Have You Finally Reached The Age Where Makeup Makes You Look Older? We Can Fix That. Try These 7 Tricks.
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by The Candidly Team
You’re not going crazy. The same makeup techniques you’ve been using for years (decades) are starting to fail you. It’s not your fault, and it’s certainly not just something you have to “embrace because you’re getting older.”
We can still have a grand old time with makeup without making ourselves look like a grand old dame.
It’s just a matter of learning a few new tricks. And even though your skin has more texture, pores, lines etc., etc., what makes us look better and younger is actually using less of the makeup we normally do.
The formulas should be thinner, sheerer, more tinted than opaque. Thick, heavy, long-lasting formulas make us look even more wrinkled and textured than we are. So what do we do instead?
These 7 things. None are intimidating. All are doable at every skill level. And here’s exactly what they are.
1. The Skincare
Nothing nothing nothing ages us faster than neglecting our skin. Nothing. If you are over 35 you need to be using spf daily, vitamin C daily, an emollient moisturizer (and this oil if you’re extra dry) and exfoliants once a week. These are the non-negotiable elements of your skin care regimen. Non. Negotiable. They all address aging concerns and no matter what else you put on your face, if you’re not doing this, nothing else matters.
2. The Bags
If you have eye bags, don’t spend another dollar on eye cream. Nothing will help, except of course a lower bleph, but we’re too scared. Use this instant bag remover product* and then put a tiny bit of your moisturizer over it so it doesn’t flake. Close to a miracle.
BEFORE AND AFTER
3. The Lids
As a rule don’t use eyeshadow. Almost no shadow looks great on crepey lids. Use this eye lifter* instead—pic for proof.
BEFORE AND AFTER
4. The Liner
Never ever ever ever wear a harsh line under your eyes. Literally never. Try a very thin, waterproof liner for the roots of your upper lashes—your eyes will look brighter and your face won’t be dragged down. Non negotiable.
BEFORE AND AFTER
5. The Lashes
If your eyes feel bare because we’ve banished eyeshadow and lower liner, make up for it with lashings and lashings of a gorgeous mascara that makes your lashes huge and fluttery. This one blows our collective minds. And it never ever flakes or runs. Ever.
5. The Powder
Powder is a Gen X gal’s worst nightmare—it hangs on every wrinkle, and sometimes shows skin texture we didn’t even know we had. Except for this one*. It’s literally the only powder we’ve ever used in our lives that doesn’t look cakey or powdery. This before and after is only with some spf and the powder. That’s it.
BEFORE AND AFTER
6. The Lips
Nothing makes us all look and feel more ancient than the wrong lip color. We feel strongly that a “your lips but better” situation is youthy and pretty. But finding the right combo that isn’t too dry or too orange or too pink is a living nightmare. But after trying no fewer than 100 glosses and lip liners in 2025, we found the ultimate, nude-not-pale dream combo. Great staying powder, never feathers into lip lines, honestly makes our lips look like we injected them full of filler—we didn’t.
BEFORE AND AFTER
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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