The beauty industry has developed tons of makeup options that work for women over 40; whether you’d like to correct fine lines, dark circles, blemishes, or anything else, there’s a makeup product out there that can help you do it.
But you shouldn’t feel like you have to hide the natural beauty of your mature skin by using heavy, completely opaque products! These can look unnatural, and often don’t have the youthful, anti-aging effect you want from your makeup.
Here I’m going to cover some of the biggest makeup mistakes you can make and how to avoid them and always get a flawless barely there natural makeup look at any age.
If you want to skip everything and go straight to the good stuff, get your FREE color consultation to receive your perfect shade match within 24 hours!
1. Ignoring Your Mimetic Zones
For a flawless makeup application, it’s so important that you understand your mimetic zones!
Let me explain: Your face has hundreds of muscles that move to give you your signature smile, and these muscles make up the mimetic system. Within the mimetic system, there are high impact and low impact zones. Without understanding how these zones work, you’ll never achieve a flawless no-makeup makeup application.
Low impact zones - like the sides of the nose, the edges of the forehead, and the sides of the cheeks along the jawbone - are areas that experience little to no movement. In low-impact zones, you can use opaque products, and you don’t have to be as intentional with the placement.
High impact zones include any areas with strong movement or strong textures, like the apples of the cheek, the area directly under your eyes, and the area around your mouth. These areas require careful, intentional product placement to look flawless. They also require color correctors without 100% opacity, like Demi Colour products - which are my favorite.
2. Color Filling
If you’re layering on tons and tons of product, you might not actually be color correcting. Instead, you might be doing what I call color filling. Color correcting should only require light layers of product that cancel out tonal areas you don’t want. If you’re using a method that involves doing that and then caking foundation on top, you’re using more product than you need and you’re not letting your skin breathe. For a more natural look, you need a high-quality color correcting palette that lets you address hyperpigmentation and discoloration across the color spectrum.
Accurately color matching and color correcting is especially important for high-impact mimetic areas, like the area under your eyes. No matter how good you are at priming, powdering, or applying makeup there, heavy products are always going to crease because of muscle movement. By using lighter products under your eyes that work using color theory, instead of just relying on coverage, you’ll be able to filter out undesired skin tones while avoiding creases in that area.
3. Poor Product Matching
It’s not just women over 40 who make this mistake! Even top-quality, high-performance, long-lasting makeup products can be a bad choice for you if it’s not a good color match! Avoid this mistake by getting a free professional color consultation from me to know what shades will work best with your skin.
You also need to consider your skincare options very carefully, too. You should wear sunscreen every day, not just when you’re going to the beach! Keeping your skin healthy is so, so important for your appearance and your overall health, and good skin care can go a long way in keeping your skin tone even and smooth.
4. Following Trends Too Closely
Makeup trends come and go, and paying too much attention to what’s new, instead of what works is a huge mistake that women over 40 make with their makeup. Trendy applications don’t consider your unique facial structure or skin type. They also tend to rely heavily on products that just don’t work well with mature skin and go for density and opacity rather than color correction and luminosity. Instead, learn how to do one technique (like the Fusion Method) really well, then stick to it!
5. Going On Autopilot
For glowing, glassy skin, you need to be very intentional about your color placement and application technique. If you look at this makeup application how-to on Instagram, you’ll see that I’m using two types of product in what I call my Fusion Method. By using this method, you can use minimal product for incredible results. By just using a little makeup in a complementary color, your under-eye makeup will never crease or texture. It’s worth the effort!
For lower impact areas, you can use heavier makeup, like the Seint IIID line. These areas aren’t going to move as much, so you don’t have to be as intentional with your placement. With the Fusion Method, you color correct each area of skin in the high impact mimetic zones individually. You might use two or three different colors in just one general area. In lower impact zones, which don’t crease and don’t have much movement, you can make more general corrections. Using two types of product gives you the best of both options for a flawless face.
In addition to these tips, I have even more information on my Pinterest and Instagram. I can also help you out with a free professional color match! I’d love to hear from you and help you find the perfect products for the perfect look.
