9 Beauty Mistakes You May Be Making
Posted on November 1, 2014 by bob in Features
Trends come and go, and if you’re comfortable where you are it might be a little daunting to refresh your beauty habits. But with the abundance of entertaining and holiday parties at this time of year, could there be a more perfect time?
When it comes to makeup, most of us are creatures of habit: We find colors and products we like when we’re in our 20s and 30s, and continue to use them forever. The problem is, as we age, our coloring and tone can change, too. As women age over 50 their complexion changes. It’s not better or worst than in your 20s, 30s, and 40s, just different. In your 20s, you are worried about how to conceal blemishes. At 50 it’s hyper-pigmentation or “age spots.” At 30, many women want to look tan and stock up on bronzer, but when you’re over 50, you can lose a lot of color in your cheeks, so bronzer can make your face look older. At 50 and beyond, you want to pay attention to what you see, not what products you’ve used in the past.”
So before you swipe on your blush and lipstick, take a look at these tips and advice to maximize your makeup’s youthful effect.
Need a video for help? Go online (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_-OvvH0x9s) for a demonstration of the best ways to apply makeup if you’re over 50.
1. Forgetting to define your eyebrows.
Over 50, women experience thinning from over-waxing, tweezing, or just Mother Nature. Your eyebrows frame your face, and it’s important to define them. Many women over 50 use an eyebrow pencil like their mothers did, but it doesn’t give a natural look. Buy a small flat or angled “chisel” brush at the beauty supply store and use it to apply brow powder. It’s easy and the powder stays better throughout the day. In terms of what color to use, a violet-gray matte shadow or a cool chestnut brown work for most women. Be sure to use matte, not shimmer powder. Shimmers tend to look muddy and unnatural.
2. Using powder on your face
Many women over 50 use powder foundations, powder eye shadows, and talc setting powders. Powders settle in fine lines and highlight large pores and wrinkles. Using creme tinted moisturizers, creme blushes, and eye glazes give a more youthful, dewy effect. If you have oily skin, rice setting powders absorb both water and oil, and actually hydrate the skin making them a better choice than talc.
3. Wearing colors that are too dark
Mature women start to lose a lot of the pink tones in their cheeks and lips. Brighter shades of pink and orange are great for a fresh look. Women should stay away from creamy lip liners since they bleed. Instead, go for drier pencil liners in nudes with a hint of pink. Choosing a nude or lighter neutral shade blends well with most lip and skin colors, and if it bleeds, it’s not as obvious as bleeding from darker lip liners. Nudes also make shape corrections look more natural.
Another thing you can do: Blend concealer along your lip line to stop bleeding. If you have nice white teeth, darker shades of lipstick are okay, but if teeth are yellow or stained avoid darker shades because they draw attention to the lips and teeth.
4. Applying makeup in the wrong order
To get the most youthful look, apply foundation first to even out any purple or red areas on your skin. Next, you should apply a little concealer to the upper lid as primer, if applying eye shadow. This will help the shadow stay on longer. It’s always a good idea to apply eye makeup before concealer and blush so that you have the opportunity to clean up under the eyes. Then apply concealer, blush and lipstick.
5. Not using concealer properly
Make sure your concealer is nice and creamy. Concealers that are too dry can highlight imperfections instead of hiding them. Medium tan is the most popular and works for most women because it has just the right amount of yellow to cover purple areas (caused by dark circles) under the eyes. In terms of applying concealer, concealer patted under the eye from the outside towards the nose works best. I like to use my finger, but a small brush or blending sponge works, as well. (To combat bags or dark circles under your eyes, sleep on your back. The fluid will not collect under the eye as easily. Other things that help are avoiding salt and drinking plenty of water.) Apply moisturizer in a circular motion going towards the nose to push fluid out through the sinuses is a good trick, as opposed to smearing it from the inside to the outside of the eye which is what most women do.
6. Using the wrong color foundation
A foundation is the right color when it cancels out the color imperfections on your face. If you have an olive complexion, you need more warmth, so bases with orange tan tones work well to balance out green undertones. If you are fair and have a lot of pink in your skin, bases with slight yellow undertones work really well to balance out the redness. My favorite foundations are tinted moisturizers. They provide good coverage especially for women who have large pores. The fast applicator pad is one of my favorite tools and great to put in your purse for touch ups. As African-American and Hispanic women age, they tend to get hyper-pigmentation spots on their cheeks, lips, and foreheads. Full-coverage liquid foundations work as excellent concealers for pigment or spot issues. Adding bronzers to skin where freckling or hyper-pigmentation exists only makes your face look dirty. Full-coverage foundation and blush is a much more flattering look.
7. Putting blush in the wrong place
When using blush, light application is key—you can always add more if you need to. Creme blushes freshen up the face and give a flushed look that brightens up mature faces, as opposed to powder blush which tends to look dry on the skin. To apply blush properly, rather than sucking cheeks in to apply blush, keep lips together and smile to make the apples pop out. Apply blush in a circular motion to give a fresh look to faces over 50.
8. Never changing colors
If you’ve been wearing the exact same color makeup for 20 years, it’s time to do a color check. As a general rule, women over 50 lose a lot of color from their lips and cheeks. As a result, they should stay away from brown bronzers which make skin look too dark and aged. Plums and neutral blushes may also need a boost of brightness. Corals and pinks are often the best fit. In terms of eye liner, black liner may be too harsh for mature women. If you like a darker liner, slate gray or chestnut give a crisp finish no matter what your skin color, but are not too dark.
9. Keeping makeup too long
Makeup is generally best used within 6-12 months of buying it. It’s hard to nail down the time exactly, because products are so different from brand to brand. Some companies use preservatives and prolong the shelf life of products. Here are a few things to know:
Organic makeup should only be kept for about a year to avoid bacterial growth.
Foundations in compacts tend to collect bacteria and as a result should be replaced after a year. Technology has improved with liquid foundations and now many come in tubes that have protective membranes that prevent bacteria from getting into the product. With that in mind, liquid foundations can be replaced every two years. (A bigger concern with liquid makeup is that the products tend to turn more orange as they oxidize so the color match may not be correct.)
Mascara is the biggest offender in terms of products that cause problems when kept too long. People don’t realize that there is a ton of bacteria along the lash line. To avoid pink eye and other eye infections, mascara should be replaced every six weeks or so. (One more word about mascaras: Stay away from waterproof mascara—it’s too dry and doesn’t layer well.
Lipstick usually contains wax which makes it difficult to host bacterial growth. As a result, lipsticks can be kept longer than other makeup.
Emily Alice Person is a makeup artist and owner of the Emily Alice salon and spa. West Chester, Pennsylvania. Grandparents.com is a lifestyle site that celebrates the grandparent community by providing trusted information about family & relationships, health & well-being, travel & retirement, and more. Follow the site on Twitter (@grandparentscom) and on Facebook (facebook.com/grandparentscom).
