Make-Up For Mature Women
As women age, their faces often go through changes and those changes can effect their makeup needs.
Some will struggle with wrinkles and covering age spots or dark circles. Many women will complain that their features are shifting or sinking as they get older and that the natural colors in their cheeks and lips have faded.
But celebrity make-up artist Linda Mason, who has worked with celebrities like Cameron Diaz and Susan Sarandon and is also the author of "Make-up: The Art of Beauty," says maturing women have one advantage over younger women: faces with personality.
She visits The Early Show to share and demonstrate her beauty tips on four real women. She concentrates on answering questions regarding concealer and foundation, eyes and brows and lip and blush color.
Jill Enfield (age: 49)
Question: How do I cover my dark circles and how do I get make-up to have staying power?
Mason's advice: For concealer, dot it on the inner eye next to the nose and under the eye in the inner corner. Blend the cream then powder on top of it with a translucent powder, using a large clean eye-shadow brush so that it does not shift.
To get the makeup to last, there is nothing better than a great translucent powder. You can apply it heavier in certain parts of the face where you have no wrinkles and go lighter in others.
A translucent powder is a powder that does not make the base makeup heavier; it just fixes the base and give you a more finished matte look. Don't be afraid of using moisturizer to prepare skin for foundation, it not only conditions skin but helps the products blend and stay on better. However, a moisturizer should not be applied on the eyelids. Just remember to always blot your face before re-applying powder.
Cynthia Spinnler (age: 63)
Question: How do I apply eyeliner when my eyesight isn't what it used to be and how do I define my disappearing eyebrows?
Mason's advice: The first thing she needs is a magnifying glass or glasses that end below the brows and slope down and have no rim, you can get inside of these with your brush. Then you need the right product because many women complain of liquid eyeliner bleeding. The liquid runs into the wrinkles and will not make a straight line. Cake is easier to use with a small thick brush and a little water to mix the color to a paste. A pencil is good, too.
First pull the lid up and dot the color into the base of the lashes keeping it heavier in the upper outer corner of the eye to give the eye a lift. Then look at yourself straight on in the mirror to see what everyone else sees. Then go back in to fix the line. Be very careful not to make it thick over the center of the eye (the pupil).
The biggest mistake mature women make is to apply too much eye shadow to the inner corner of the eyes. It should be kept right at the base of the lashes in the inner corner. Also, the thick eyeliner over the pupil of the eye is a no-no.
Tips for the brow: First you must get rid of all the fair hairs on the brow bone. You may not see them but others do and they mess up the line of the brows. Once the brows are cleaned, the line becomes more evident. Then define them with a mix of a soft-colored pencil such as a blond one. You can then mix in some grey or a darker brown, depending on your coloring. Brow defining is probably the most important thing to do to freshen a face.
Go to a professional to pluck or wax brows if you can't see the stray hairs yourself. If you have great daylight and a good magnifying glass you should be able to clean up the small hairs yourself as well as those odd hairs that grow out of the chin. To avoid the Tammy Fay look, shape them gently with a blond or taupe pencil, following the natural shape for most of the time but maybe going over the apex a little to give a lift to the eye, if necessary. A little taupe powder with a hard brush is good, too. Brush your eyebrows with an eyebrow brush to soften the color. You can easily apply a darker pencil into the brows on top of the lighter one if you are a brunette.
Dr. Audrey Maurer (age: 70)
Question: What color lipstick works for my age and coloring and is lip liner a must? Also, what color blush is flattering?
Mason's advice: Lip liner is not a must. In fact, a softer edge to your lips is usually more flattering. So just define your lips with a lip brush then blot and soften the edges with a Kleenex and powder around the edge, too. In most cases, a dark lip color can be OK but a very dark one should be avoided as it can make you look harsh.
Apply tube lipstick and then take a lip brush and define the edges gently by blending the color right into the edge of your lips. Lip pencil often creates too harsh of a line and sinks into wrinkles around your mouth. It's better to use the actual lipstick color on a brush to fill in and define.
As for the color choices, if your personality suits a dark lipstick and you enjoy wearing one, you should probably still go a couple of shades lighter and be very careful not to accentuate the lower corners of the mouth. There are certain dark colors that are harsher than others. Heavy glosses and lip colors with too much pearl should be avoided. Real lip colors will stay on better, brighten your face and make you look more together.
Remember: The products that worked when you were 20 and 30 may no longer work at 50 and 60.