Has anyone else found makeup 'ages' them as they get older?

[HepburnKNotA]

The obvious thing first: I have, and perhaps could even more, tweak my 'old' makeup. I have tried switching my old midnight-blue eyeliner and black mascara for browns. I've tried a different shade and format of blusher.

But these days when I put on makeup I feel I look older with it on, and not in a good way!

I'm 42 btw.

I have (and I'm not ashamed to say it, given the amount I've bloody spent on it in products and effort) really good skin for my age, very very few lines (apart from Number 11s) and since I gave up sugar (and started using Emma Hardie and Sunday Riley stuff) a couple of years ago my skin is smoother than it's ever been. I've never really needed any foundation, barely used tinted moisturiser and these days I don't wear any base at all, ever.

But I do like a bit of eye makeup (liner and mascara) on nights out etc and now I don't know what to try as whenever I put it on, I feel like I suddenly look haggard and over my real age instead of under it! And blusher used to 'freshen' me up, but now I don't know, it has the same ageing effect.

Still happy with my trusty nude lipsticks and glosses, tbf.

Should I just give up and at least enjoy the fact I have good skin (until inevitably that all falls off a cliff in a few years...)? Or should I keep trying different shades? Techniques? I spend all my 'beauty' money on bloody (admittedly amazing) Space NK products so don't have much left for experimenting with makeup if it's not going to work!

Does anyone else feel the same way and if so - did you give up on makeup and just go bare-faced? I feel it's not enough 'effort' for a night out! Though I've never been a big makeup person at all, really.

@bringbacksideburns

Go to your local store and the Bobbi Brown counter for a make up makeover. if you can't get, go online and on their website there are tutorial videos. Really helpful.

Also look at Youtube videos by Hannah Martin who is a BB prof make up artist and she shows you various looks.

I agree re youngsters wearing too much makeup and making themselves look older, a few of my early 20s work colleagues do it and I used to wonder why until a couple of them mentioned that they’re very self conscious about looking too young and being mistaken for/treated as a child. I’m so old I’d completely forgotten about the desire to look older but it reminded me I used to use makeup to age up too - though in my case I was an underage teen wanting to get into bars and nightclubs

I’m using NARS pure radiance tinted moisturiser now instead of BB/CC cream and absolutely love it, but it’s on the pricey side and not very widely available unless you’re willing to take a punt on ordering on line without testing IRL.

I wear makeup every day always have unless I was sick like today! I wear Mac foundation for the last few years as I found I just couldn't do the cheaper foundations anymore I don't know why? Skin changing maybe?
I found also I have to use a much lighter shade too as anything too dark is ageing.
I was never one for eyeliner and I always think older ladies can't pull it off like younger girls, I find eyeliner and dark smokey eyes age an older person.
I'm always told I look young for my age but if I do a smokey eye I look haggard!
Less is more as we age I think 🤔

Sallie, though I don’t ususlly wear a base, I have to say that NARS Tinted radiant thingy looks amazing... if I’m going to ditch the eyeliner I might treat myself to one of those as it looks the kind of thing that would make me feel like I had made an effort for a night out while staying dewy!

The only tinted moisturiser I have ever used before (never use foundation) is the LM tinted moisturiser which I was always a bit meh about. This NARs one looks more glowy.

Still humming and hawing about eyeshadow... i would rather keep that a cheap purchase. Thanks for the M&S Rosie reccs to whichever poster gave them. Will go and have a look next time I’m in a big M&S

Hepburn I’d have never considered the NARS as I’ve got oily/combo skin but it came highly recommended on the Fantastic Skincare thread so I took the plunge and love it, it’s got a nice dewy glow but not shiny or greasy looking and it lasts well. There’s a massive choice of shades which is actually a bit overwhelming and NARS only have counters in SpaceNK, John Lewis & possibly Debenhams if you still have one. I lived dangerously and ordered online, the shade I picked is luckily perfect but it is a bit of a risk buying without testing IRL.

