With Look Fabulous Forever makeup you don’t have to concern yourself with the formulations. We know how to create products that are perfect for an older face.

Safe in that knowledge, you can now turn your attention to the moment when the power of the makeup is released as you use your fingers or a brush to put the beautiful slap on your face. Since I launched LFF eight years ago, my mission has been to show as visually as possible how you can  become your own professional makeup artist. We’ve used video for this, a perfect medium to teach people the necessary skills. Just by watching a few videos you will soon get the hang of even the trickiest procedure and we know from feedback that many of you have become much more adept thanks to our step-by-step instructions. 

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This week in our Magic Makeup session, Sally and I decided to have some fun by showing you how a pretty face like Sally’s can look very different if each product is applied inappropriately. Most of the makeup Sally used was LFF, but she did use a few products that we don’t sell because we know that they work less well on an older face. If you hold a piece of paper over one side of Sally’s face in the photo above, you can see the amazing contrast between the two effects.

Not So Fabulous

Not So Fabulous

Face

The mistakes that Sally made with her face were to do with colour and intensity. Firstly she applied a darker than normal foundation and failed to blend it at the jawline, creating a face that floated above a much lighter neck. She then applied a too light concealer under her eyes which created that ‘panda’ effect which was exacerbated by the very prominent white/shimmery highlighter on the top of her cheeks (not a product sold by LFF). Sally is warm toned, so she usually wears our Peach Cream Blusher, but this time she applied Rosy Glow and positioned it on the apples of her cheeks, which is actually too low down. To cap it all off she failed to blend the cheek colour, so it looked rather ‘doll-like’.

not-so-fabulous

Eyes

I think we can all agree that this was the most dramatic difference! Sally has lovely big almond shaped eyes but has managed to make them look smaller and more hooded by using light shiny shadows above the socket line and much darker ones on her lid and lash line. Sally used an eyeliner pencil to draw a dark line around her eyes, starting from the inner to the outer edge both top and bottom. She then used a non LFF volumising mascara to clog up her lashes and a very bright white highlighter on her brow bone. The overall effect is unsubtle and somewhat heavy on Sally’s delicately pretty face.

Eyebrows

Eyebrows have been a fashion statement for some time. The fashionable look is for a darker and heavier brow with great definition at the edges. However, as Sally shows, on an older face this is fraught with danger. Using a (non LFF) eyebrow pencil, Sally created a slightly orangey-brown thicker, darker brow which she drew slightly too long at either end. The effect was to unbalance her eyes and her whole face.

Lips

A combination of the wrong colour lipstick for Sally’s warm tones, matched with a darker lip liner just applied around the mouth. You can just imagine what this will look like after a few hours when the lip colour has worn off, but the darker red lip liner is still securely in place!

Absolutely Fabulous

Absolutely Fabulous

Now have a good look at the photograph of Sally wearing her usual makeup. The overall impression is that you notice her lovely face, rather than the makeup. Everything is working together - face, eye and lip makeup to add colour, definition and interest whilst not overwhelming any of her features.

So how to do that?

Face

Choose a colour for your foundation which matches the skin at the jawline. It should not be darker than is natural for you nor lighter. Use appropriately applied blusher or bronzer if you want to help your face to look brighter and healthier rather than a darker foundation used to counteract any winter pallor. Place blusher as Sally has done higher on the cheek bones and sweep up towards the hairline and level with your eye. If you are not sure which colour to choose, I’d go for the Peach Cream as this has enough pink in it to flatter everyone. Make sure that your concealer matches your skin tone to get away from that ‘panda effect’. And avoid a very light shimmery highlighter on the tops of cheeks. Our Instant Bright Highlighter gives a perfect and subtle sheen which adds a lovely flattering dewiness to the face.

absolutely-fabulous

Eyes

My best advice here is to watch one of our very many excellent eye makeup videos from which you will soon learn all the fantastic techniques to help eyes look bigger and more beautiful. A rule of thumb is to use light colours to make an area more prominent (eyelids and brow bones) and darker colours to shape and define (socket and lash lines).

LFF matte rather than shimmery eyeshadows look wonderful on an older eye and, blended well, they make all the difference, but in a pretty and subtle way. You can have fun and experiment with colours and choose those which compliment an outfit, your eye colour or because you love them! My all time favourite eyeshadow colours are Pewter Grey and Bluebell. I know that Sally loves Rose Gold and Taupe for her warm tones.

absolutely-fabulous

Eyebrows

The watchwords for me are weight and balance. If the brows are too ‘heavy’ and dark that’s all someone will see, so make sure that the brows don’t dominate your face. We have introduced both blonde and grey for our brilliant Bring Back Brow Shape so that those of you with sparse and faded brows can add a nice subtle colour which will look soft and pretty. As to balance, this is all about symmetry. Make sure that your brows are the right length at either end. Not too close together or too long and droopy at the outer edge. The space between should be the same as the width of the base of your nose. And brows should taper to a point level with a line running from the base of your nose to the outer edge of your eye.

Lips

Personally I’m not keen on lip liners and prefer to use our Never Feather Lip Primer at the edges and then apply my Long Lasting Lipstick to ‘bare’ lips. However if you like lip liners, then do as makeup artists do, and apply a neutral lip-coloured one to the entire lip to form a base. This can help to ‘hold’ your lipstick and make it last longer. Sally also likes to dot a little lip gloss onto the centre of her mouth to help her top lip to look fuller.

I have loved applying my ‘face’ practically every day since I was about sixteen years old. The pots, potions, colours and consistencies may have changed and become more sophisticated over the past sixty years, but the intention for my makeup remains the same. The potential remains in those pots until I sit in front of my mirror to unleash the possibilities contained therein. This is a daily pleasure and a daily miracle. For sixty years my makeup ritual has allowed me to create the best version of me. Maybe you aren’t quite so confident as I am, but be assured that here at Look Fabulous Forever we have a huge amount of information and support to show you how to get the very best results with your makeup every time.

You can catch up on this week's Makeup Magic Session, 'The Importance of Well-Placed Makeup', below:

Tricia x 

Note to Film Club Members: due to the Bank Holiday on Good Friday, we will not be hosting a Film Club on Friday 15th April. We will postpone the film 'The Piano' to Friday 29th April

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Upcoming Event Information:

Tuesday 26th April

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Teatime with Tricia - Appeal for Ukrainian Children with Gill Blundell

Chernobyl Children's Lifeline provides direct support to children affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The charity has close connections with families and children in the war torn areas in Ukraine and is working with local contacts to provide much needed medical supplies, transport, food and water.

You can donate to the charity here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ccllukrainesupertroupers 

Day:  Tuesday 26th April

Time: 4pm 

Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83329270521?pwd=b3VJM0FxWnBQQ1VBQitjTmtmcitmdz09 

Meeting ID (if needed): 833 2927 0521

Password (if needed): LOOKFAB

Friday 29th April

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Film Club - The Piano (1993)

Available on Netflix

Watch the film before and join us for a discussion!

Day:  Friday 29th April

Time: 4pm 

Link:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86109288705?pwd=TUgzQW5IK0VnUGI2MGdtb0FQN3hxZz09

Meeting ID (if needed): 861 0928 8705

Password (if needed): LOOKFAB