Over 40? These makeup tips are tailor-made for you! (SheFinds Feature)

So...you're over 40....do you really need to do your  makeup differently?  The answer is...yes! Many of the same looks that worked when you were younger may not be the most flattering now, so at the minimum, you'll want to make a few adjustments.  I'm in my forties too, so when fab beauty/lifestyle blog She Finds asked me for tips to share, I had plenty...working with my clients AND from personal experience!

Read on to find out what YOU could be doing wrong, as well as some great tips to help you choose the best products for your gorgeous, over 40 self....

(PS, thanks for the feature SheFinds!!)

9 Makeup Tips Women In Their Forties Should Commit To Memory

It’s really no secret that women in their twenties do not face the same skincare challenges as women in their forties. That’s the beauty of aging, right? So just as your style and sensibilities evolve as you get older, so should your daily makeup routine. When you’re 20, you can put just about anything on your face and get away with it, but that’s probably not that case once you hit 40. Luckily, Jennifer Trotter of Lip Service Makeup, pro makeup artist and beauty expert, and Kate O’Brien, founder of Alima Pure, are here to share their best tried and true makeup tips for women 40 and over.

1. Look for highly pigmented products. “You can use less product and still get color payoff,” Trotter says. “The older we get, we don’t want to pack on makeup, so this tip is important.”

2. Be careful with color choice. “Avoid dull or overly vivid colors,” Trotter says. “Right in the middle is where you want to be. Rosy/peachy/plum shades for lips and cheeks always look young and fresh.”

3. Less is more. While coverage is good, more is not always better, O’Brien says. “Moisturize well, and let it absorb thoroughly before applying foundation. Then apply with a light hand, going back over spots that need a little extra coverage without over-applying.”

4. Prime your lids. “Matte and (surprise!) shimmer eyeshadows often work better for eyes over-40 than pearly eyeshadows which can emphasize lines,” O’Brien says. “A touch of primer or BB cream on the lid before shadow application can help shadows stay in place.”

5. Skip trends. “Trends, for the most part, have the reverse effect and can make you look older,” Trotter says. “Giant drugstore brands quickly jump onto trends to capture their audience, but be wary–often, these products are not geared towards those over 30 and should be skipped. Examples include super vivid colors, the spiky lash trend and glitter. Subtle shimmer is fine at any age, but glitter where you can actually see the particles… NO. Watch out for this in shadows, blushes, highlighters and lipsticks,” Trotter says.

6. Choose emollient products. “Seek out products that plump and moisturize and avoid anything that is too dry,” Trotter says. “A too matte lipstick is aging, a too dry eye pencil will drag and pull on your eye, and a too dry foundation won’t give you that seamless glow.”

7. Focus on brows. “This is a great time for strong brows,” O’Brien says. “A well defined brow can help a face of any age look bright and awake. Choose a color somewhat lighter than natural brow hair and work soft strokes in through the natural brow line.”

8. Beware of cheap eyeshadow. “Across the board, watch out for drugstore brand shadows–they just don’t cut it.,” Trotter says. “The reason is because the ratio of filler to pigment is too high, which results in not enough color, not enough staying power and a dry, chalky look, which is aging.”

9. Shop smart. Smashbox, Lorac and Laura Mercier are all great brands for women in their forties because they offer colors with plenty of boldness, but not too many over the top choices, Trotter says. “Their lipsticks and shadows are highly pigmented, which is really what you want at any age.”

Mineral makeup brands like Alima Pure are also great for women in their forties because the colors reflect those occur in nature and all of the products are made without harsh chemicals like sulfates and parabens.

Lastly, IT Cosmetics is actually geared towards women 30 and up, Trotter says. “My favorite products include No. 50 Anti-Aging Primer because it plumps up and hydrates mature skin, Bye Bye Redness Correcting Creme for covering blotchiness, Brow Power Universal Eye Brow Pencil to build up sparse brows and Your Skin but Better CC Cream, which is an emollient tinted moisturizer that is fabulous on dry skin, plus it has SPF 50 to protect you from the sun. Even better, all of the skin products are formulated with good-for-you ingredients, which is a definite must for beauty shoppers over 40!”

For more beauty tips, check out the 8 essentials every woman should have in her makeup bag and all the minor plastic surgery procedures every woman should know about.

