Just because you’re over 40, doesn’t mean you don’t need to spruce up on your makeup skills. Our skin goes through significant changes as we age, and if you don’t change your makeup routine along the way, it can have you looking older than you really are. If you want to know the best makeup for women over 40, read on for our best tips and tricks!
4 Makeup Tips for Beginners
You may not be a teenager anymore, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need a little help in the makeup department. If it’s time for you to re-learn some makeup tips for mature skin, check out these beginner makeup tips for older women.
1. Try a Lightweight Foundation or Tinted Moisturizer
You want to keep your coverage light and natural. Find a liquid foundation or tinted moisturizer that works best for your skin to enhance it rather than weigh it down. The last thing you want is a heavy foundation that dulls out your skin and sinks into your fine lines. Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation is a great option. It offers medium coverage, so you can increase or decrease the amount you use to fit your needs, and it’s oil-free with 24-hour coverage so it stays put all day long.
2. Fill in Your Brows
There’s nothing like too-thin eyebrows to really age a woman. Make sure you don’t over pluck, and try a brow growth serum to make them fuller. You can also use a good brow pencil like Anastasia Beverly Hill’s Brow Whiz to bring them back to life. Use soft strokes so they look as natural as can be.
3. Curl Your Lashes
The goal is to work against gravity and keep everything going up. Curling your lashes makes your eyes look bigger and brighter, which will make you look more youthful. If your lashes are short, use a lengthening mascara like Lancome’s Hypnose Mascara to help with elongation.
4. Opt for Lighter, Glossier Lip Shades
Lighter, glossier lip shades will help enhance your pout and make your lips look bigger. Since our lips get smaller as we age, it’s important not to use colors that emphasize this. Choose a lipstick with a long-wearing, moisturizing formula in a lighter shade to enhance your natural pout. Clinique Long Last Lipstick and Giorgio Armani Sheer Hydrating Lip Color are GREAT options.
How Your Makeup Needs Change with Age
There’s not a lot of information out there that teaches women how to replace the makeup techniques they learned when they were younger. When you’re younger, your face is naturally more plump and tight and doesn’t have fine lines. As you age, you need to account for how your skin and face changes and change your makeup routine accordingly. Everything from your skin tone to your skin texture, your eyelid area, brows and more change over time.
Your eyes and cheeks become puffier as your lymphatic system starts to slow down, and with decreased sebum production, the outer layer of your skin is more prone to environmental conditions like pollution. Estrogen production also starts to slow down and switch off, making your skin more saggy and wrinkled, and unhealthy habits like drinking, stress or smoking tend to become more apparent over 40.
4 Makeup Tips to Avoid Over 40
1. Avoid Makeup with Sparkle
Sparkle is best left to the younger crowd, but if you want some glam, you’re not out of luck! Opt for makeup with a slight shimmer that offers a subtle highlight to accentuate your features. Shimmer reflects light and will give your skin a healthy glow!
2. Avoid Going too Heavy with Foundation
Heavy foundation tends to look caked on and ends up accumulating in fine lines. Heavy foundation won’t hide your wrinkles – it will enhance them! Avoid going too matte so your foundation looks natural and gives you a healthy glow. Bare Minerals Tinted Hydrating Gel Cream is a great, light-weight option for gals who can get away with minimal coverage.
3. Avoid Wearing Dark Matte Lipstick
Dark lipsticks aren’t totally out of the question, but they’re better to do in a sheer gloss than a matte. As we age, our lips become smaller, which can make lipstick more prone to bleeding and feathering. If you’re wearing dark shades in matte, the bleeding is more noticeable, so stick to a gloss like Revlon Super Lustrous Lip Gloss in Kiss Me Coral.
4. Avoid Wearing Mascara on Your Lower Lashes
Wearing mascara on your lower lashes can make your eyes look droopy and highlight under eye bags. It can also accentuate your under eye wrinkles, making your eyes look older. Instead of mascara, opt for subtle, blended brown eyeliner on your bottom lid. Smashbox Always Sharp Waterproof Eye Liner in Penny Lane is a great option. It’s always sharp for easy application, can be smudged for a smokey look, and will last all day.
5 Makeup Tips to Look Younger
If you want to know how to look younger using makeup, check out these awesome step-by-step tutorials!
Simple Makeup Tips to Look 10 Years Younger | Dominique Sachse
This video offers 10 simple tips to help you look 10 years younger! She combines application, formula and technique to show you how to get a more vibrant, younger look with your makeup. From filling in your brows to lining the lips, you’re going to love her expert tips!
How to Do Classic Makeup on a Mature Face | Monique Parent
From starting with a good moisturizer to knocking down shine on a daily basis and elongating your eyelashes, this is how to get a classic makeup look for older women! Follow her as she goes from makeup-free to looking naturally glam with a few key makeup techniques!
How to Apply Makeup Right After 50 to Minimize Wrinkles | ehowbeauty
If you want to minimize and disguise wrinkles, check out this video on makeup for women over 50. She notes that a primer will help fill in any lines (we love NARS Radiance Primer), and a powder concealer is better than a liquid concealer because it won’t set into your lines. She demonstrates how to use blush for a nice lifting effect, among other tips you don’t want to miss!
Makeup for Older Women | Tips and Tricks to Look Youthful | nikitahhx
If you want to know some of the best tricks to look youthful over 40, you’re not going to want to skip this video! She shares tips she’s picked up over time to help her look young with makeup as she’s aged. Follow her step-by-step techniques and get a fabulous makeup look!
Makeup for Older Women: 6 Amazing Tips You Need to Know | Sixty and Me
In this tutorial, celebrity makeup artist Ariane Poole shares specific makeup tips for older women. She talks about the rules of makeup application and how they change as we age, and provides techniques to update your makeup look!
If you’re looking for the best makeup for women over 40, these tips will help you enhance your features and look younger!
