Before we get right to it- I’m on MeWe now! If you’re there I’d love for you to follow my page! It’s only about a thousand times better than Facebook, lol. Ok……back to the topic of this post.

I get asked a lot about makeup application on our aging skin. In fact my most viewed post ever was all about makeup for hooded eyes. So, I’ve written a step by step tutorial about makeup for our mature eyes.

Welcome to my bathroom and I hope that this is helpful!

You can scroll to the bottom for the links to my favorite products for mature eyes.

If we copy the looks on YouTube demonstrated by cute young girls with taut skin and no eye bags, most of us will end up looking like some sort of bad Facebook meme. Makeup for our mature eyes needs a much different approach because of the specific difficulties presented with aging eyes. At 49 I often feel like my eyes look tired even when I’m not so a lot of my goal and focus with eye makeup is just to look more awake and brightened.

This post contains affiliate links. If you decide to purchase through these links, I may receive a small commission, at no charge to you- so thank you so much!

Here are some tips to help you get a brightened up, everyday look. There are no rules here. Don’t be afraid to play around with your eye makeup, no matter what your age. I’m not a makeup artist, but I AM a makeup junkie and have been since I was oh…I dunno…about 3 years old. Makeup is fun! It’s meant to enhance your natural beauty and self-expression, so dive right in!

If you want to purchase a good set of affordable brushes and one neutral makeup palette that will work on anyone, then I can recommend this affordable brush set by Luxie and this neutral eye shadow palette by Two Faced. These will accomplish the look I’m demonstrating here and will give you the confidence to perfect this every day, “go-to” look for yourself.

Pro Tip: A few eye drops can brighten the whites of your eyes before you begin.

Prime your lids

We’ve all seen (or experienced) the dreaded “creased” shadow on a mature eye lid. To prevent this, a quick swipe of eyelid primer on each eye will absolutely do the trick to keep your shadow in place as well as to give you a nice matte color, concealing any lid discoloration you may have. You only need a tiny amount so whatever you purchase will last you a long time.

I highly recommend Two Faced Shadow Insurance Eyelid Primer. It’s $20, it does what it says and one tube lasts forever.

Light Matte Shade

Using a soft flat brush like, sweep a light matte shade from the lash line to above the crease on your eye. Covering from the inside corner to the outside corner. (For example, the color “Heaven” in the above palette.)

Medium Shade to Make a Crease

Using a crease brush, use a medium matte shade (“Strip Poker” in the Two Faced Palette). Look straight ahead into the mirror. Sweep this medium shade right onto the fleshy, hooded area that you see when looking straight ahead. Note that this isn’t your ACTUAL eyelid crease, but above it. This creates an illusion, with the darker shade pushing back the appearance of the hood and opening up the eyes more. Sweep this shade from more than the halfway point (almost to inner corner but not quite) of the lid to the outer corner. Take a clean, soft, fluffy blending brush and go back over this blending this color upward for a soft look.

Darken The Actual Crease

With a small angled or precision brush, use a slightly darker shade (“Cashmere Bunny” in the Palette above) and lightly sweep this color into the ACTUAL crease of your eyelid , out to the corner and then pull down at an angle toward the lash line, forming a > . Take your clean, soft, fluffy brush again and blend this again to soften the look.

The very best image that I could find showing this technique is here.

Angie at Hot n’ Flashy has a really good video tutorial here.

Brighten the Lid

To make the actual lid space “pop” a little more, use a bright, light shimmery shade and with your finger, swipe it onto the center of the lid toward the inner corner. The difference is amazing. For instance, if you’re using the Two-faced palette , the color “Silk Teddy” will work great to brighten the lid area.

Highlight the Brow Bone

Still opening the eye up even further, take a very light shimmery color and with a tiny angled brush, place the color just barely below the arch brow in a teeny tiny stroke. You just want the area to catch a little light. I like to use the color “Silk Teddy” for this.

The brows themselves require a whole seperate post and mine need help! I am currently researching alllllllll…. the options for mature women, so stay tuned. But for this post, suffice it to say that sweeping the brows with a browgel to hold them in place and make them look well groomed will do.

Eyeliner

If you’re over 45 and still using black liner around your entire eye, it’s probably time to re-evaluate that relationship. Black can look really harsh and age our eyes even more, so be sure that you are keeping a light hand and maybe look for softer colors like grey or brown. I adore this eyeliner in brownbecause it has a very fine tip that isn’t too “bendy” and it stays where I put it all day.

I find it looks best on hooded lids, to just line the outer corners. If you want to you can sweep a soft color on the lower lash line if you like that look, but for me personally “less is more” when it comes to lining my lids.

Lashes

For everyday makeup on mature lashes I recommend giving them a curl with a lash curler and then sweeping on a good mascara. My favorite at the moment is from Thrive Causmetics. One of my readers told me about this company and I really really love this mascara. It goes on well, defining my sparse lashes, doesn’t need more than one coat and stays put all day long. If you’d like to use My Link, you’ll get $10 off your first order, which makes this mascara a steal at $14.

This look takes me about 5 minutes. If you’re new to this, it may take a little longer as you figure out which shades look the best with your eyes and getting the placement just right to really brighten and open up your eyes, But if you LIKE to wear eye makeup, then by all means, play around with this- you will be AMAZED at just how much more “awake”, brightened and youthful you can look just with a few well placed eyeshadow shades!

All My Every Day Favorites:

Lid Primer: Two Faced Shadow Insurance $20

Eye Shadow Palettes: Two Faced Natural Eyes $38, Bobbi Brown Haute Nudes Palette $59, MAC Risk Taker (on sale less than $25 +gift)

Makeup Brush Set- Luxie Eye brush Set($21 + gift) ,Metal Rose 11 Piece set with makeup bag $17.50

Eyeliner- Loreal Paris Infallible liquid liner $6.99,Stila All Day Liquid Eyeliner $22

Mascara- Thrive Causmetics Liquid Lash Extensions only $14 with this link.

I hope that you found this helpful! If you did, would you consider pinning this post to Pinterest?

You may also be interested in this post about makeup brushes for every day use.

Or these previous posts about the best eye cream and everyday makeup for hooded eyes.

As always, thanks so much for reading, commenting and sharing!

Check out my Amazon Prime Favs here.