Month: August 2023

While most of us love the idea of aging gracefully, that doesn’t mean that we don’t also want to put our best face forward and highlight our best features. Fortunately, makeup has come a long way in allowing us all to look and feel our best at every age. As legendary makeup artist Trish McEvoy said, “What time takes away, we can bring back with makeup.”

As a makeup artist myself who specializes in helping those of us over 50 look like the best version of ourselves, I always find it interesting and inspiring to check out tips from other makeup artists I respect and admire. So today I thought you might enjoy hearing some of the top tips for older women from some highly respected Hollywood makeup artists.

Skin Prep Is Key

Makeup artist Jenny Smith is an advocate of skin prep – especially exfoliating our skin. If we don’t exfoliate our skin, we can sometimes end up looking like we’re wearing heavy makeup because even the lightest application of foundation grabs onto dry patches and clings. Just about every makeup line makes an exfoliating product, but my tried and true exfoliator which I won’t do without is Tatcha’s The Rice Polish in “Deep.”

Celebrity makeup artist Kate Lee – who’s with Chanel – is also a firm believer in the incredibly important step of prepping our mature skin before applying makeup. She suggests using products that are lightweight, easily absorbed and moisturizing. The moisturizing aspect is especially crucial since our skin usually gets drier as we get older.

Another tip from Kate Lee is especially important for those of us with dry skin. Even though it’s tempting to use a product that is very emollient, we don’t want to use a product that is too emollient since that can result in makeup that actually moves around on the skin. And products that are too emollient can also change how our makeup looks.

For instance, I have a couple of moisturizers that I love, but they’re quite heavy. And I notice that if I use them before applying a favorite glowy foundation, I don’t get the lovely soft glow that I would get if I used a lightweight moisturizer. So, I usually save those heavier moisturizers for nighttime application and use a lighter weight moisturizer under my makeup.

And Lee’s next tip is that it’s also very important to be patient and wait a few minutes for the moisturizer to settle into the skin before moving on with makeup application. Since most of us want to apply our makeup as quickly as possible, it’s very tempting to apply additional products before the one we just applied settles in.

Update Your Foundation

A mistake Kate Lee often sees is older women using the same products for many years. In her words, “Foundations are incredible these days – formulations change constantly and if you stick with one product for many years, you may miss the magic. Also, it’s highly likely that the foundation of your 20s and 30s may not be the most flattering when you hit your next glorious decade. I encourage people to try new products and techniques – that in itself is an act of youthfulness!”

Several foundations I’ve recently tried which I feel are especially beautiful on mature skin: Nars’ Light Reflecting Foundation and Charlotte Tilbury’s Beautiful Skin Foundation. Both give a lovely soft glow to mature skin.

Less Is More

Kate Lee is also a firm advocate of the philosophy that “less is more” – especially for mature skin. She suggests focusing on areas where you absolutely need the coverage by using a lighter formula foundation and then building up the coverage slightly only where you need it most.

Another tip from Kate Lee is to use concealer just on those areas where you need the most coverage – rather than covering your entire face with foundation. So, in the video, I’ll use my Clinique Even Better Concealer – which has great coverage – just on the areas where I have the greatest amount of redness and discoloration.

Be sure to check out Elise’s YouTube channel which specifically focuses on makeup tips, techniques, and product reviews for those of us 50+. Don’t forget to subscribe!

Techniques for the Eyes

Makeup artist Trish McEvoy confirms that the first area of our face to show signs of aging is the eyes. She suggests brightening the upper and under eye area using the “Triangle of Light” technique. To do this, we create an upside-down triangle under each eye – gently pressing the product into the skin. This technique, which you will see in the video, makes the area look dramatically lifted.

Makeup artist Kindra Mann says she always hears her older clients say they want to avoid any eyeshadow with shimmer or sparkle in it. She agrees with the sparkle part but feels that a little bit of shimmer can look nice on the lid. Her advice is to avoid putting shimmer on the brow bone area. So in the video I’ll add a little shimmer to the eyelids with a soft shimmer from the Doll 10 2.0 Eyeshadow Palette.

Trish McEvoy also feels it’s very important to give some definition to our lash line by using an invisible lining technique. To do this, she suggests pressing the eyeliner in between each lash along the lash line. She feels that this brings the look of lush and full lashes even before adding mascara. And there’s unanimous agreement that mascara is essential. I’ll apply my Doll 10 Effortlash Mascara.  

A New Blush Technique

For blush, I’ll use my Milk Makeup Blush in the shade “Rally.” In addition to applying it upward along the middle of my cheekbones toward my temple – which is what I normally do – I’ll also apply it in a second spot – across the eyes. Hollywood makeup artist Nikki LaRose suggests this technique to give more life to the eye area and to also create a more cohesive makeup look.

Add Some Beautiful Sheen

Makeup artist Kindra Mann prefers to add a lit bit of sheen on more mature skin since she feels it helps keep our complexion looking more youthful. And makeup artist Amanda Bells recommends using an oil-based product as a highlighter to add that sheen. She believes that the subtle light reflectivity of an oil-based product creates a lovely diffused glow of natural radiance which looks like it comes from within.  

I couldn’t agree more and a coconut oil-based highlighter that really creates that diffused glow of natural radiance is RMS Beauty’s Magic Luminizer. The Luminizer come in five different shades, but the one that I feel has the most beautiful glow is the Magic Luminzer. I like to tap it in with my fingers and then use a different finger to blend out the edges.

