It’s all too easy to make mistakes with your makeup — sometimes the biggest errors are placing eyeliner and blush just a little too low or your eyeshadow a wee bit too high. But just as small makeup mistakes can result in highlighting fine lines and wrinkles or making your features pull downward, small changes in your makeup routine and technique can make a significant difference, as well.
Stop making these seven common makeup mistakes, which are especially noticeable on mature skin.
Skipping Skincare Prep
Your makeup routine starts with good skincare prep — and without you, you are applying concealer, foundation, bronzer, and powder over dry patches and oily spots (not ideal). Make it a priority to include skincare in your morning routine by cleansing your skin with a gentle Micellar water or oil-based cleanser, adding any actives you live to use (such as vitamin C serum), and then sealing the deal with a lightweight moisturizer and SPF. Allow 10 or so minutes for your products to absorb before applying a primer and makeup.
Wearing Too Much Foundation
More isn’t merrier when it comes to foundation — in fact, too much foundation will have the opposite effect of concealing. Instead it can reveal fine lines and wrinkles that “crack” through all of that caked-on makeup.
Finding a balance between coverage and natural-looking skin is the best way to go about applying foundation. Apply it only to areas where you feel you could use more coverage or where your skin could be more evenly toned. As always, blend well.
Dark Eyeliner
The “less is more” principle in makeup extends to eyeliner. Even if you spent your entire twenties rocking the thickest, blackest eye wing possible, you may find your eyes stand out more with less and lighter eyeliner. Try swapping a black eyeliner with a brown or gray pencil or cream formula for brighter eyes.
Dark Lip Color
It isn’t true that you can not or should not wear red lipstick after a certain age — but there is truth to the idea that a too-dark, harsh, or matte formula can be drying on the lips and look aging. The trick is finding a color that is sheer, glossy, and contains warmth in it. Leaving dark plums and browns behind may help you feel and look fresher.
Not Adjusting Makeup to Changing Features
Our features change with age. Our eyes may become more hooded, our skin will show more texture, and gravity pulls skin down. It’s completely natural and normal — but not adjusting your makeup techniques to suit your features as they change with time won’t leave you with your best look possible. If your eyes are more hooded, try wearing lighter shadows and not over-lining your top lash line. If you feel like your blush placement is too low, move it up higher to give your face a lift.
Not Updating Your Makeup Techniques
Makeup trends come and go and there is no reason to feel like you must keep up with every one of them. If you love a contoured look or graphic eyeliner or thicker lashes, great — have fun with trends. But holding onto to very dated makeup techniques and looks, whether that means all-over blue eyeshadow or stripey blush, can make you look older.
Applying Too Much Powder
A little bit of translucent powder seals the deal after you’ve applied concealer or foundation. It helps set your makeup so that it stays in place for hours without cracking or streaking. But too much powder, in the wrong formulation (read: thick) or wrong shade (read: anything that is not translucent and is in the wrong tone) can highlight fine lines and wrinkles. Keep powder in your routine, but change its formulation and go in with a light hand.
