How to Apply Makeup on Mature Women

Regardless of what type of skin you had as a teenager, as you progress in age, you will realize that the elasticity, glow and color of your skin have started to change and fade. For this reason, mature women over the age of 40 should take extra care and precautions to ensure they continue enjoying healthy skin.

All you need to do is to invest a little time in yourself, particularly in your skin care routine, and use makeup in a smart yet subtle way. This ensures that all those tell-tale signs of age are successfully and easily camouflaged. Giving you an overall elegant and sophisticated look, smart makeup compliments your mature personality and reflects well with your dressing sense.

The march of the years is bound to leave behind a number of signs that are sure to let the cat out of the bag. The good news, however, is that makeup can be a mature woman's best friend, should she know how to use it and not abuse it. Given below are certain commonly occurring signs of age, and certain tried and tested makeup tips and techniques that can help mature women camouflage or subdue their appearance.

Dark circles and skin pigmentation

As you age, you tend to sleep less, worry more, wear spectacles etc.; all habits that tend to stress your eyes, leaving dark patchy skin under your eyes, commonly referred to as dark circles. Makeup experts suggest that since the underlying eye area becomes thinner and more delicate with age, mature women should opt for a good quality liquid foundation and concealer that matches well with their overall skin tone.

Using light feathery strokes, you must blend the concealer until it camouflages those dark blue and black sites of pigmentation.

Fine lines and crow’s feet

Most women start developing wrinkles, fine lines and crow’s feet under and around their eyes around the age of 30-35. Trying to cover such crow’s feet using too much eye shadow or eye makeup can look disastrous. If not applied carefully, such powder textured makeup tends to settle in the creases of your crow’s feet and wrinkles, accentuating them rather than hiding them.

The best solution then is to apply light makeup in this delicate area, using gentle strokes of a soft brush or even your index finger. In this area of your face, any and all makeup that you apply has to simply glide on. Anything applied with a heavy hand or pressure will only work to highlight these facial flaws.

Age spots and freckles

Years of time spent in the sun often catches up with mature women in the form of freckles and age spots. The worst thing about these two adverse skin manifestations is that they are generally difficult to hide and they can appear anywhere and everywhere on your face. The only way that you can successfully camouflage them is to use a quality primer all over your face so that it acts as a barrier between your natural skin and the makeup you're about to apply. Once applied, you need to wait for this primer to partially dry before applying concealer on it.

Then apply your liquid foundation. Let the foundation settle and then apply some color correcting concealer on those age spots and freckles that are still peering from under the foundation. Here, you must blend your foundation and concealer seamlessly with short strokes of your finger, or you could even use light, outward brush strokes if using a powder texture concealer. However, should you only have a couple of age spots and freckles that need covering, you can always choose to do spot application using a concealer stick and skip the whole primer, foundation, concealer rigmarole.

Lastly, you can dust some translucent loose powder all over your face to ensure that your makeup stays in place the whole day. While the market is flooded with numerous kinds and textures of such basic and essential face makeup, for mature women the best option is mineral-based makeup/mineral liquid foundation as it is light on the skin.

Drooping eyelids

With age, everything on your face sags, including your eyelids, giving you a perpetually sleepy or disinterested look. A good makeup trick to combat droopy eyelids is to apply your favorite eyeliner only to your upper lids. Start by applying your eyeliner from the centre of the lash, taking the line onto the outer corners of your eyes giving them the much needed, slightly lifted look that compliments your face.

However, you need to keep in mind that you must use a light hand while applying your eyeliner, as a thicker application of such eyeliner can accentuate your droopy eyelids further. Similarly, some mascara and an eyelash curler can both be applied only to the upper eyelashes to give them an illusion of being longer and thicker.

Dark lips

Years of lipstick use slowly start turning your lips a shade darker and thinner. Mature women should stay away from dark shades of lipstick as it generally doesn't flatter their thin lips. Instead, such women should stick to colors and shades close to their natural lip color such as those in hues of pink and rose.

Choose a matte texture over a shiny one, and try using lipsticks which have balms or moisturizers in them as these shall ensure that your lips stay hydrated and don't lose their color. And as always, mature women need to be extra cautious about matching their lip color to their overall makeup, their skin tone and the clothes they are wearing.

Sagging skin

The most commonly affected area on your face is usually your chin which tends to create loose and sagging skin. Most women hate this, and many choose to go under the knife or undergo invasive surgeries such as facelifts. However, you can always save yourself the time and money by choosing to use corrective contouring makeup that camouflages and hides your sagging skin in this area.

Such corrective contouring makeup is known to use creative shading and highlighting techniques to hide all the unflattering features of a mature woman's face, giving her a virtual facelift. The best way to hide such sagging skin is to apply a darker shade of powder/blush/foundation just underneath your chin area and also at the sides of your jawline.

