Question: Do you know what the most ageing part of our faces is? Go on, take a guess!
No, not the eyes. Not the forehead, either.
Surprising, right?
While the upper section of the face tends to get a whole load of attention, the ageing process is actually most apparent in the lower part of our faces. Meaning? We cop it all around the lips and the lower third of our face.
And while it's a normal thing that happens to (literally) all of us, it can make lipstick very tricky.
Your lips are thinner. They might be drier, with more lines getting around, and way more room for error.
The good news? There are some really easy tweaks you can make.
In part three of this series, Mia Freedman sits down with renowned makeup artist Rae Morris for a masterclass in makeup for mature skin.
Exclusive to Mamamia subscribers, Rae teaches us how to perfect your lipstick application (plus, what to avoid), along with a few sneaky tips on why you shouldn't use a face powder.
So, grab your favourite lip colour and let's get into it.
1. Assess your lips.
As we get older, our mouths tend to droop down at the corners - and more often than not, this means that wearing lipstick can age our faces even more.
While this is a completely natural part of ageing, if it's something that's bothering you, there are some small changes you can make - starting with the placement of your lip product.
Rae suggests stepping in front of a mirror and having a proper look at your lips, and figuring out what you want to highlight with lipstick - as well as what you want to leave out.
As she tells Mia, "You want to keep your lips closed when you're looking into the mirror to assess your lips."
"Now, most of us, when we close, have these creases that continue out past your lip."
The golden rule is to keep your lipstick away from these outer creases - because this will only drag the corner of your mouth down.
If you want to give yourself a guide, Rae suggests simply using your pinkie fingers to cover the outer corners of your lips.
Image: Mamamia
From here, she said you'll be able to see where your lips look the most youthful. "That's where you should stop your lipstick," said Rae.
Are you doing it? Mind blowing, right?
2. Pinch and push.
Now for the fun part - the actual application.
If you want to make your lips appear plump and juicy (read: all of us), according to Rae, there's one main rule you need to follow here.
"The only thing I want you to do with your lips - is pinch and push," she tells Mia.
Image: Mamamia
Basically, this means that when you're applying your lipstick you should focus on exaggerating the appearance of your lips in the middle area.
Following?
Image: Mamamia
Here's a couple of examples that Rae showed Mia (on makeup queen Chloe Morello, no less!):
Image: Mamamia
Image: Mamamia
The difference is pretty amazing, right?
"It's something the Koreans and the Japanese do beautifully," said Rae.
The result: plump, youthful-looking lips.
3. Test lipstick colours on your fingertip.
When you're looking for the right shade of lipstick, you usually just swatch it on the back of your hand, yeah? Because same.
But, according to Rae, this is wrong.
"A great way to test lipstick, is always test it on your fingertip - not the back of your hands."
Image: Mamamia
Yes, your fingertip!
"I always see people do this [on the back of their hand] - especially when they get like a warm brick orange and they go, 'Oh, that's really bright!'"
"And then whenever you put it on your lip, it never looks like that. Because your lip has a blue/red undertone," said Rae.
Turns out the tips of your fingers are closer to your natural lip colour than the back of your hand. Who knew?
4. One swipe of lipstick is enough.
If you're anything like us, you'll usually swipe on a few layers of lipstick to really make the colour pop - but according to Rae, we should generally avoid applying more than one layer.
Oops.
As Rae tells Mia, coating your lips in layers of lipstick isn't always necessary - and it can actually have the opposite effect, ageing the area.
"I would always say one swipe should be enough," she told Mia. "Because if you've got to put more than six layers to get the colour on your mouth, too much on the mouth goes south."
As Rae goes on to say, if you're applying too many layers you'll find that your lipstick tends to bleed out around the edges of your lips and into fine lines.
Not a good time.
So, stick with one swipe!
5. Bonus tip: Choose to mattify over powder.
Because we can NEVER have enough tips from the makeup wizard that is Rae Morris, she left Mia with this final and very important golden nugget that we all need to hear.
When it comes to your complexion, she tells Mia, "shine is great," adding that people tend to over-use their face powder in order to make everything look matt and sheen-free.
Instead of reaching for powder, Rae suggests using a mattifier, as it will "last two to three times longer than powder".
Looking for a good option? Try Rae Morris' Invisible Mattifier, $80.
She tells Mia to only use a mattifier on specific areas where there's excess sheen - so, don't go willy-nilly with it. You want to ensure you still keep a bit of that healthy shine so your skin still looks like skin.
She says to just take the sheen away from specific areas, and even leave it on oily eyelids, "so you can still have the glow."
Note taken.
So, what's the go with powders? Why are they a no-no for mature skin?
Well, it comes down to a few different reasons.
"The thing with powder is that when you sweat - being menopausal - most powders change colour. You know when you put your makeup on and there is no line, but three hours later there's a line?"
"Take that powder you're using right now and put a drop of oil and a drop of water in it and look at what colour it goes. Sometimes it goes four colours darker."
"So, it's fine - but when you sweat and get oily and wet that product, it's dark. And again - powder causes problems. It gets in the creases, it gets into the hairline."
Not ideal.
Lastly, Rae said "The only time I use loose powder is if I'm doing my powdered eyeshadow to take the stickiness out."
Powder, sweetie - you're officially on the bench.
Wanna check out the video? Head here. Haven't watched the first or second one? Catch up here and here.
Want to read all the great tips Rae Morris shared with Mia instead? We've got you - check out the previous articles here:
- Makeup artist Rae Morris gave Mia Freedman these 9 makeup tips for mature skin.
- 8 eye makeup rules to know after 40, according to celebrity makeup artist Rae Morris.
If you're keen to know about the 8 easy makeup changes Mia has made in her 40s, you can read about that here, or take a peek at the two serums Mia Freedman uses every day.
Feature image: Mamamia.
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