@HepburnKNotA

There are zillions of good foundations that don't look like a mask. eg Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation, some of the tinted moisturisers fro their range of Clinique Moisture Surge cream.

Eyeliner- it depends what you mean and how you'd use it.
I use eyeliner daily but what that is for me is a thin line of pencil close to the upper lashes in a dark brown. It just makes your eye lashes look thicker. It's not the 1cm thick black line flicked at the corners! or the all around the eye black kohl.

I use one shade of shadow, which is B Brown Cement which is a pale-ish grey-beige on my upper lid and lightly under the lower lashes.

Sometimes I use their Stone cream eyeshadow stick.

I also use a brightening concealer under my eyes then a dust of peachy blush (Nars Sex Appeal) and some beige-pink lippy.

I'm actually laughing and cringing at your age. FGS! I'm 20 years older and when you said ageing I thought you were 60s or older.
You are ONLY 42!!!!

I think it’s your forties where you suddenly realise things have changed. I’m 44 now and I can feel the ageing process ramping up year on year. Lord knows what I’ll look like in 20 years. Not great I suspect.

Speak for yourself :)

I am often taken for being around 45.

It's the family genes. we all look younger than we are.

SPF 30+ daily, every day, for 30 years is my tip.

I am speaking for myself lol

I'm 63 and am told I look a bit younger than that, but it's mostly about inheriting good genes, maybe kind, false words. My DM, at 84, is regularly thought a decade younger. She walks every day (small dog, three outings daily), shops on foot with a trolley and comes from a line of people who lived long healthy lives. Despite still smoking, she is active and has no chronic illnesses. Her skin is fantastic. DMIL who has lived a cleaner life, and who is older, has dementia, osteoporosis and other conditions that have narrowed her horizons. Nearing 90, she has lived longer than anyone in her family ever has. Her skin collapsed at 70-ish. My mum believes in skincare; DMIL thinks it's all hot air and hokum. I take the view that the skin is the body's largest organ, and the barrier to the environment, so should treated with the very best care you can manage. Lecture ends.

I'm a firm believer in what you eat and how you live affects your skin long term.

No skin creams or make up can undo a life of eating junk, smoking, drinking, or sun damage.

Skin needs feeding from within; good fats from fish, avocados, nuts, etc, loads of Vit C from fruit and veg, and little sugar.

Sugar destroys skin (it causes inflammation and damage to the skin- the telomeres) and this affects the collagen that gives skin support.

You are what you eat.

Lightweights - I’m eleventy ten and always getting asked for ID.

Come back op.

I can't understand eleventy ten. 110 ? 1110?

21?

I'm 49 and I want to be able to step in to being older like a boss. I'm going to read women who run with wolves next. I will wear make up that suits me etc etc but I'm looking around me and thinking that the one thing that makes older women vibrant is not apologising for being old. I'm not doing it. When I hear people at work say to young people, ''oh well I'm ancient so you won't remember this but back in the 90s we used to do that too but ...'' (example). Not doing it. Not apologising for having lived.

I'm not invincible though. Working on my mindset as I go along.

There's a picture of a young woman wearing the nars finland in this article and tbh the before and after she looks the same so on that basis i wouldn't bother.

here

Eyeliner looks awful now so I use either a dark brown or black eyeshadow or I use my eyebrow cream stuff I put it on with a brush. I have to do a lot of smudging as a line looks awful.
I go for a more dewy look with my base and use illuminators otherwise I look like a corpse

I'm 41 and had that oh fuck I'm old and tired moment last year. Contact lenses made a big difference for me. Without the soft focus it made s big difference . Natural daylight is a must but also quite depressing. You have to moisturise well. My skin hates rich moisturisers but I find layering lighter products like Korean essences (Superdrug do a great one in their B range) with a gel moisturiser helps me look plumped.

For my base I use Erborian pink perfect creme followed by their BB cream. Glossier cloud paint blush and a light dusting of beautypie loose powder and then a spritz of Mac setting spray. Less heavy and less aging.