Give Some Love to Your Lips

Iconic makeup artist Pat McGrath has this advice for lips: exfoliate the lips with a lip scrub. If you don’t have one, it’s very easy to create a DIY lip scrub. There are many recipes out there, but the easiest one that has ingredients you most likely already have is this one: Mix one teaspoon of honey with two teaspoons of sugar. Then gently massage the mixture into your lips and leave on for 10 minutes before rinsing off.

She then suggests applying all over your lips a concealer that matches your skin and then applying a lip balm on top which gives hydration. Next, she suggests applying lip liner and filling in our lips with the lip liner before applying lipstick. For those of us with mature skin, she recommends a lipstick formula that’s more hydrating to ensure smooth, even coverage.

Next comes lip liner. After applying my Naked Bee lip balm, I’ll use one of my Doll 10 lip liners to outline and fill in my lips. I’ll first apply my moisturizing Beauty Counter lipstick in the shade “Lily” and then my Ilia lipstick in “Ultraviolet” and apply my Lawless Gloss in “Daisy Girl” over it.

I think that covers all the tips and I certainly hope you found some of them helpful. If you use any of these tips or have some of your own that you’d like to suggest, I hope you’ll let us know.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

Do you follow any celebrity makeup artists? What have you learned from them? Have any of their tips worked especially well on you? Do you have any favorite tips of your own that you can recommend? What makeup tip do you feel makes the biggest positive difference in how your makeup looks?

I feel like I’ve been celebrating my birthday for months. Yes, it is a big one – 70. I’ve lived 20 years longer than my mother did which, as I shared with my two brothers, feels weird.

“What do you want for your birthday?” my husband queried as the year 2022 became 2023.

“I want to celebrate with a book launch party.”

The publication date for my book, Be Brave. Lose the Beige! Finding Your Sass after Sixty was May 16, 2023. So, we scheduled the early birthday bash and book launch for May 18^th. I invited everyone I knew. It was one of the greatest days of my life, and a wonderful way to launch myself into my eighth decade. 

I Was in Mom Heaven Celebrating My 70^th with Children and Grandchildren

My actual birthday, however, is July 17^th.

“What else do you want for your birthday?” I was queried again.

“I want my children and grandchildren to visit for a few days.”

Miraculously, that wish also materialized. My son, David, my daughter Tracy, and granddaughter Maya flew into Orlando for four days. There were early morning airport pickups (1:30 AM for one) and flights into and out of different airports. Even a cancelled flight resulting in two round trips to OIA. It didn’t matter. We were together. The three amiga(o)s (David, Tracy, and I) hadn’t been in physical proximity in almost two years. I was in mom heaven. 

An Added Bonus Was Seeing the Barbie Movie with My Daughter and Granddaughter

We ate out. A lot! I’d been fretting about money during the past year and had been reluctant to spend money on indulgences. That fretting abated for four days. My kids love to frequent favorite restaurants during their stay – Hillstone, Briar Patch, Cocina 214… I don’t know if I should be horrified or pat myself on the back for having raised such excellent dining companions.

We laughed, reminisced, and examined family photos, reveling in their accompanying memories (Maya was totally bored by this activity). We played pickleball and went to the Barbie movie. It was special to watch this empowering film with my daughter and granddaughter. 

I devoted a chapter in my book to the relationships Baby Boomer women have with their families. “The Tweener Generation” talks about how we are the slice of boloney sandwiched between two demanding generations and how the demands of these two generations – our parents and our children – managed to mute many of our magenta impulses.

Have you considered that many of us are like 911 on our adult children’s cell phones? Even as they crest toward 40-plus we’re still on call to help manage anxieties, offer advice, and sometimes clean up monetary messes. And what about our enabling parental behavior? I’m particularly fond of these maxims: “Parenting is not a Popularity Contest”; “Yes, your children’s shit really does stink”; and “Don’t let kid demands derail the pursuit of your passions.”

I’ve forbidden my children and former husband from reading my book for fear they will mistake my embellishment of their growing-up antics as condemnation. I love maintaining a connection and helping them brainstorm their way through problems. I probably am a little addicted to the feeling of being needed.

Maturity Is an Under-Rated Quality

But I have to say, maturity is under-rated and looks really good on these people I love so much. While I received wonderfully meaningful birthday presents, the best gift was seeing the people they have become. Their compassion for people and the planet is a value they live. 

Maybe at 70 I Still Have an Adventure or Two Inside

I felt hungover the day after my kids returned to their respective homes. While the culinary overindulgences were probably catching up to me, I also realized it is getting harder and harder to say goodbye.

“Move to Chicago,” they urged throughout the weekend. Tempting, truly. The invitation even gave my cold-averse husband pause. Maybe at 70 I still have an adventure or two inside, I mused. Exciting to realize adventures are still an option – even, or especially, as we age into our later years. That realization inspired optimism in my attitude about the future and a spring in my step, which I believe are essential to aging well.

Christopher Bailey, the Arts and Health coordinator with the WHO (World Health Organization) says, “Feeling control over our destinies is the best indicator of good health. It helps us imagine a more hopeful future.” I think adventures small and/or large offer us that sense of control and optimism. Now, that was a great birthday gift.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

What about you? Do you feel like you still have an adventure or two in store for your future? What was the best gift you got for your 70^th birthday?