Makeup Tips for the 45-Plus

Stay Fresh Faced

As we age, some transitions might feel natural, like finding a good balance between work and home, a more flattering hair colour or changing our eating habits to better suit our boomer bodies. The one routine that often stays the same as a woman evolves is her makeup. Many of us keep the same trends we’ve used since we applied our first hint of blush, unknowingly making ourselves look older.

Citytv makeup artist Tracy Peart tells Zoomer her timeless tips for a fresh face well into your 45-plus years.

BY: TIANNA ROBINSON

Zoomer: What should women 45-plus ditch in terms of makeup trends that they might have used when they were younger?

Tracy Peart: Shimmer. Any type of sparkle or shimmer accentuates lines. The light reflects off it and it brings things forward like wrinkles and lines. I suggest women 45 and older stick to matte textures.

Z: What do you suggest to women who may have a problem keeping eye shadow from creasing in their eyelids?

TP: Use an eye primer. What the eye primer will do is even out the surface of the skin. It’s not going to get rid of the wrinkles, but it will prevent creasing.

Z: How do you feel about eyeliner?

TP: When you are dealing with women over 45, I think the best way to do it is to use an angle brush. Load the angle brush with eye shadow and draw the line along your lash line as opposed to doing a liquid or a pencil liner. Pencils and liquids end up being harsh and what you want as you start to get older is you want your eyes to be defined but you want it be a softer application and more natural application because that is what makes you look more youthful. When you have a harsh line and you’re more mature, it just makes you look older. What you want to do if you want to look fresher is to use an eyeshadow. It’s softer but you still get the definition of your eye.

Z: What are the key makeup products that a woman 45-plus should have in her bag if she is doing a quick five- or 10-minute face in the morning?

TP: I think she should have a tinted moisturizer. The first thing that makes the skin look older is it not being moisturized. What a tinted moisturizer will do is add some colour to the face as well as moisturize. It will give more of a natural look as opposed to that heavy, old-school pancake makeup that’s really thick, that a lot of woman grew up using and are still using in their 50s and 60s. When you have deep lines in your skin, you don’t want to put so much product on it. People think the more you put on, the more you’re covering- it’s the opposite.

Another one is mascara. It’s great as you get older, too, to go with a dark brown mascara. You want to give your eyes the definition, but you want to stay away from anything dark around your eye. Lashes start to get sparser as we age and are not as full as they were when we were 20. But you still want the definition, so give your lashes the definition with mascara. But you don’t want black, black, black lashes. AS we get older, our hair gets lighter. If your lashes are really dark, it won’t match the hair on your head and might look kind of silly.

Z: What about covering age spots?

TP: Usually you want to go with a colour that’s in between your skin colour and the colour of the age spot. At the same time, I don’t suggest people try to completely cover them because you’re putting on a really heavy application. The more makeup you put on, the older you look.

Z: Any other tips for women 45-plus and makeup?

TP: Don’t be afraid of lip liners.  We start to get those vertical fine lines around the lips and to help lipstick and lip colour not travel into those lines, use is a lip liner drawn outside your lip and then fill in your lips as well. It doesn’t have to be a bright red or anything harsh. It can actually be a colour that matches your natural skin colour, something very neutral. Whatever colour you put on top, the liner is going to help it from travelling into those tine .

Like Tracy’s tips? Try her iPhone Makeup iQ app. It’s the first makeup app of its kind – a quiz and game in one! – and will help you learn more everyday techniques. Click here for more information and to purchase the app.