Whether it’s in New York, Paris or Milan, Fashion Week is truly just that: a week dedicated to fashion. However, it’s also big for beauty gurus, as top makeup artists work with designers to create a cohesive runway look from head to toe. This year, L’Oréal Paris made beauty an even bigger part of the weeklong event, hosting its own fashion show during Paris Fashion Week on the Champs-Elysees.
Two famous faces gracing the cat walk for L’Oréal were Jane Fonda, 79, and Helen Mirren, 72, both of whom were modeling the brand’s new Age Perfect makeup range, which is currently only available overseas.
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Backstage at the show, L’Oréal’s global makeup director, Val Garland, told DailyMail she’s a “big fan of makeup for the older face” because facial features soften with age. “Everything seems to move into the background, so you need makeup to bring your features back into definition.”
Here are her best tips for embracing—not hiding from—makeup over 50:
1. Use mascara to your advantage.
“My main rule for eye makeup is: mascara! Use an eyelash curler to curl lashes because that will instantly open up your eyes. It’s nice to get a bit of mascara into the root of the lower lashes, but just touch it to the roots to get definition rather than coating them all over, otherwise it can drift.”
2. You don’t have to avoid eye shadow if you have crepey skin.
“If you have crepey eyelids that fold down on themselves, don’t fret about using eye shadow, but use a brown or gray eye pencil and work it into the lash line and onto the outer corner of the eyelid. That will help open up the eyes.”
3. Experiment with eyebrow tinting.
“Eyebrows fade and get thinner with age, and it’s fantastic that these days we have so many tools to bring them back to life. But, if you’re not confident doing your own brows, go and get them tinted. You don’t have to have them tattooed or microbladed. You get a softer look if you just tint them a few shades darker. It doesn’t stain the skin, and now, all of a sudden, you have recreated that frame for your eyes.”
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4. Toss your nude lipstick.
“Ditch the beige! You can wear gentle colors like apricot or rose pink, but you need color. I’ve seen gorgeous, glamorous women over 60 rocking a really dark eye, but they’ve paired it with a beige lip. On young girls that looks cool, but [not on] someone over 65.”
5. Blend in your lip liner.
“The difficulty with older lips is they become paler and shrunken, and there are more tiny lines around the edges of them, which lipstick can bleed into. I think it’s really nice to get a soft edge on a mature lip, so blend your lip liner in. If you use it to draw a hard line around your lips, it will technically stop the lip color from bleeding, but it will also make the whole lip area look contained and make it appear smaller.”
6. Swap out your pink blush for something “earthy.”
“One rule here: Sink the pink. You do not want to be the older lady with the pink blush. You will look as if you have rosacea. What you are looking for is a very soft blush in a peachy apricot or bronze color, or something earthy. I like to take a foundation color that’s more peachy or bronze, and work that over the cheek so that it gives a pinched-cheek effect.”
7. Try BB cream instead of foundation.
“Use a BB cream or a lighter foundation for a gentle covering. These don’t look cakey because they have special blurring particles in them, so they don’t stick in the lines.”
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8. Don’t powder your cheeks.
“I like to powder down the forehead and the center of the face, and where the light hits by the side of the nose, but don’t powder your cheeks—you want a nice shine on them.”
9. Beware of highlighters.
“Powder highlighters look great on the catwalk or red carpet, but if you have an older face and want to create that illusion, I would get a tiny bit of moisturizer on your fingertips and tap it along the top of the cheekbones. That will give you that glow-from-within look. I hate a shiny powdered stripe on a wrinkle.”
