How to look younger: tips on how to apply makeup over 40 to enhance your best features.
We all want to know how to look younger. And makeup should make us look younger and prettier, but once we hit 40 it can have the opposite effect and can age us if not applied correctly.
I’ve spent some time with top makeup artist Mishel Brown-Garrison and asked her to show us how to apply makeup over 40.
Why? Well, maybe you knew what flattered you when you were in your 30’s but how you apply makeup needs to evolve as you age? Your face changes over 40 and so the type of makeup you use and how you apply it needs to change too. I got the chance to get makeup tips for over 40 women and some great tricks of how to look younger from LA based makeup artist Mishel Brown-Garrison.
Mishel has helped make movie stars radiant for the red carpet, and is a makeup artist for luxury makeup line, Le Metier De Beaute at Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills. Mishel specializes in the special demands of the over 40 face in Hollywood. Here are some of Mishel’s top makeup tips on how to use makeup to look younger!
1. Start with good skin.
As we age, the turnover of our skin cells slows down. The dead skin cells on the surface of our skin make our complexions dull and less radiant. Physical exfoliation like gritty scrubs aren’t enough and can actually scratch and abrade our skin if used too aggressively. Mishel recommends using a mask or peel with a glycolic acid once a week to uncover brighter skin. (Here Mishel used a glycolic peel followed by a moisturizing mask while she did our model Pam’s makeup. You can try that trick too. (And of course, as you know, a daily sunscreen on face, chest and hands is a must!)
2. Moisturize and prime.
Make sure you have a well hydrated canvas before you apply your makeup. This ensures that your makeup goes on evenly, smoothly and lasts longer. As we age this is very important since our skin becomes drier and more uneven. Use a moisturizer on your face and under your eyes. Use a makeup primer to ensure that the makeup goes on evenly. A primer will also help your makeup last.
3. Start with the eyes.
It’s all about soft color and application, not hard lines. Use an eyeshadow base or primer on your eyelids to create a blank canvas before you apply any eye makeup. Discolorations on your eyelids (which everyone has) can affect the color of the eyeshadow you are applying. And by starting with your eyes, it’s easier to clean up any mistakes from flakes of eyeshadow or mascara.
Choose an eye color that has a subtle sheen to it, but not a glittery sparkle. A champagne color is a universally flattering color on most people. And don’t use completely flat, browns and taupes, they can make the eyes look too dry and dull as we age.
Apply your base champagne color, starting at the lash line and continuing to the brow bone. Apply the same color to the “water line” on the bottom of your eye. The water line is the skin between your lashes and your eye.
Mishel uses an amazing technique from Le Metier de Beaute that I’ve never seen before! It’s called “couches de color”, which means layering the colors onto the eye so that you get a luminous prismatic effect, rather than a flat stripey eye shadow. Here’s a youtube tutorial from Le Metier de Beaute on this eye color stacking technique. It looks so radiant and makes your eyes pop.
Continue the color by using the same color you applied on the eyelid to the bottom of your eye to create balance.
Use a black liquid liner on the top to create dark lush lashes. Apply mascara.
4. Use a brow pencil in a tone close to your natural brow color.
Use sparingly to fill in any uneven gaps (and if you have any grey eyebrows to lightly cover).
5. Use a light tinted moisturizer with SPF for most days.
Choose a light tinted moisturizer and foundation and apply lightly. Save foundation for night or dressier days. Avoid heavy foundations that are overly thick, they tends to get cakey, settle into wrinkles and make them more noticeable. Here’s my review of the foundation she is using, Peau Vierge from Le Metier.
6. Apply blush only where you’d blush.
Apply to the apples of your cheeks, where you would naturally blush. Don’t apply a streak of heavy darker blush as contouring. It ages your face. Makeup needs to soften as we age, not make us more angular. If you have a round face, a subtle slight contouring shadow for evening might be appropriate but again, very very slight and subtle.
7. Concealer. Is a finishing touch, not the first thing.
Use concealer underneath your eyes and wherever else you might need some additional coverage. Use if you have redness or broken capillaries around your nose, or any blemishes. Use sparingly and be sure to get a shade that is a good match to your skin tone, if you go too light it will actually bring more attention to blemishes and under eye circles.
8. Use a sweep of powder.
It helps your makeup last longer. Just a light dusting is all you need. And one of Mishel’s secret; a tiny sweep of bronzer underneath your neck, an area that can be very pale so that it better matches the tone of your face.
9. Light lip color.
Choose a sheer shade for daytime and apply a light gloss. Stay away from flat browns or nudes that don’t give your face any color
There you have it, some over 40 makeup tips to keep us looking gorgeous. Update the way you apply makeup so that you look younger, radiant and as luminous as ever.
Hope you enjoy these over 40 makeup tips. Please let me know if you tried these tips on how to apply makeup over 40.