Age is not kind to your face. Gravity affects firm, supple skin, leaving it saggy, droopy, and dreary. Sun exposure stains patchworks of spots and etches fine wrinkles onto once smooth surfaces. Considering time's ravages, it's easy to see why many women over 40 try to cover every wrinkle, crevice, and imperfection with cosmetics.
It would be impossible to replicate the time-reversing, face-smoothing effects of Botox or plastic surgery at home. Yet a few clever makeup tricks can shave, if not decades, then at least a few years off your face.
WebMD talked to two leading makeup experts, who shared their 10 top anti-aging tricks for younger looking skin.
1. Start with a soft foundation
Sometimes women try to hide the signs of aging beneath mounds of concealer and foundation. Bad idea. Heavy makeup settles into every line, accentuating wrinkles even more.
"Makeup doesn't cover wrinkles," says Sandy Linter, author of The Makeup Wakeup: Revitalizing Your Look at Any Age. As a celebrity makeup artist at New York's Rita Hazan Salon, Linter has created camera-ready looks for some of Hollywood's most famous mature faces, including Sigourney Weaver, Bette Midler, and Goldie Hawn.
Instead of smearing your skin in heavy makeup, Linter recommends using a primer first, followed by a thin layer of lightweight or sheer foundation. "Don't try to actually hide anything. Just work with it," she advises. "If you look at your face as a whole, the wrinkles aren't exactly covered, but if you do your makeup beautifully and appropriately for your age, you'll look great."
2. Use makeup daily
Although some 40+ women lay on the makeup too thickly, others take the opposite approach. They go completely bare. "They give up and they stop wearing makeup. That's the worst thing you can do, because you look better in makeup," Linter says.
Even if you've had some "work" done at the hands of your plastic surgeon, you still need to wear at least a little bit of makeup. "Makeup has a softening, glowing effect on the face," Linter says. If you don't want to commit to full makeup, at least put on a little mascara and curl your lashes before leaving the house.
3. Accentuate your eyes
The eyes may not literally be the windows to your soul as the adage suggests, but they're certainly the part of your face everyone notices first. That's why Linter aims straight for her clients' eyes when she begins a makeup session.
Her secret to age-defying eyes? She starts with an eye shadow primer or base to smooth out the eyelids. Then she lines the eyes with a dark brown or black pencil to widen them. For the top of the lids she uses neutral eye shadows -- dark brown or gray on the outer corners of the eye, taupe in the crease, and a light shade on the lid. The final touch is to curl the eyelashes and apply black mascara. The overall effect makes the eyes look bigger and brighter. Once the eyes are perfect, the rest of the face just falls into place, Linter says.
