Fabulous at forty

There is no doubt that looking after your skin from a young age delays lines and wrinkles. Moisturising your skin regularly and of course, not stepping out without effective sun protection helps. However, there are some women who go totally wrong with their make up and instead of looking younger, they end up with the opposite effect. So what is needed to conceal those telltale signs of ageing?

Don’t lay it on so thick!

Wearing foundation is the most common and easy way to hide wrinkles, especially crow’s feet and lines around the mouth. But some think wearing it really thick reduces the visibility of these lines. It won’t. When you wear too much foundation, it cakes up and makes the lines more visible. So ideally, add a drop of water to your liquid foundation so it thins a bit or if you are using a foundation stick, spread it in the form of tiny dots on your face and blend it in. Wearing a moisturiser

Shimmery eye shadow should be avoided as it can draw attention to the lines on your eyelids, and can make you look older before applying foundation also helps. Stay away from the glitter… Your age is first revealed in the area around the eyes. Be very careful while choosing eye make up. I know someone who cakes on glittery eye shadow and you can count the wrinkles on her eyelids. Shimmery eye shadow should be avoided as it can draw attention to the lines on your eyelids, and can make you look older. Choose matt colours or if you must use the ones with glitter, go for soft shades and draw a line over your lid instead of covering the entire eyelids with them.

For your eyes only

To look younger and give a lift to sagging eyelids, you must wear mascara. This helps in brightening the eyes and enhances them. Eyeliner can also help to achieve this result. Wearing kajal, or brown and black eye pencil along with mascara can give your face a bright and alert look. Nowadays you get several mascaras that help make eyelashes look longer.

Wearing kajal, or brown and black eye pencil along with mascara can give your face a bright and alert look

Get colour smart

When you wear make up avoid going OTT, so you don’t end up looking like a Christmas tree. Some women wear a lot of blush and then slap on the mascara and lipstick till they look overdressed, no matter what. You must pick and choose your make up and the feature you want to highlight. To highlight your eyes, go easy on the lip colour. If your blush is bright, wear nude lipstick and brown eyeliner. The trick to remember is that if either your eye shadow or lipstick or blush is bright, keep the other two toned down. And if you are in doubt, play safe with nude lipstick and just mascara on the eyes with a shade of blush as close to your complexion as possible.

Watch those lips

As we age, our lips tend to get thinner and our skin tends to dry. So when moisturising your face, be sure to apply some on your lips as well. While botox for plumper lips may not be a solution for everyone, you can use make up to make your lips look fuller. Avoid lip liners and lipsticks in dark browns, purples and deep maroon. If you are dark skinned and light frosted colours don’t suit you, wear dark lipstick but blot with a tissue after applying and coat with a slightly shimmery or clear lip gloss. Again, when in doubt, nude shades of lipstick are the safest so ensure you always have this shade on your make up table.