
were in our mid to late twenties. As busy women who juggle careers, families
and a dizzying array of concurrent responsibilities, taking the time to leaf
through a fashion magazine and see what is in style isn’t always in first place on our To Do
List.
To make matters worse, what looked good on us as young women
first venturing out into the real world, is almost certainly no longer
appropriate for us at this stage of our lives. Every one of us knows someone still
clinging to a look that was in vogue back in ye olde college days. It could be heavy handed cat-eye liner that looked sexy on Brigitte Bardot back in the 50s, or a poufy teased updo held in
place with hairspray and chunky bobby pins. Perhaps it is a spiky androgenous
haircut, the kind made popular in the 1980s by David Bowie in the movie Labyrinth,
or a pair of wooden-soled Candie’s pumps that were all the rage in the 70’s,
but now look conservative and vintage at best. When was the last time you took an objective
look at yourself in the mirror?
Getting together with a friend whose taste you trust may be
more in line with your budget than a visit to a professional makeup artist or
wardrobe specialist. So before you panic, here is a list of very basic makeup do’s
and don’ts for women over 40, to help you figure out if you are in need of an emergency
update to your current look.
1. Remember the less-is-more rule! If you are going
to accentuate your eyes, use relatively light, sheer colors for the rest of
your makeup so that your features do not compete for the focal point of your
face.
2. Thin skimpy or translucent brows that do not adequately frame
your face are extremely aging, even on someone as beautiful as Angelina Jolie. Be sure
to fill in sparse brows with a brow color that matches your hair color. If you
are missing the outer third of your brows (if you are suffering from an underactive thyroid this is fairly common), you may need to pencil them in with
light feathery strokes and set in place with a colored brow powder or eyeshadow
(which works equally well).
3. Applying a little bit of waxy-pencil-based highlighter beneath
the brow can help keep brow color from migrating in the summer heat.
Subtly highlighting the area will also lift, open, and brighten the eyes.
4. Use an eyelash curler before applying mascara to your top
lashes. It will make your eyes look bigger, better defined and brighter.
Skip applying mascara to the lower lashes where it can smudge and create
too much shadow.
5. Avoid shimmery, sparkly colors anywhere on your face. They tend to make
women look older by accentuating fine lines and wrinkles.
6. Eyeshadow colors that are too light will not
camouflage blue veins and discolorations, so if yours are visible, opt for
slightly darker, more opaque colors with stronger pigments.
7. Instead of using a liquid eyeliner that can
settle into the crinkly lash line and look uneven and jagged, try applying a
smudge of soft eyeliner pencil or a dark powdered shadow to define your eyes instead.
It will make your eyes look larger and you won’t have to worry about drawing a perfectly
straight line!
8. Because women tend to lose color (pigment) as we
age, try using a slightly warmer tone of hydrating foundation to brighten up
your skin. Apply sparingly. Remember: more
is not necessarily better!
9. Stay away from
powder-type foundations. Powder can settle into fine lines and make you look fifteen
years older than you are.
10. Apply a dot of concealer on the outer corners of the
eyes and blend to give the illusion of added lift and brightness. Stay away from concealers that are
drying, cake up and tend to settle in fine lines and wrinkles.
11. Instead of using a powder blush, try using a cream formula
for a soft, dewy glow. Apply a small amount to the apple of your cheeks and
blend well. We’ve all seen women who resemble circus clowns because of the circular
glob of bright color sitting in the center of their cheeks. Don’t be one of
them!
12. Blend a little bit of highlighter on the top of
your cheeks to create the illusion of having higher cheekbones!
13. Taking family pictures? Use a high-definition
primer under your makeup. The reflective particles in the primer will add glow and
make your skin look flawless in the photographs.
14. Make sure you use a gentle facial exfoliant on your
lips (like La Isha’s Orange Coconut Skin Polish) to remove dead skin cells and alleviate dryness. This will help prevent
lipstick from bleeding into the fine lines and wrinkles around your mouth.
15. I like to apply a little bit of eyeshadow primer
around my mouth to prevent makeup from settling in the fine lines around my
lips. It creates a softer, fuller look, too. Experiment with this and see if it
works for you!
16. Avoid heavy lipliner, and when choosing a color, find one that is close to the shade of your lipstick color. In other words, do not use a brown lipliner
with light pink lipstick – find a light pink liner instead. You can use the liner to line and fill in your lips, then layer with lipstick. Be careful about using lipgloss,
as it tends to migrate into the surrounding tissues outside of the lipline and accentuate fine lines and wrinkles.
Copyright
2013 Sharon Gnatt Epel for La Isha Natural Anti-Aging Skincare