(Written by Lisa Fogarty for SheFinds)

Spring Bohemian Wedding Inspiration with Lover.ly

Start with this dress......

When Lover.ly reached out and asked me to choose a dress and then craft  look to go with it...the options were endless!  Glam, retro, simple, so many gorgeous dresses to choose from. But you know what?  With the arrival of spring, I couldn't help but think of a stunning boho bride!  Just picture it... warm sun, butterflies, perhaps a small ceremony in your favorite meadow or botanical garden. This dress (Lavandar from Modern Trousseau) made it really easy to imagine the perfect slightly hippie chick bride. (side note...doesn't that model look like Catherine Zeta Jones?!?)

So you've got the dress, now you need the right 'do, accessories and makeup to set the tone.  I picture loose waves or soft, undone curls with a few romantic braids pulled back for texture......

Skip the traditional veil, and instead add a jeweled headband or thin wrap, or even just a simple bloom behind one ear. 







Keep jewelry simple....consider a vintage find like these beauties from Mia Montgomery

(Etsy.com) or a few layered necklaces, and be sure to choose sweet (and comfy!) ballet slippers to suit the free-spirited mood, and allow for all-night dancing too.  Now to my favorite part...the makeup!

Build your look around flawless and glowing skin, like this pic of Kate Hudson.....

Try a CC Cream for coverage, plus hydration AND SPF...a must for outdoor ceremonies! (Try IT Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC Cream).  What to skip?  Harsh elements like too much highlight and contour, graphic winged liner or any unblended edges....your look is all about fresh and natural looking beauty!



Next, create a youthful flush on cheeks with a combo of cream blush (I love G-spot from NARS the Multiples collection...a perfect peachy pink) topped with a bit of powder blush with shimmer for shimmer, glow AND extra staying power. (A current favorite? 
MAC Mineralize blush in Warm Soul..a gorgeous shimmery peach)

Keep eyes simple with a sheer wash of shadow in a buttery gold (Bare Minerals shadow in "Queen Phyllis" is a great option), and then add individual lashes for natural impact and flutter.  Finish with plenty of black mascara to blend...waterproof, in case you shed happy tears!

Top it all off with lips the color of pink lemonade .......


(try Smashbox's Be Legendary Lipstick in Electric Pink) for a sweet touch that's just right for your "I do" kiss!  Use a matte formula dabbed on with your finger over a moisturizing balm for a soft, but long-lasting look.  And there you have it, your inspiration for a ready for spring boho wedding look.  Be sure to check out Lover.ly for more inspiration, and the perfect dress to inspire YOUR wedding day look!

Naturally Pretty Palette....Epic Fail or Must buy?

I bought a palette several months ago, and I really do love it, so I wanted to share the lowdown.... it's the Naturally Pretty palette by It Cosmetics.  Right off the bat, I'll warn you...if you're a type A  or OCD type, it might really bug you that the outer packaging is a mauve, sort of felt material that starts looking dirty and ragged nearly INSTANTLY.  Poor packaging....and yep, it does bug me!  It's fabric and can't easily be wiped off, but I've forced myself to look past that into the gorgeous, wearable colors inside.

I'm normally not a fan of matte shadows...generally, I think a bit of shimmer helps shadows blend out better...matte shadows can look chalky and dull.  In this case, nothing to worry about...these colors blend like a dream!  Just like their other palette competitors (Lorac, Urban Decay and others) these shadows are the micro-milled, high-end variety that apply like butter and have terrific color payoff.  Here are some more specifics from the It Cosmetics website about the shadows:

Hydrating Age Reverse and Prevent Complex and infused with Peptides, Hydrolyzed Collagen, Silk, Anti-Oxidants and Drops of Light™ Technology. Paraben-free, fragrance-free, sulfate-free, cruelty free. 

