I haven’t bothered with much in the way of eye makeup for a long time now – simply because it’s all too hard.
Back in the 80’s, I could rock blue eyeliner, and a trio of bright colours on my lids, like nobody’s business!
Why I Stopped Wearing Eye Makeup
However since then:
- styles have changed;
- my eyes have become hooded as I’ve grown older;
- and I’ve lost confidence in my makeup application skills.
But I was persuaded to give it another go recently when my favourite beauty salon hosted a makeup evening.
Alice Henderson from Jane Iredale gave us heaps of great tips and tricks for applying eye makeup to older eyes.
I was amazed at the difference it made to my appearance – and you guys obviously noticed it too, with many of you commenting on the Instagram and Facebook pic I posted!
Now I’m sharing my new eye makeup tips with you …
4 Eye Makeup Tips for Older Eyes
1 – Eye Brows. Pull your brow up, and using a brow pencil, draw a feathery line immediately underneath your brow line. Then gently brush through to blend. Good brows really help to frame and define not just your eyes, but your whole face.
If you’re not sure where to start or stop your brows, get the pencil and hold it vertically next to your nose to find where to stop at the inner corner of the eye.
Then take the pencil and hold diagonally again from the bottom of your nose up to the outside of your brow – and that’s your stopping point.
2 – Eyeshadow. Use a soft angled brush, and again, pull your eye up to apply eyeshadow so you get even coverage across the eye lid and above.
Sweep colour using the brush from the inner corner of your eye, across the top of the lid and up to the outer brow.
Find your brow bone and sweep a darker colour from there down to the outer corner of eye, and blend (see below).
Add a touch of a lighter shade on the brow bone, and blend.
3 – Eyeliner. Don’t be scared! Hold your eye and pull it taut. Draw a line across your lashes as a guide (make sure you have a creamy pencil) – then colour in between the lashes.
4 – Mascara. Mascara adds the finishing touch, and takes your look from flat to flattering. Make sure you apply by getting right down into the roots of your top lashes for a luxurious lash look, instead of just brushing the ends with the mascara wand (which is what I used to do).
Give it a try and I’m sure that you too will be impressed with what a little bit of eye makeup can do for your appearance, even if you are more mature (like me)!
What do you tend to wear when it comes to eye makeup? Did you avoid eye shadow like I did?!
Despite being a beauty blogger I tend to wear minimal eye makeup, although I do love my mascara. My eyes are extremely sensitive and I wear glasses (plus I’m middle aged too) so I tend to not feature my eyes too much.
Yeah eyeshadow is more of a special occasion thing for me, though I like to do my eyebrows and mascara more regularly.
Janet, I haven’t worn makeup in over a decade as I get too sweaty the moment I put anything on my face. I can wear lipstick and that’s about it. If my room is cool I can wear moisturiser to bed but anything else and my face and head sweats a lot.
But… even though I did courses when young I’ve never been particularly good at doing makeup. It feels too obvious to me. My face used to look too pink and my eyeliner and mascara would run.
I wish I could wear makeup now sometimes but think I’m a bit beyond help! 😉 #teamlovinlife
I must confess Deb – 95% of the time lipstick is it for me too 😉
Great tips! X
Now that’s a compliment coming from an expert like you!
I do still apply some eye makeup but not eye shadow. My eyelids are pretty nondescript so I don’t want to feature them. I apply mascara, eyebrow pencil (to make them look thicker) and eyeliner (the pencil type not the liquid type) to define the eyes a bit. Apart from that I whack on some foundation, lippie and only on special occasions will I add some blush! I try to keep it all pretty subtle! 🙂 #teamlovinlife
I’m with you Min, subtlety is much better.
These are great tips. I stopped using eye shadow and eyeliner years ago because I can’t see to put it on! I do think eyebrows are important so I take the time to draw these on and I always wear mascara.
Haha yes I wear a pair of glasses to do my eyebrows. Managing mascara okay so far without them but I also have a magnifying mirror in the bathroom 🙂
I love eye makeup and wear it every day. I use lots of different products and colours.
Even just a simple liner and nude cream eyeshadow can enhance your eyes, lift your face and make you look younger.
I like Perricone MD No Eyeshadow Eyeshadow. It’s serum with a flattering nude colour that smooths the eyelid.
A dark brown or purple no drag eyeliner pencil or liner brush and eyeshadow is softer on the more mature skin than harsh black. Smudging the remnants of the liner brush, or a little dab of pencil and a smudging brush, under the lower lash line on the outer corner defines your lashes and eyes too.
Personally, I don’t pull the lid taut as this creates a bumpy line when it is released.
Why shouldn’t we wear makeup just because we aren’t 27 any more?
Exactly Kim Marie! Yes I’m a big fan of a brown eyeliner too – probably because I’m a blonde 🙂
Thanks for some great tips. I think as we get older we forget things, get a bit lazy about things, styles change and we sometimes feel a bit, well, past it. But we shouldn’t and your pic goes to show that because you rocked the modern eye make up look. I have an old and trusted way of applying my eye make up which takes minutes, but I need to step up to the bar and ring some changes.
I wish I had a better pic of it Jo, but the lighting was terrible and my iphone just doesn’t cope at night time!
My work eye make-up is simple: I do my brows & my lashes & sweep on some red lippy. I confess to being an eyeliner & shadow junkie, but these days do the color thing mainly when I’m going out in the evening. I’ve changed the way I apply it , apply it with a much more subtle hand & these days keep the silver to just a touch, but still have fun with colour.
Love your new look Janet! I wear eye shadow most days. I learned to apply it at deportment school many years ago and have worn it ever since, despite being visually impaired without my glasses. I do check it after I put my glasses on … I think I could do it without looking by now (took years of practice!) 🙂 #TeamLovinLife
I could never compete with your daughter on the eye makeup scale, but I have lifted my game in the last year or so for work. I used to get away with a bit of eyeliner, but as my lids have drooped, I’ve started wearing more eyeshadow and mascara to give me a bit of colour and lift.
I wear mascara daily but shadows and liners I tend to use when I have an occasion to go to. I love eye make ups though.
Look at you miss beauty blogger! WOOT!!
Thanks for the tips. I have terrible trouble with my eyebrows on account of them being blonde and pretty much non existent. I need a brow transplant.
#TeamLovinLife
You look great. I just wear brown eye shadow (when I do) and mascara. Less is better on me I feel.
I love this post and it is so timely as I was thinking of cleaning out my makeup bag! Thanks so much for the tips and I’ll be sharing on my Sizzling Towards 60 Facebook page. Found you through Lovin’ Life Linky and have wonderful day.
It’s all about finding the colour, product and method of application that works for you! I used to have a very minimal face but have increased the products and level of effort, simply for the fun of it. I’m trialling a new trick today where I’ve lined my lower waterline with a soft pinky cream pencil to take away the redness and make my eyes look less tired and I’m totally happy with the result. It’s fun to experiment and just have a go!