Makeup Tips and Tricks

When I changed my eating habits in my mid-fifties, the quality of my skin improved dramatically. The redness and puffiness went away. Breakouts diminished and have all but disappeared. First, I have to tell you that what we eat, drink or smoke (eeeew!) every day shows on our faces. The best thing you can do for your body and your face is to eat more vegetables, fresh fruits, grains, nuts, seeds, and drink more water. Processed foods are never good for you. Ask your doctor before making any significant changes.

Makeup can enhance what we already have going for us, but as I celebrate birthdays, I wear less color. I am well aware that my natural coloring is getting softer with passing time and that bold makeup will not serve me well. Hairstyles and makeup trends come and go out of fashion. If we cling to thin, over-plucked, and artificially arched brows and darkly lined lips, it is just as bad as keeping the Rachel hairstyle a few decades longer than everyone else.

As we age, we develop little fat pockets underneath our eyes and often form a hooded upper lid. I apply eye makeup to minimize this as much as possible. There is never shimmer on the brow bone, and I work with the natural arch of my brow and fill in only where they are sparse with a very light hand. Thicker brows are the style right now, but that would look rather odd on me because my natural brows are not now, nor have they ever been very thick. 

A light hand in applying makeup and consistently removing all of it before you go to bed at night are the most important tips I can offer you.

I apply liner only to the top lid and on the upper waterline. The line always ends above and before the corner of my eye. Avoid any tail to the brows or your eyeliner because it visually brings your face downward.

An easy formula for applying eyeshadow is to keep it simple and use only two colors. Use a neutral shade all over your lid, and then apply a darker color in a C shape at the outer corner to counter that hood. You can see how I achieved that in the photo below.

The most crucial makeup technique to remember is to blend and blot. Deposits of unblended color, bold liner, and lipstick that travels are never kind to us. Chose the colors from a palette that flatters your coloring (never match your eyeshadow to what you are wearing). Any color you add should always complement your natural coloring. This applies to hair color, makeup, and clothing. Color works for or against you. I will never forget the beautiful lady I saw who had blonde patches of highlighted hair that grabbed brassy tones so that it looked orange, and her cheek and lip color was pink and red.

Remember to keep an open mind about trends, study your face and hair color in natural light. Do those colors clash with each other or your coloring? Evaluate your makeup at the end of the day. Did your lip color travel into the lines around your mouth? Did your mascara smudge and flake? Did your foundation cake and gather in your laugh lines? These are good things to know and keep in mind as you apply your makeup tomorrow. The world isn’t lit like a bathroom. Check your makeup in different lighting to make sure you aren’t applying it too dark. I use a lighted mirror by Ott-Lite, which simulates natural daylight.

Click here for a fun YouTube video I made to show you how I would look if I got too carried away with the makeup.

From the old photo below, you can see that if I still wore my hair and makeup in the same way, it would not be a good look for my sixty-year-old face. This is an extreme comparison, but I promise you that I still see women wearing their high school hairstyles and makeup more than thirty years later. Our faces and skin physically change over time, as do the trends. We need to keep an open mind about what flatters us or maybe not so much as we age.