Ok...I'm down with all of that, but how does it LOOK?  Overall, this palette is a subdued one...the colors are soft, nothing bright or garish...you might even say a bit boring?  But let me tell you, this palette has become a total go to!  These colors help me craft the most lovely soft smoky eye looks, like the one below:

This palette is especially great for brown-eyed girls...it provides a neutral palette that isn't a boring brown and the colors all go together in a wide variety of combinations.  In the photo above, I used 5 or 6 shades for depth and dimension, with Iconic and Midnight (plum and navy) shadows as the base, blended down with Love, Soulful and All Heart.  Here is what the colors look like individually:

 

I use the lighter shades (Sheer Joy, Love) for base color and highlight, the deeper shades (Midnight, Noir, Iconic, Java) for liner and defining the crease and the mid range tones (Violet, Mocha, All Heart, Sunset, Sunrise, Warmth, Soft Light) to add warm tones and to create a smooth, buffed out look between darker and lighter shades.  The "Java" shade is a particular favorite...a warm coffee color, it just blends in so well and works with a lot of different color combinations, and makes the great base for a smoky eye that isn't too dark.  The hot bridesmaid dress color lately has been a gorgeous blush shade...this palette is perfect for that!  One of last week's weddings had blush dresses....I knew these shades would be perfect for creating sophisticated, yet soft looks that I needed.  Here's one of the bridesmaids:

Her eyes are blue, so I went a little warmer (Java, All Heart, Soulful, Noir)....and it looked great with the blush dresses, but also really made her eyes shine!  So pretty.  I almost forgot to mention...the Naturally Pretty palette comes with a "Transforming Pearl" shadow that you can swipe over the matte shades to give them shimmer.  Meh...not impressed with it and I skip it completely. I have other shimmers in my case that do the same thing much better.  If this was your only palette, that would be a nice feature to get more use out of the colors, so it shouldn't be discounted. I just have a lot of other competing products in my case.  So...all in all, here's the scoop:

 

Pro's - lovely shades, blend like a dream, great color payoff and wearability

Con's - case always looks dirty (it's fabric), shimmer is so-so

 

This has become a kit staple that I use all the time!  For non- pro's, it's a great starter palette for someone building their shadow collection as it works for any skin tone or eye color.  It's a great selection of neutrals with a lot more range (and a lot less glitter!) than Urban Decay Naked palettes too!  So...how much and where can you get it?  It's $42 on the IT Cosmetics website (click HERE), and you can purchase in store at Ulta. I stumbled across IT Cosmetics last year and have added several of their products to my kit (Bye Bye Redness has become a #cantlivewithout product!), so I spotted this palette and gave it a shot...so glad I did!  And if anyone from IT Cosmetics ever reads this, for the LOVE...please don't package eyeshadows with fabric packaging ever again.  Especially not mauve nubby felt.  More women would probably discover how great this palette really is if the packaging were better....#justsayin.

 

IT Cosmetics Naturally Pretty Palette....a MUST BUY!

Good to the last drop...a fun little makeup gadget review

Isn't it annoying when you've got product left in your container and you can't get it out...so it just goes to waste?  There's a fun little makeup gadget made just to solve this problem....Every Drop makeup spatula:

I got mine from Amazon for around $7 (free shipping with Amazon Prime), they also have it at the Container Store for about $5.  You get a little mini spatula that looks like this:

Using the same principle as a kitchen spatula, the rubberized end allows you to scrape the bottle or jar to indeed use "every last drop" of your product.  This can REALLY come in handy, particularly when you're talking about $100 eye cream, or $50 foundation, but over time, the savings can really add up when you get a couple more uses out of your product before tossing.  Considering I spend thousands and thousands on makeup each year, and go through product VERY quickly, the $5 is more than worth it! 

I used it this morning on a jar of IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Redness (yes, you all know this is my current fave product!) This product is super pigmented and you don't need a lot of it to be effective, so using this spatula allows 2-3 more uses!

Something else to think about....you should be using a tool to remove your product from jars and tubes so you're not introducing germs into the jar.  This is super important for makeup artists, but also important if you're the only one using your products.  Makeup artists use metal tools and spatulas for this purpose, and I have those too, but this little scraper is a nice addition...the metal tools I have are great for removing and mixing product from a full jar, but they can't grip the side of the jar like this one does.  It's a handy little thing! 

Germs, oil and bacteria all break down your cosmetics, so you want to keep your beauty goodies as pristine as possible so they apply well, perform well, and don't cause irritation.  (I LOVE products that come in tubes for this very reason, but not everything can come in a tube).  So...overall "Every Drop" Spatula....it's a handy little tool that saves you money and keeps your cosmetics clean...all for less than $10...not bad.
Overall grade for value and creativity: A

And...now for a version of a spatula that's even MORE fun, the kind we all used to lick cake batter off of when we were kids!!!  Yummy.....