Thinning eyebrows

As with skin, your hair too becomes thin with age and as a result, mature women tend to lose hair not just from their head but also from their eyebrows. To make your eyebrows appear thicker, mature women should choose to use good quality eyebrow pencils and eyebrow brushes that can help create the illusion of a thicker and natural eyebrow. Such thinning or sparse eyebrows should not be plucked with tweezers, and should instead be filled in using any commonly available brow powder or pencil.

While the above mentioned tips and techniques can help you hide skin flaws that appear with age, the best way to fight them is to prevent them or minimize their appearance. Keeping this in mind, here is some good advice on how to keep your skin looking healthy and glowing beyond 30.

Buy and use only quality makeup

Mature women should stick to using light mineral-based makeup or the light reflecting kind of makeup that is known to lend a subtle, natural glow and a softer feel to their face which complements their mature age. Also, liquid and matte textures are best suited for mature skin. Powder makeup is also good, but only for certain areas of the face such as your eyes but even here it needs to be applied sparingly. Powder makeup has an annoying tendency of accumulating in the creases or fine lines of a mature face, making them more pronounced and obvious.

Never abuse makeup

For mature women, less makeup is always more. For such women, what matters is not what kind of makeup you apply, but how and where you apply it. Mature women have delicate skin that is thinner and cannot take the onslaught of layers and layers of makeup. Caking up makeup on such thin skin can really give you a bad case of breakouts and acne if you are not careful.

The trick to applying such makeup is never to overdo it or abuse it. Instead, mature woman should use such makeup sparingly and in a smart way to highlight only their best facial features. Also, mature women should trade in the use of gloss and shimmer for some light reflecting makeup that gives their skin a subtle, natural looking glow great for both day wear and night use.

Develop a healthy skin care routine

As a teenager, you may take your skin for granted, but as you age you simply cannot do so anymore. To ensure your skin stays healthy and retains its natural glow over time, you need to invest some time and focus on developing a good, daily skin care routine that involves the daily cleaning, scrubbing, toning, use of a suitable mask and lastly moisturizing your skin. Along with this, you need to ensure you get at least 6 hours of deep sleep, stay out of direct sunlight and drink as much water as possible.
A healthy skin has a natural glow and soft feel to it, which no amount of makeup can ever compensate for. Another important component of a healthy skin care routine is to remove all makeup before going to bed and wash your face first thing in the morning and at night. Don't forget to make sunscreen an essential part of your day care routine as regular use of a good quality sunscreen is bound to protect and nourish your skin, keeping it supple.

How to Apply Makeup on Mature Women

The main purpose of this video is to show you the correct application of makeup on mature women and exactly what products to use on them.

The following items from our Makeup Kit will be used in this training video:

Complexion Primer
130 Concealer Brush
10 Color Concealer Palette
Corrector Concealer Quad
125 Foundation Brush
5 Color Liquid Foundations
Stainless Steel Mixing Palette and Spatula
2 Cream Foundation Quads
126 Powder Brush
6 Color Pressed Powder Palette or HD Translucent Powder
212 Spoolie Brush
221 All Over Eye Blender Brush
204 Crease Brush
219 Precision Crease Brush
202 Large Shader Brush
229 Detailing Brush
207 Angle Eye Liner Brush
15 Color Eye Shadow Palette- Neutral
Eyeliner Pencils
Gel Eye Liners
Eyelash Curler
Black mascara
127 Blush Brush
10 Color Blush Palette- Neutral
316 Lip Brush
10 Color Lipstick Palette- Neutral
Lip gloss
Tissues

Now let’s start with the practical…

Step 1: Take your primer and squeeze a pea-sized amount onto the palm of your hand. Rub your hands together so that the primer gets spread all over them and apply the primer over your client’s face. Begin by pressing it onto her cheeks, forehead and chin. Also apply a bit of primer over her eyes, but ignore any primer on the mouth area.

Step 2: Examine your client’s skin to see if there is any area that needs advanced covering such as dark circles, wrinkles, pigmentation marks, pimples etc. If there is, then you must cover these areas first. A green concealer is handy to use on any red areas such as red veins or pimples, whereas a purple cover stick works well on any yellow areas such as pigmentation etc. An orange concealer is best to use on areas with a bluish tinge such as dark under eye circles/patches. If you just want to even out your skin tone, then it is best to use a concealer color that is 1-2 shades lighter than your normal skin tone.

Step 3: Wipe your brush clean with a tissue.

Step 4: Take 3 similar foundation colors of your foundation Quads and apply it onto her cheekbones directly underneath each other. The Color that disappears on her skin is the correct one to use.

Step 5: Wipe the foundation off your client’s face.

Step 6: Take your 125 Foundation Brush and apply the correct color directly from the Cream Foundation Quads.

Step 7: Begin at the one side of your client’s face and work your way to the other side. Make sure that you apply the foundation in downwards stroking movements. If her neck color is hugely different than the color of her face, then you need to apply the same shade of foundation onto her neck as well.

