Joan or Pauline (Collins)? Eye Makeup for Older Women

There was even a red carpet to walk down the short side street outside the Curzon Cinema in Mayfair where the film was showing, which might have felt fun and glamorous if a (minor) celeb of a certain age hadn't elbowed us out of the way! Clearly in the pecking order of importance Caroline and I were (quite literally) at the back of the queue! Anyway we eventually made it inside the cinema through the seething crowd (we spotted Valentino, Ralph Lauren, Esther Rantzen, John Alderton and Lesley Joseph) and found ourselves in the front row. So we had a worm's eye view of the film and also of the stars who came up on stage at the start. 

We were so near that we had a great close-up of Joan and Pauline and also the lovely Franco Nero, the male lead and object of desire for the two leading ladies.

In a nice twist the rather homely and dowdy character played by Pauline Collins wins Franco's heart* rather than the heavily made-up and be-wigged Joan Collins character who, in an act of defiance of her diva status, removes both her glossy lipstick and wig at the end of the story and throws the latter into the sea. So which should we aspire to emulate when we look at two actresses who are ageing in very different ways? Joan Collins looks amazing at 83 and carried off her heavy makeup, glossy long dark wig and sparkly high-heeled shoes with great aplomb. She looked every inch the film star from a time when female stars were expected to ooze sex and glamour. Pauline Collins at 76 looked like everyone's idea of an attractive, warm, friendly and approachable older woman. I know that if I tried to emulate Joan's look (especially the eye makeup) I would look less Dame Joan and more pantomime dame! Whereas Pauline's pretty subtle look is much easier to achieve. Here's how:

Top Tips: Eye Makeup for Older Eyes

• Start by appraising the shape of your eyes in a good mirror. Eye makeup can reshape the eye very successfully. For instance, my eyes are now quite round (see left) so I try to make them more almond shape.
• If your eyes are hooded then watch the video below for hints and tips. Again eye shadows can create the illusion of a socket line where none exists.
• Always apply an eye primer. Our fabulous Smooth Out Eye Prime is flesh coloured to cover any discolouration and helps to stop your eye makeup going 'walkabout' and looking messy or disappearing after a coupled of hours.
• Tame and shape your eyebrows. Older eyebrows I see are often bushy and wiry or thin and faded. Both can be improved with tweezers (or get them professionally threaded) and our Bring Back Brow Shape will define them so that they frame your eyes beautifully. See the video below of me doing my brows.
• Start with a pale shadow on the lids. We have some beautiful No Shimmer Eye Shades to complement skin tone and eye colour. Try Soft Grey, Cream, Cappuccino or Soft Olive and then team with a darker shade in the socket line like Taupe, Cocoa, Forrest or Aubergine. Take these colours out at the side to make eyes look bigger and blend, blend blend with a clean Shadow Blending Brush 7.
• Use our Sheer Brilliance Lid Colour in Silver Mist, Golden Mist or Soft Moss as an alternative to shadow on the lid or as a 'pop' of brightness in the inner third of the eyelid. See how this is done in the video below.
• Create a darker line at the lashes (both upper and lower lash line) with a Wedge Brush 8 and one of the darker shadow. Joan obviously uses lashings of kohl to rim her eyes with black to create a dramatic effect. This is a very difficult look to pull off successfully, so I'd go for the Pauline effect of a much softer line using eye shadow pushed into the base of the lashes. Watch the video of me below creating a lash line using eye shadow.
• Always finish with a coat or two of mascara on the top and bottom lashes. Our Lithe Lash Mascara is designed to thicken and add definition without making lashes look too spidery.
• And finally be brave and experiment! I play around with my own eye makeup all the time and change colours according to what I am wearing and my overall mood. It also depends on time available. For a quick fix I will just apply the Eye Prime and Brow Shape and then put Taupe in an arc of colour on my lids and just above, blending well before I add a touch of mascara. For evenings I will create some drama with a smudgy dark line of Charcoal Shade at the lash line and flicked up at the edges

Eye Makeup Video Tutorials

We have lots of complete eye makeup videos to show the way it's done so don't be intimidated! We can't all look like film star Joan, but we can look very similar to Pauline in order to show everyone that we are having 'The Time of Our Lives!'

*This is not a spoiler for the film. This is a road movie not a love story, so if you decide to see the film this insight will not ruin it for you at all!