Many women stick to a life-long regime of makeup colours and techniques but the truth is what was right 20 years or more ago will almost certainly not be the best approach now.
As we age, our skin changes (read: sagging, lines and wrinkles) and your makeup should change with it. Gaining the help of a beauty expert is the best way forward to understand what makeup and techniques work best for you, however there are a few simple steps you can do now to guarantee a fresher and more youthful look.
So we’re focusing on one of the most common beauty mistakes that can age the over-40 woman in the blink of an eye – or ‘eyeline’ to be exact.
WATCH Zoe Foster Blake shows you how to achieve the perfect winged eyeliner. Article continues after video…
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Eyeliner
There are two common eyeliner beauty mistakes that will drag your face down, highlight lines and instantly age:
Too-dark or too-harsh eyeliner – especially if not applied or blended well; and
A fully lined eye that can draw attention to dark circles and lines under the eye
Is the over-40, 50 and beyond woman doomed to a life of no eyeliner? Quel horreur! Thankfully no. Breathe easier ladies, the good news is that we don’t have to give up our fav black eyeliner or glamorous smokey evening look. For a youthful and fresh look we simply need to adopt a ‘softly softly’ approach to eyeliner, especially during the day.
With a few simple tweaks to your technique, you can stay as pretty, or glam, as ever at 40, 50 and beyond:
Colour
Swap black eyeliner, especially for day, with softer shades of brown, plum, navy or grey to suit your skin tone, eye and hair colour.
Eyeliner
Many beauty experts recommend a gel-liner for mature women as it glides on smoothly and are smudge-resistant. If however you cannot give up your eye pencil, choose a good-quality brand with a silky/velvety texture. Note: For absolute best results, sharpen your pencil for each application.
Application
Top lid
Apply eyeliner along the lash line in light feathery strokes working from outside in, stopping just before tear duct. Soften the line by blending with an eyeliner brush (or cotton bud).
Eyeliner on the top lid doesn’t need to be heavy. A soft application of light strokes will give a more subtle look.
Bottom lid
Lining the bottom rim all the way to the inner corner closes the eye and makes it look smaller. Apply pencil just on the lash line only half-way along from outer to inner corner and then blend well to soften appearance of liner.
Beauty note: some beauty experts advise women over 40 and beyond to not lining bottom of eye at all.
Follow Cate Blanchett’s lead and only apply eyeliner half-way along the underneath of the eye.
White liner
A trick to make eyes look bigger and more ‘wide awake’, is to rim eye line in white kohl.
A touch of white liner on the lower eyeline will give the appearance of fresh, wide eyes.
This article appeared on Balance By Deborah Hutton, via Frocknet.com.
