Age and make up

According to a beauty and fashion expert grooming is not just about applying the right make up, but taking care of one’s hair, complexion, skin, wearing the right clothes and accessories. It is important to pay attention to all these details if you want to get that right look..

Here I would like to point out that while Fashion and looking good is important and a great morale booster to most women, don’t be dictated by anyone as to what to wear and what not to wear and the same goes for your make up and look, simply go ahead and do what you think suits you and your life style the best and also what is the most practical thing to do!

There are certain things in life which you are definite about- like for example you know that listening to soothing music will certainly lift your spirits, wearing a certain shade of pink will get you complements from friends and colleagues, your husband will definitely forget to buy what you have asked him to and in all probability buy something that you already have at home and that you look your best when you are dressed in your favorite off white and mauve chiffon saree wearing a matching colored lipstick !Well that’s what you thought !

The simple fact is that when your facial features evolve so should your make up  which most older women fail to grasp - more so when you reach the age of 35 and above. According to beauty experts , when you hit 40, moisture and collagen levels go down and skin tone can become uneven or sallow and as a result, the same colors and textures that were flattering at 30 or even 35 may be aging you a decade later. You need to take special care with your make up routine and also go in for different procedures and techniques altogether that is more suitable for your age.

Personally speaking when it is a mater of make up, I believe that less is more and this also becomes hassle free since you have much less to bother about. However, if you are one of those who never step out of your home without the war paint on, then you need to keep certain important facts  in mind before making your face up so that you really don’t end up looking like a red Indian with the war paint on ! With a little effort and a few changes here and there you can definitely achieve that flawless and perfectly made up look even when you are 40 or older..

Here are a few such helpful hints that help you get that picture perfect look !

Skin

You need to start afresh as you grow older. You notice that your complexion begins to look duller and the tone becomes uneven as you age. The reason being, that our skin no longer sheds dead cells as quickly as it used to when we were younger.  Everyday a layer of dead cells develops on our skin which does not let us breathe. A simple routine of cleansing –toning-moisturising does take care of the skin when you are younger. But as you grow older your skin needs scrubbing which can be done at home and which also helps in removing this layer of dead cells and lets your skin breathe. Make up takes better to freshly scrubbed, moisturized skin. The colors and textures always look flattering on a smooth skin so also when our skin is supple , blemish free and neat. To speed up cell turnover, keep a gentle exfoliator in the shower and use it regularly to see positive results. Most citrus Fruits and tomatoes are excellent for scrubbing used by themselves. Simply slice off a portion of the fruit and scrub the skin surface with it until your skin begins to tinngle. This done regularly gives excellent results for your skin.

After your shower use a silicone based moisturizer which is available at most chemists and a primer if you are planning to go out and apply a foundation on the primer.

Foundation -As you age and fine wrinkles begin to form on the face,neck ,around the eyes and the mouth you will notice that foundations and powders will pool in the crevices , highlighting the wrinkle and large pores that you were hoping would get concealed. So you have to take care while buying and using a foundation. Ideally, look for a foundation that has silicone in it ( if you are not using a primer ). Most beauticians recommend that one should look for silicone based skin products since they are extensively used in most anti aging beauty products and are known to help older women by acting as fillers.

The silicone present in the foundation or cream helps it move with the skin and cover and close the fine wrinkles and pores on your skin. Apply foundation with a damp sponge, and press gently to keep it from sinking into the creases. You can use wrinkle filling concealer on the  finer lines , but dont overdo it. However, at night before bed time don't forget to wash your face thoroughly and use a night cream or a moisturiser on your face,neck and hands. 

Eyes

Dark circles, bags under the eyes and puffiness are all signs of aging and one simply cannot wish it away. You can only take care and hope to keep it under control by eating right, drinking plenty of water and other fluids, taking care on a daily basis by sleeping at least 6-8 hours every night and placing tea bags dipped in cucumber juice on your closed eye lids whenever possible, if you can every day for 10 -15 minutes. You also need to use the right kind of make up when you go out.