I need to work on the eyes as I want to start wearing eye makeup again and am going to have a look on YouTube for 40+ tutorials. I like the Clinique Lash Power Mascara. It is tubing so doesn't smudge and gives a natural look. I think those heavy spider legs are very aging.

For lips I like Glossier Generation G which is a sheer matte as I hate gloss.

Brow wise I first fill in any sparse gaps with a light stroke of an eyebrow pen. I got a Suqqu one and its great very light and fills in naturally without looking like I have painted them on, I just use it where needed. Then a bit of Glossier brow boy just to fill them up a bit and put them in place. My brows don't look done just nice and polished. The heavy brow look is crap on everyone.

I find both shimmer and matte aging as they accentuate lines, I try and go for light and fresh slightly dewy finishes instead.

I agree with your point Hammock (apart from 'Women who Run with the Wolves' which I couldn't get on with at all). It's frustrating when the only compliment you ever get is that you don't look your age, which you know is a lie (if kindly meant) but you also know that, if you question it, they'll think you're a bellend.

I also think the premise of the op - that your face changes with age and that therefore, if you wear make up, it makes sense to review it - is valid. And anyway lipstick...

I find that BB cream makes my skin look really nice & dewy plus when I wear my makeup I get more compliments.
I'm 42.
I have blonde eyelashes & brows so have to use mascara & I like Clinique soft blonde eyebrow pencil.
I think the trick with make up is to remain current with your Look plus lots of foundation can be ageing.

I know what you mean @floisme, I was told that I didn't look 49 by the hairdresser. I just said thank you. But I was thinking well if I don't look 49 now I will in a few years so what's the difference. I have to transcend caring about the PRECISE chronological age that is reflected/suggested by my face /body and ''carry'' or gather a bit more charisma, gravitas, confidence. Omg I know what a bellend I must sound now!!

This has just happened to me I'm 50 and a half
I think it's because I've let my hair go grey and its changed my skin tone, or, more likely, looks more flattering against my skin.
My hair is very short but the sides are pure white so it looks a bit glowy .
I like to wear a darker eyeshadow to try to hide a droopy,crepey eyelid but when taking my makeup off lately have realised I look better without it. I just need to stop obsessing about it.
I got an ELF crayon eyeshadow which is light and shimmery. I think it was only a fiver in Superdrug.
I don't have good skin, I'm not too wrinkly but have very uneven colour, with very black circles under my eyes and at the corner of my nose.
I'm trying BB creams but as yet haven't found one that doesn't make my eyes water.
I still have black brows and my lashes are black. Will brown mascara look silly on black lashes?

I wouldn't worry Hammock - I am regularly a bellend on here. However I'm also obsessed with lipstick at the moment and that transcends everything else.

Coco your colouring sounds lovely to me. I’ve recently been persuaded to go back to a few bright blonde highlights framing my face to “lift” my colouring. I was dubious at first but have to say, hairdresser was right, it has brightened me up nicely. I’m 57 and hope to go a nice grey, like my mum, but don’t have any yet. Patience is required 😊

I tried a different face yesterday. No eyeliner, no brows (just my own fair ones) but plenty of brown mascara which isn’t as harsh for me as black. I felt a bit diminished but hey, no one ran away from me in fear 😁 I also had a big sort out of makeup (on the strength of this thread) and binned a few items claiming to be lifting for older skin. They actually were hardly used because the reality for me was that they made me look “Cartland-like”. Too heavy. Maybe from 50 yards away they’d be lifting and smoothing but close up, nah.

@cocolapew
I don't have good skin, I'm not too wrinkly but have very uneven colour, with very black circles under my eyes and at the corner of my nose.

My advice is you get yourself along to a Bobbi Brown counter and ask for a make over.

They have some really good foundations, like Skin Foundation or Foundation Stick or their Serum Foundation AND their concealer kit for under eye shadows. This is a double pan with a corrector and a concealer. www.bobbibrown.co.uk/product/14018/15950/makeup/face-and-cheek/corrector-and-concealer/creamy-concealer-kit