Busting Some Pro Age Makeup Myths

So let’s bust some common misconceptions about makeup

1. Primers do the same job as moisturisers.

Actually they do very different things for your face. Older skin is a bit like blotting paper, it’s super absorbent and you can't draw a straight line on it without the line blurring and going all fuzzy. That's why your makeup disappears, your lipstick becomes blurred around the edges and your eye makeup ends up looking messy. A really good serum and moisturiser applied to clean skin will help to increase hydration, but face, eye and lip primers will ensure that makeup looks smoother and stays put morning, noon and night.  Smooth Like Silk Face Prime, Smooth Out Eye Prime and Never Feather Lip Prime are top sellers for us because they work so brilliantly on top of moisturiser to ‘hold’ your makeup where it needs to be.

2. If I wear foundation it will look as though I am wearing a mask.

Well that depends on the foundation! A comment I get a lot when I have applied our Continuous Cover Foundation is ‘I can’t feel it on my skin’, because it’s so light and comfortable to wear. I really do think that (the right) foundation can help older skin to look much nicer, but if you remain unconvinced then do take a look at our Light Look Beauty Balm which may be a good compromise if you want to unify your skin tone.

3. Highlighters work as a good under-eye concealer.

A product like YSL Touche Eclat is often used by younger women to brighten their faces when used around their eyes  on the morning after the night before. Touche Eclat actually translates as ‘touch of brilliance’ and that’s exactly what our Instant Bright Highlighter is! But it's hopeless as an under eye concealer when you are older because it draws attention to a problem area rather than disguising it. Best to use a rich creamy concealer like our Cover to Cover Conceal to properly conceal any under eye discolouration.

4. However  it’s true that highlighters are brilliant to add a touch of luminescence to the face (see my video).

Used correctly highlighters bring the whole face to life and make your eye makeup look loads better. So, apply it in an arc on top of the cheek and brow bones to make them look more prominent and catch the light. Our Instant Bright Highlight is a magic way to add shape and create a dewier and prettier finished effect. It also makes your eye makeup really 'pop'.

5. Blusher goes onto the apples of the cheeks.

This is a commonly held belief which may work on a younger face. However with age the ‘apples of the cheeks’ tend to drop, so you need to locate your actual cheekbones (higher up than the apples) and place the blusher on the top part of the bone you can feel. Start directly under the centre of your eye and then pat the blusher in the shape of a crescent ending at the hairline opposite the corner of your eye (see video). If you use a powder blush it will tend to sit in any creases on your face, so a cream to powder formulation like our Real Radiance Blush will look a lot prettier and can then be blended with a brush. 

6. Eyebrow pencils are the best way to make my eyebrows look better.

 I was always concerned when I saw pencilled eyebrows that they looked very unrealistic. This was born home to me when my lovely sister-in-law lost her eyebrows due to a thyroid problem. She resorted to pencil but wasn’t very happy with the effect. I devised our ingenious Bring Back Brow Shape just for her! I wanted to allow women with very faded or non-existent brows to create something that actually looks like real individual hairs so that their eyebrows would look as natural as possible. I used it on about 4 or 5 different brows at the demonstration the other day and they all looked so much better than the pencil that the women had been wearing.

7. I need a heavy duty foundation to cover my rosacea.

If you have red patches or tiny thread veins on your face, you may feel tempted to put a thick covering of foundation on to camouflage it as much as possible. In fact redness can be cooled down and improved with a green Colour Balance Neutraliser smoothed over the area and allowed to absorb. Top with Continuous Cover Foundation and the discoloration should have completely disappeared. Under-eye discoloration can be corrected first with a peach-coloured Colour Balance Neutraliser to counteract the blueness. Pat the neutraliser under the eye and when dry, dab on a layer of Cover to Cover Conceal and set with a small amount of translucent powder.

8. Black eyeliners are the only way to make eyelashes look thicker.

Young eyes look fabulous with a perfect black line drawn around the eyes. When I try to do that on my dry crepey eyelids it quickly looks more witch than bewitching! But I still want my eyelashes to look thicker with a nice line drawn above them. So what to do? The easiest solution is to take a fine wedge brush and a matte eyeshadow (I am currently using our No Shimmer Eye Shade in Midnight Blue but Charcoal, Chocolate, Forrest or Aubergine would also work well) and push the shadow into the base of the lashes. You can use a Q tip to slightly soften the effect. If you have applied an eye primer this will stay put for hours.

9. Lip liners are the best way to get a sharp edge with lipstick.

I’ve never been keen on lip liners for myself because I’ve never found them effective at controlling the ‘bleeding’ of my lip colour into the tiny lines around my mouth. So I prefer (just once a day) to apply Never Feather Lip Prime to the very edges of my lips and then apply my lipstick with our Number 5 lip brush. I don’t re-apply the primer because it’s not necessary, I just ‘touch up’ my lipstick as and when needed.

I do hope that hasn’t shattered too many of your illusions!

Our whole range has been formulated to my specifications because I knew exactly how I wanted each one of them to perform. If they didn’t work so brilliantly we wouldn’t have so many devoted ‘fans’ of our brand. I also see my role as an educational one (if that doesn’t sound too grandiose). There are loads of misconceptions out there, so I just want to make sure that you know as much as I do about tried and tested ways to enhance an older face.

This week we have a fantastic offer on our three top selling Primers for the face, eyes and lips. Our Primer Collection of all 3 products is usually discounted from £62 to £55 but we are offering it for just one week at £50, which represents a 20% reduction. Use code PRIMERSET at checkout.