Here is a trick to conceal those bags and dark circles – You must remember that if you use too much concealer and foundation to cover your dark circles and puffiness , after a while it begins to show prominently to your disadvantage . Instead apply a little foundation around your eyes and later a concealer in a lighter tone just enough to mute the dark circles and puffiness. Foundation is less opaque than the concealer and gives a much more uniform look and covers your skin better. If you see more discoloration around the eyes , just use minute dots of skin matching concealer , which will blend in more easily over the base. 

Eye make up

As you age you also notice that there are loose folds of skin around and under your eyes. Due to these loser skin, your once flawless eye liner application now begins to look wriggly above your lashes. So you have to change your entire routine of eye make up as your age increases. Ideally you should line your top lids using  soft eye liner pencil or a liquid foundation that does not flow . Pull your lids slightly to make it taut and then apply the liner in little strokes across the upper lashes. Using a smudger or a cotton swab or a brush ,blend in the lines together. Avoid drawing thick lines across the lids since they tend to look ugly and make your eyes look smaller. Try to draw the eye liner as close to your  eye lashes  as possible to make your eyes look brighter,larger and clearer . Applying eyee liner is an art and needs a lot of practice and if you are just beginning to do so or unsure, bettr to avoid it.Instead concntarte on using a little kajal into your ehes to highlight them.

Use eye shadows sparingly and with caution – Your eye shadow color should relate to your skin tone. Say if you are dark, may be you should better stick with darker colors and tones such as dark shades of browns, coppers, maroons, deep greens and if you are medium to fair complexioned, lighter shades like light browns, smoky grey, blue and lighter shades of green would look good. However, natural shades that almost blend in with your skin tone with very subtle luminescence will definitely have the most natural and pleasing effect on older women. Some shades that look good on most complexions are smoky grey , beige tones with bronze highlighters !

Eye brows tend to become thinner with age  in many women. Also if you have been threading your brows for many years the hair simply may not grow back after some time like it happens with legs and hands . You can counter the thinning brows by shading them with sheer pencil one notch higher ( shade) than the hair. But do use them sparingly because the effect one needs to attain is adding definition to the brows but not that aging filled out effect which can frankly look bad. Use gentle strokes that blend in and don't give a penciled thin line effect. Alternatively, you can also use any of the dark shaded eye shadows to define your eye brows using a small brush.

Sun can cause a lot of damage to the skin around your eyes so it is a good idea to carry sun glasses with you all the time and use it when you step out of the house.

Cheeks

When you put on your blush-on the usual way that you were used to, to put natural looking color on your cheeks you may end up with pronounced red cheeks that tend to stand out. So, you need to change the practice and switch from a powder blush on to a translucent cream blush that is much more subtle in its effect and also gives you  a glowing effect. According to fashion and make up experts anything that is see through and blends into your skin is always more youthful. And to avoid a streaky made up look, adding a dot of creamy and lighter shade of foundation in the center of the apple of your cheeks and then moving and blending it in with circular motions of your finger tips until it looks like a healthy flush is the right way of applying base foundation. Once you get this effect right you can apply small dots of color to your cheeks and blend it in to get a natural extended look.

Finish this off with a mild dusting of powder and that’s all you really need to have on your face. If you are healthy eating a balanced diet and drinking the required amount of water ,milk and other healthy fluids, you would have a naturally healthy glow to your skin, which gets enhanced by just a touch of foundation.

Lips

When you start noticing that there are fine lines on your lips and around your mouth the first thing you would want to do is to try and conceal it by applying your favorite shade of lipstick , but have you considered what kind of effect it would have ?. Matching your lip liner to your lipstick is an age old trick that may not work as you grow older, in fact may even make you look older. Colored lip pencils that most women tend to use become more and more pronounced and may leave a tell tale ring of line around your mouth. This happens with age because of the shrinking lip line, the once generous lips become thinner, which is a natural phenomenon. 