Step 8: Take a foundation sponge and blend the foundation from her hairline, working downwards towards her jaw line.

Step 9: Take your 6 Color Pressed Powder Palette and dip your 126 Powder Brush into it. Shake off the excess powder by gently dusting the powder brush on the top of your hand. Begin by pressing the powder onto your client’s face, working from her hairline downwards to her jaw line. Concentrate especially on the eyelids and the lips. The main purpose of the powder is to ensure that the eye shadow and lipstick stays on for longer.

Step 10: Wipe your powder brush with a clean tissue to remove any excess powder from it.

Step 11:Take your 126 Powder Brush and remove any excess powder from your face.

Step 12: Take your Spoolie Brush and comb your client’s eyebrows neatly.

Step 13: Choose a pencil/brow powder/eye shadow appropriate to the color of your client’s hair.

Step 14: Take your 207 Angle Eyeliner Brush and dip it softly into the brow powder/eye shadow. Apply the pencil/brow powder/eye shadow in the direction of hair growth to ensure a natural look. Never “draw” the color onto your client’s eyebrows as this will only create an artificial appearance.When using a pencil, make sure that you use feathering strokes to fill in the areas that needs filling and go gently on the areas which do not need a whole lot of filling in.

Step 15: Take a matte eye shadow color like white, champagne or beige and apply this color with your 221 All Over Eye Blender Brush starting just underneath your client’s eyebrows and work downwards to her eyelids.

Step 16: Take your 204 Crease Brush and apply a light brown eye shadow color in the crease of her eyes. You can also use a cream eye shadow if this works well for you. You may apply a darker eye shadow color on the outside corner of her eye’s crease.

Step 17: Take the same brush and apply a dark rust eye shadow color on the outside corners of your client’s eyes, creating a “v” shape at the ends.

Step 18: Take a brown, black or grey eyeliner pencil depending on your client’s eye color. Start by lining your client’s eyes. Do the top first, working from the outside to the inside corner of her eye. Make sure that you draw the line almost into her eyelashes; otherwise there will be a gap between the eyelashes and the eyeliner line. Do the same underneath her eye.If you’re using eye shadow color instead, then apply the color with your 207 Angled Eyeliner Brush.

Step 19: Take your eyelash curler, ask your client to open her eyes and look straight ahead. Place the open eyelash curler on her upper eyelash and squeeze gently for about 10 - 20 seconds.

Step 20: Take your Mascara and lightly dab the lash liner brush against the rim of the mascara. This ensures that there is just the right amount of mascara on your brush. Ask your client to keep her eyes closed. Take your left-hand thumb and gently lift your model’s eyelid up. Put the mascara brush at the base of the upper eyelid and make zigzag movements till the end of the eyelashes. This movement will prevent her eyelashes from clumping and will give them a fuller look.

Step 21: Repeat this process 2-3 times until you get the desired look.

Step 22: Also apply mascara onto her lower lashes. If she does not have a lot of lashes here, then it is best to apply the mascara perpendicular to her eyes and start by running it lightly along her eyelashes. If she has thick eyelashes at the bottom, then you can apply the mascara the same way as you would with the top eyelashes.

Step 23: Take your 127 Blush Brush and dip it into your Neutral Color Blush Palette. You can opt for a cream blush for a natural look or use a bronzer to give you a sun kissed look. Shake off any excess blush onto your hand or dab it slightly on the rim of the blush box. Ask your client to smile and apply the blush upwards in a straight line, beginning opposite to her nose and taking it upwards till the outside corners of her eyes.

Step 24: Take the same brush and make circular movements over that line that you have drawn. This will ensure that there are no visible streaks on her cheeks.If too much blush color has been used, then you can take your foundation sponge and lightly swipe it over the applied blush color.If the previous method is not for you, then you could dab your 126 Powder Brush into HD Translucent Powder and lightly go over that area.

Step 25: Take the blush lip liner pencil and begin to line her lips on the upper or lower lip, taking the line outwards to the corners of her mouth. Repeat this at the top/ bottom.Choose a shade that is the natural color of her lips or choose a shade that is the same as lipstick color that you are going to use.

Step 26: Take your powder sponge and lightly dip it into your HD Translucent Powder. The powder acts as a holding base for the lipstick, ensuring that it stays on longer.

Step 27: Take your 316 Lipstick Brush and wipe it over your chosen lipstick color. Apply it all over your client’s lips, starting from the upper lip and doing the same on her lower lip.
*For daytime, matte finish lipsticks are best to use whereas for night time, you can go a bit darker with your lipstick color.

Step 28: Pat another layer of HD Translucent Powder over the lipstick and repeat the same process of lipstick application one more time.

Step 29: Take your lip gloss tube and apply either a colored lip gloss or light pastel shade over your client’s lipstick.