How To Achieve the Older Look With Makeup by Christina Flach
Consider yourself lucky if you were blessed with a youthful face, but it's completely understandable the frustration that comes with remarks about looking younger than your actual age. This is where makeup can come into play. Using the following tips and tricks will allow your features to be more pronounced, yet not overwhelming.
Apply Concealer
Applying concealer to marks on the face such as freckles or acne allows for the youthful marks to diminish, making one look seemingly older. For lighter skin, erase these blemishes or marks with a concealer with a pink tint. For darker skin, use a concealer of a more peachy shade in order to blend correctly into the orange hues of the skin.This will also make you look brighter and more awake.
Put On Foundation
Foundation provides a solid base that allows for one to look more put together. Put a dot of foundation on your forehead, cheeks, chin, and the bridge of the nose. Then, using a foundation brush, blend the foundation evenly into the skin with circular motions. Make sure not to stop at the jawline, but rather to blend about halfway down the neck to ensure your face isn’t a different color than your neck. Make sure to choose a foundation that matches your skin almost perfectly. Another trick to avoid looking washed out is to blend a foundation three shades darker than your skin tone with the one closest to your skin tone. This provides a warmer look, without looking orange. This unison and neutrality allows for a natural matured look and a great basis for your contour.
Fill in your eyebrows
I can’t stress enough the importance of filling in your eyebrows. Sharp brows help define them and make for a mature look. Using an eyebrow pencil or shadow that matches your eyebrow color, fill in your brows with an angled brush. Using the pencil, make sure to define the arch of the brow and the ends as well. The more precise you are with staying inside your natural brow shape, the more grown up you’ll look. Filling in the brows allows for a more put together look.
Use eyeshadow, but don’t overdo it!
First, with a dark brown or for night, using a black eyeliner, make a thin line on the top lid. If you make a mistake, you can go over it with a matching eyeshadow.
Using 3 natural hues of eyeshadow can define and compliment the eyes without overdoing it and looking like a pageant queen. Blend a lighter color into the crease of the eye. This could be a color like gold. Then, right outside of the crease, layer on a slightly darker shade. If you want more definition, you can go ahead and choose an even darker shade to layer on as well. Natural colors make people perceive you as more mature, as bright colors provide a more childish look. Eye shadow is crucial to making ones eyes look bolder -- and older! Finish the eyes off with some mascara applied in an even layer, making sure the lashes aren’t clumping together. Using the mascara wand to the outer corners will bring an added length to the lashes and make a bold statement. Be careful not to get mascara on the top or bottom lid, if you do, makeup remover on a Q-Tip will allow for proper cleanup in those smaller areas.
Contour your face
Contouring the face allows for more pronounced features. By contouring the face, you’re framing the angles and accentuating features that should be prominent! Choose a foundation that is 3-4 shades darker than the foundation you used for your base. Apply it in soft lines to your cheekbones, temples, right under the hairline on the forehead, your jawline, the arc beneath lips, and on the bridge of the nose. Blend these streaks using a smaller contour brush until you can no longer see the lines. Contouring is a great method to bringing to the surface key features of the face, allowing for the round “baby face” look a lot of people have to diminish as the angles are sharpened.
Apply Highlighter and Blush
Highlighter can really make you look more mature if you utilize it in the correct way. Using a highlighter brush, brush it onto the highest points of your face which include the cheekbones, the center of the chin, and down the nose. This allows for your features to pop with an accentuated glow, making you look put together and mature. A swipe of blush and bronzer will give the warmth of a weekend in Cabo!
Top it off with some lipstick!
Achieve the older look by applying a darker shade of lipstick to the lips. Choose a lip color that compliments your natural skin tone to show off your confidence and maturity. Dark red and berry, are both hues that scream “I’m an adult.” Similarly to eyeshadows, brighter colors make people perceive you as younger, so be sure to avoid those. Define the lips with a lip liner and slap on some Lip Gloss to give the illusion of fuller lips and you’re good to go!
Using these tips and tricks will indefinitely help you achieve the professional, older look you’re looking for. It’ll feel amazing when the bouncer doesn’t spend an hour examining your ID, won’t it?