Foundation and I have long had an uneasy relationship. It doesn’t matter whether I use liquid or cream, I always end up looking like your old Aunt Martha. The foundation loves to settle into lines and wrinkles I didn’t know I had. And don’t get me started on dark lipstick. We’re talking Lily Munster after a rough night.

I’m fed up with having my makeup add 10 years to my look. You too? “It’s so funny that we spend the first 20 years of our lives trying to look older — and then the rest of the time obsessing about looking younger,” says Laura Nadeau, a New York City–based professional makeup artist (www.loandco.com). Fortunately it’s possible to knock a decade off your face with the right approach.

Update your foundation. Skip the heavy foundation and choose a sheer formula or a tinted moisturizer or mix equal parts foundation and moisturizer, suggests Madeline Roosevelt, a Portland, Oregon–based professional makeup artist (www.madimakeuphair.blogspot.com). “Applying too much foundation makes it settle into the lines on your face, which makes wrinkles a lot more noticeable,” she adds. So use a light touch and blend, blend, blend.

“Don’t try to make your skin darker or lighter with foundation,” advises Nadeau. If you want to add a little “sun” to your face, lightly apply bronzer on and under your cheekbones and a smidgen across the bridge of your nose, forehead and chin, she suggests.

Choose a lip color to brighten your face — not suck the life out of it. Skip the super–dark lip colors for daily wear. “Everyone can find a pinkish color to make them look healthy and fresh,” says Nadeau. “Youth is all about soft, plump and pink!”

Skip eyeliner on the lower lashes. “Our eyes tend to droop as we age,” says Roosevelt, and eyeliner on the bottom lashes can accentuate the droop. “Also, shimmery eye shadow is a wrinkle accentuator,” she adds. Think matte.

Brighten your under–eye area. Dark circles can make anyone look older. Under–eye concealer is your friend, says Nadeau. Apply it only where you need it, and sparingly. Blend well. Don’t overdo the blush (or nix it completely). Too much can make you look garish, and going natural can make you look haggard. “A pink/peach color applied to the apples of your cheeks and lightly blended on your cheekbones can make you look like you had eight hours of sleep and just had a refreshing walk,” says Nadeau.

Don’t be afraid to embrace pink blush, she adds: “Not bubble–gum-Barbie pink, but the pink tones that you find in your natural lip color and cheeks. For darker skin tones, the pink color will be deeper and more plum in color. Pinch your cheek, bite your lip. What color do they turn? That’s your hue.”

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3 Member Comments

1. Posted 06/20/2009 at 17:25 PM by happyhomemaker

   helpful info. about makeup.

2. Posted 06/21/2009 at 23:20 PM by Geanab

   I thought that this was very informative.

3. Posted 06/30/2009 at 00:56 AM by YellowRose

   I have a lot of little red veins on my cheeks what kind of cover up should I use?

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