by Audie Metcalf

Part of me loathes the idea of writing specific articles “for our age” because that concept is so laden with old, dusty dogma and outdated ideals around beauty, as if the moment we all hit 40, we all suddenly have to subscribe to some ludicrous constraints about what we can and can’t put on our faces.

On the other hand, once I hit 40, it was like I suddenly experienced all these ludicrous constraints about what I could and couldn’t put on my face.

I think the key distinction here is that all these articles, all these bits of advice we read, including the one you’re reading right now, shouldn’t navigate us back to when we were 28. We don’t have to be 28 to be beautiful, and to feel beautiful. And if you’re actually 28 right now, you probably don’t even feel, in real time, what 40 year olds feel when they think back to that time.

Aka: none of us ever feel like we’re good enough or pretty enough. No matter what age we are.

So let us make this our new goal: no more comparative bullshit. Our face is our face, and let’s make it look as not-sleepy as humanly possible, with the brightest eyes, the dewiest skin, and when it comes to texture and wrinkles and pores, they can fuck right off as reasons we think less of ourselves. Worrying about them has taken up like half my life. Today I say no more. Won’t you join me?

Here’s a few tips that I have relied on daily, in my new, post-40 routine:

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1. Don’t use a ton of concealer, if any.

I know your head just exploded. But stay with me. Too much concealer post 40 is the devil himself. If/when you use it, try using it only on that dark, purplish vein, right next to your tear ducts. This brightens your eyes and you won’t have to think about any creasing or smearing throughout the day. And frankly, that dark area is usually where a lot of our sadness about our eyes comes from. Remember that concealer will NOT cover wrinkles, and in fact, usually exacerbates fine lines. If you have eye bags or puffs of any kind, concealer will actually make them look worse, so go easy.

Here’s what we recommend doing instead:

2. Focus on skin.

When my skin is jacked, there’s no amount of makeup that can fix it. In fact, the older I get and the more I pile on the makeup, the worse everything looks. Sticking to a solid skincare routine that works for me is revelatory when putting on makeup. You don’t need 90 steps. You need a handful of steps that you adhere to religiously. Daily. This MUST include exfoliation or you can buy a $900 foundation and it won’t do a goddamn thing.

Pro tip: Take your makeup off and fully do your skincare routine straight away when you walk in the door. When it’s 11pm and you’ve been “totally awake!” but in reality just snore-drooling your way through Cheer and weeping over Jerry’s earnestness, attempting your multi-step skincare regimen is like imagining going to the moon. When you get it done the moment you get home, it’s just a task that’s checked off the list, right after tearing off your bra as if it contains Silkwood chemicals.

3. Create an Eye Halo.

I think most of us don’t really know how to do our makeup. Makeup is hard. They make it hard. They try to crush us with options and we want to give up. Yes, they. Plus it’s nearly impossible to be objective about our own faces. So here’s a universal tip that works for everyone and that looks super pro, almost no matter what.

Using a blender brush, dip into your bronzer and swirl and blend out vigorously in your crease, and then carry the pigment down below onto your lower lash line, all the way towards your inner eye, keeping it very hazy, blurry soft. This creates a lovely wash of color surrounding your entire eye, and gives you just a bit of shadow for some depth. This works universally on almost every eye shape, and it means you don’t have to mess around with eyeliner, which can be the seventh circle of hell for many of us. Finish things off with an absurd amount of this mascara which will. not. flake.

Here are the exact products to use:

4. Tightline.

For anyone with hooded eyes, if you’re sick of doing your full blown eyeliner and then having it all literally disappear once you open your eyes, you must try this trick.

Press lightly on your eyelid with your finger, and approach your lashes from underneath the lash, and draw your liner (pencil, gel, whatever, but waterproof is best) into the actual root of the lash, and not above the lash line. This gives your entire eye a big, open, rested look, and your liner is utterly imperceptible.

5. Gloss > Lipstick.

As we all march slowly towards death, our lips, how shall i say? Ah yes: shrivel into oblivion. And some matte, defined lip, complete with full-blown liner, usually accentuates everything we hate about our aging lips. Try a finger-dabbed stain with a luscious gloss on top, for the glassiest, fattiest lips of your natural born life.

These aren’t rules. Just little avenues and roads to discover the best parts of ourselves and our beauty. Not to “look great for our age.” Just to, you know, look great.

At The Candidly, we try a lot of stuff so you don’t have to. We only recommend things we truly love, and that we think you’ll love, too. All products are chosen independently by our creative team, and all details reflect the price and availability of products at the time of publication. If you buy something we link to, The Candidly may earn a commission.
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