Perfect Makeup: Anna at 50, Tricia at 77

The other day I was listening to a programme about words used in relation to ageing (over the hill, old age pensioner, senior citizen etc) and the presenter said that describing someone as an ‘older person’ was acceptable in a way that ‘old person’ was not. Maybe that’s why I have always felt comfortable to describe Look Fabulous Forever as a makeup and skincare brand for older women. It signals that these aren’t products for youngsters whilst being unspecific enough to encompass the women who may be excited by what we are offering.

My daughter Anna has just had her 50th birthday. Having used LFF skincare since we launched it when she was 44, she has started experimenting with the makeup and is delighted to find that many of our products are now perfect for her too.

How faces change with age.

Take a look at the two photos below. In the one on the left I am seventeen years old and the other one was taken sixty years later. Hopefully I am still recognisable as the same person but the changes that my face has undergone are very significant. For a start my nose is longer and my ears have grown (oh joy), whilst my eyes are smaller, more sunken and now more round than almond shape.

Then look at my neck and jawline which are now ill defined as one runs down into the other with no clear delineation. I now have pronounced ‘marionette’ lines either side of my mouth and my jaw, and much more noticeable lines running down from my nose to my mouth. Between my eyebrows there are a couple of deep wrinkles and pronounced crow’s feet at the outer edge of each eye. And, of course, my hair has faded from mid-brown to grey.

Do I find this depressing? Not in the least. In fact, I consider myself extremely fortunate that I have been passionate about good skincare and makeup (and great earrings!) since those teenage years, which has paid many dividends because, despite the passage of sixty years, I have relatively few wrinkles on my cheeks and forehead and just a couple of age spots rather than extensive and obvious sun damage. 

I also consider myself lucky to have had the idea to create a makeup range to overcome all the problems, worsening in my fifties and sixties, with finding good face, eye and lip products for my ageing face, as the obsession of the beauty industry to cater exclusively for the youth market gradually made me feel like a pariah. 

How the face changes from your early fifties to mid-sixties

I am not going to be too hard and fast about ‘rules’ here or specific ages. Some women will need what I am suggesting sooner or later depending on the timing of their menopause when changes to the skin and bone structure really accelerate with the loss of oestrogen, collagen and elastin in the dermis. 

Also lifestyle factors will play a considerable role. If you smoke, regularly drink above the recommended units of alcohol, and have always loved sunbathing or sunbeds then at fifty your face will show the effects. If your diet is deficient in key nutrients, especially those found in natural plant based foods or if you have a stressful job and poor quality sleep, then, again your overall health may suffer and be reflected in your skin. 

What makeup looks most flattering in your fifties and early sixties?

The colour of your skin is likely to have more variation in tone than when younger. There will be darker patches around the eyes, especially if you are tired. The skin will gradually lose some of its natural oiliness, which means fewer spots or breakouts but more dryness. 

Some wrinkling will become apparent where skin is thinnest especially around the eyes and the skin will slowly begin to feel less firm to the touch.

Best LFF Face Products:

Smooth Like Silk Face Prime - smoothes and blurs fine lines and wrinkles and creates the perfect base for foundation. 

Light Look Beauty Balm - The main thing for these earlier years is to find a good foundation which creates a light smooth finish which will stay looking fresh for your busy life. Our Beauty Balm has just enough coverage to unify skin tone whilst looking super light on the skin. As you go into your sixties you may find that the Continuous Cover Foundation is even better, maybe mixed with the LLBB if necessary.

Radiant Blush - cream blushers start to look insubstantial and disappear quickly into drier skin, so this cream to powder formulation is just right. Choose the lighter colour tones - Peach Cream or Rosy Glow as these will be sufficient to give that healthy glow.

Instant Bright Highlighter - you might love to use this as an under eye brightener to disguise tiredness. Use Cover to Cover Conceal if you have more noticeable circles under your eyes.

Highlighting and Contouring using Creamy Shadow Sticks and Bronzer - You may like the effect of creating light and shade on the face to give you more prominent cheek and brow bones and to slim the face and jaw. Try using our creamy shadow sticks on the top of the cheeks and under the brows and blend well. Bronzer will be a more subtle way to contour at the edges - just keep it really light and subtle.

Best LFF Eye products.

Eye Primer - use this to cover any pinkiness or other discolouration on the eyelids and also as a lovely creamy eyelid enhancer, obviating the need for a cream coloured eye shadow.