You need to try something different to get a more natural and youthful look for yourself – Define your lips by using a clear or nude lip liner, that has become very popular now,  the same shade as your lips. Apply it around the perimeter of your lips and then fill in with your favorite lipstick. Using a tissue slightly dab on the lips to get an even blended finish so that the lip line merges into the lipstick. This way you get a slightly fuller effect. Try to use shades that are close to your skin color and not a garish color that stands out.

Shade of the lipstick is important. You notice that putting dark lipstick gives you a severe effect at times if it is not properly matched with your eye make up and the color of your dress. However, if you are very particular about a certain dark shade of lipstick, go for one that is slightly brighter in the same shade instead of one that is dark. Like for example if you like red lip stick instead of going for a dark maroon shade, you could go for a brighter maroon shade that is one or two shades lighter.

The brighter and lighter shades normally spotlights thinning lips by making them look fuller( the same way as dark and black dress tend to make us look slimmer and light shades make us look fuller). It is best to choose the shiny or satiny finishes instead of matted ones which tend to sink into the lines on your lips or if you you still insist on using a matt lipstick, Dab on a little shimmer on top for a fuller look.

Hair

Good grooming is not just about applying the right make up but it is aiming for the complete look including caring and having the right look for your hair. If you have thinning hair, it might be a good idea to experiment a bit and get a new hairstyle that is more suitable to your face and life style. Since you have thinning hair that makes your forehead look large, it is better to go in for a layered cut that takes the attention away from your forehead. It adds contours to the face besides looking attractive.

Blow drying your hair or using styling gels can be very harmful for your hair since gels tend to clog the pores and become itchy or become infected. It can also make your roots become dry besides being time consuming. The best way to add volume to your hair is by back combing. Don’t go in for any elaborate and fussy hair do’s that take up time and may not really look good, instead go for simple and straightforward styles that are easy to manage.

Make sure that you have a warm oil massage once every week which improves blood circulation.This also helps in stopping hair loss which can be a major cause for worry among older women. A healthy head of hair is part hereditary and partly due to our own effort and care.

A few useful make up and fashion tips to bear in mind

1. When you are trying on a new foundation cream, always try it on your jaw line to know if it merges well with your skin. When you are using powder foundation ( which is actually better in humid weather) use a damp sponge to spread it evenly. With liquid foundation your finger tips are the best to use and spread it evenly.

2. Blend the foundation well so that it covers all areas like your hairline, jaw line, ears, neck and part of the bosom that shows, otherwise you end up looking like a shaded film. After using the foundation, lightly pat on compact powder to keep it in place.

3. If you are using a concealer to cover marks and spots make sure that it is a shade lighter than the foundation, otherwise it will not make much of a difference. Concealers are thicker than foundations so take care while applying them to get an even tone.

4. One has to take care while applying eye liners and kajal. Stretch your eye lid while applying it to ensure an even application especially while applying to the corner of the eye.

5. After applying lip stick run a cube office over it and apply a colorless lip gloss over it for a longer lasting effect  Or in case  you don’t want to use a lipstick , you can go for a lip gloss that has a hint of color. 

6. Eyes should be given due consideration since your look is never complete without well defined eyes.. Using a highlighter stick, in silver or smoky grey on your brow arches draws attention to your eyes.

7. Using lipsticks with SPF 15, minerals, moisturizers and beeswax is always better since it keeps your lips supple. If your lips are supple and mositurised, the lip color will stay much longer than usual.

8. For a home made toning lotion for oily hair – mix a tablespoon of malt vinegar in a glass of water. Add a pinch of salt. Dab two tablespoons of this mixture on your scalp and massage it well with your finger tips. Leave it on for an hour and rinse with luke warm water and a mild shampoo. Brush it when it is almost dry, you will find that your hair is noticeably less oily ,silky and soft. You can d this regularly twice a week

9. Fashion tends to keep coming back so never discard old still good to use clothes or accessories, since vintage look is always in and can be teamed in different ways.

The most important aspect about fashionand looking good is being yourself. It is important how you carry yourself , make up and clothes are secondary. When this is paired with confidence you can carry off anything without there being the need  for tags or a brand name..What is far more important is feeling comfortable and feeling good about yourself which in turn makes you look good .