Creamy Shadow Sticks - perfect to create shaping, eye socket definition and more dramatic eye shadow effects, including sultry, smokey eyes.

Soft Eyeliners - I’d suggest steering clear of solid black eyeliners with cat-eye flicks at the end much beloved of twenty-somethings. Soft pencil eyeliners are a wonderful boon as your eyelids become less taut. Lining the top lid makes your eyelashes look thicker and, if you use a coloured one, they can add interest and glamour.

Mascara - LFF Lithe Lash Mascara is formulated to make lashes look thicker but in a more natural way, and as you age this effect becomes way more flattering.

Best LFF Lip Products

Lustrous Lipsticks and Gorgeous Gloss Lip Shine  - are both great choices to help lips to look full and well moisturised.  Also look out for our new lip oil which is going to be a brilliant addition to our range. Choose from warm, cool or neutral tones going from barely there to gloriously vibrant, depending on the look you are creating.

What makeup is most flattering from mid-sixties onwards?

By this point in your life as I was when I started Look Fabulous Forever, you will be fully aware that once firm favourites in your makeup bag are no longer as flattering as they once were. Makeup seems to disappear after a few hours and has all but gone by the evening.

Your face will be a lot paler now and this ‘fading’ will gather pace in your seventies and on into your eighties. Eyebrows, eyelashes, lips and cheeks are beginning to lose more and more colour, definition and visibility. Those fine lines on the forehead, cheeks and around the eyes and mouth are now more numerous and more noticeable as are the ‘marionette’ lines running down from mouth to a jawline that is less sharply sculpted.

Best LFF Face Products

The Face Prime will already be a firm favourite and you will now need a really good foundation like our Continuous Cover Foundation because it creates a lovely smooth, covering, unifying base without looking heavy.

Cover to Cover Conceal. Now an essential product because it continues the good work of covering blemishes, under eye discolouration, age spots and those pesky dark blue bits in the inner eye area. Top with Translucent Finishing Powder to ‘set’ it.

Instant Bright Highlighter now comes into its own to give a pop of brightness at the top of cheeks and on the brow bone, Instant, subtle dewiness which lights up the face.

Radiance Blush - perfect formulation for older skin to create a healthy glow. Maybe choose a slightly darker colour - I now prefer Desert Rose to Rosy Glow.

Best Eye Products

Bring Back Brow Shape. Restores both shape and definition to thinner, sparser brows. Perfect to create the illusion of any missing individual brow hairs. 

No Shimmer Eye Shades. Totally matte and easy to use with brushes to create wonderful shaping and colour to your older eyes. Always apply Eye Primer first to smooth out any crepiness, cover discolouration and keep any oiliness on the lids at bay.

Dark Eye Shadows in Chocolate, Midnight Blue and Charcoal applied with a wedge brush are the best way to create a soft, natural looking lashline, especially if, like me. Your eyelids are bumpier than they once were.

Best Lip Products. 

Never Feather Lip Prime. Now essential to stop lip colour from bleeding into those pesky lines around the mouth.

Add the Lip Balm to your makeup bag for extra moisturising along with you favourite Lustrous Lipstick colours.

And you may value the addition of a Defining Lip Liner (all over the lips) to add fullness and also to ‘hold’ lipstick for longer.

Anna has been a huge part of the LFF story from the time in 2014 when I obviously needed help because of the incredible response I had had to my new makeup range for older women. She’s now our group Managing Director and does an amazing job of overseeing everything that happens both at Look Fabulous Forever and our factory, Creative Cosmetics. She is also responsible for all our new product development, forever on the lookout for new ways to delight all of you, our customers.

And, now Anna has turned 50 and she is discovering just how perfectly many of our makeup products suit her older face. I am delighted to tell you that she will be making lots of great new videos for LFF in the coming months and years so that, like me, Sally and our ambassadors, she can show you all how to look and feel fabulous as the years roll by. Enjoy!

A huge thank you to everyone who is helping us in the ways that I suggested in my blog: https://www.lookfabulousforever.com/blog/lifestyle/how-do-i-love-thee-let-me-count-the-ways We’ve seen a real uptick in likes, comments and shares on our videos on Youtube and our posts on FB. Don’t forget to keep sending us your photos, watching our videos and recommending us to all your friends. You cannot believe the difference all of that makes to how well we do!

Tricia x

Watch Our Latest Video...