After more than 25 years as an editor experimenting with countless makeup products, techniques, and application methods, I’ve narrowed it all down to five simple, game-changing tips. These tricks ensure your makeup does what it’s meant to—enhance your best features and give you that fresh, radiant look. Keep scrolling for my top five tips and favorite clean beauty picks!
Read moreWho What Wear Feature: 5 Quick Makeup Hacks that Help You Instantly Look 10 Years Younger
My latest beauty article for Who What Wear, 5 Quick Make-up Hacks that Help You Instantly Look 10 Years Younger, highlights the five products I use daily to camouflage the reflections of time that can show up on our faces as we get older. Read on to see which makeup basics you’ll want to add to your routine ASAP to help you age beautifully!
I’ve made a commitment to continue looking and feeling my best as I get older, so I’m always on the hunt for products that can help me sustain this as a realistic goal. Many people ask me for tips on how to age gracefully or turn back the clock. I have lots of secrets in my bag to help you go back in time and erase 10 years from your face, including these five great makeup hacks below!
1. Blurred Lines
Use a Blur Primer
A good primer is a necessity when it comes to helping your makeup go on smoothly and stay put, but not all primers are created equal. To instantly give your face a younger look, invest in a good blur primer that can actually soften the appearance of wrinkles. Farsali makes a great clean beauty primer called Skintune Blur Perfecting Primer Serum. It is one of the best for achieving that soft-focus finish. I also like Line BlurFector Instant Wrinkle Blurring Primer by StriVectin for its magical optical illusion ability.
2. Wow Brows
Fill in Your Brows
Thick brows are a sign of youth. But, as we age our brows tend to thin out, so having a good brow filler in your makeup bag is a must. Ere Perez makes a great pencil to fill in those gaps that can come with age, and they also have a great gel to help groom them naturally. Their Aloe Gel Lash and Brow Mascara is one of the best in clean beauty, and it’s sweat-proof and water-resistant. I also like the Brilliant Brow Gel by BeautyCounter. It comes in different tints in case you also need a bit of a color lift and has a buildable formula to give the appearance of thicker brows. Luna Nectar’s Moon Boost Lash and Brow Serum is a newer brand that I discovered through the Indie Beauty Expo, and it’s featured in my onTuwi Boutique. I’ve been using it for around a month now and I notice tons of new growth in my eyebrows!
3. Get Glowy
Wear Highlighter
A highlighter can add definition and give skin a radiant, youthful glow. Concentrate on applying it to the brow bones, cheekbones and bridge of the nose to glow in all the right places. Ilia Liquid Light serum highlighter is amazing. Its gel-based formula gives my skin a perfect dewy finish. I also use Gucci Westman’s Westman Atelier super-loaded tinted highlighter and Au Natural’s Highlighter Stick. It’s super flattering to my complexion and also has properties to help encourage collagen production. A great drug store option is by CoverGirl. They just launched a clean beauty line, and their Clean Fresh Glow Stick is super portable and has a light shimmery finish. For an all-around glow, it’s also worth checking out the newest clean beauty product from Saie, Glowy Super Gel. It comes in a universal shade and is great when worn alone for a fresh natural glow, or under foundation. For a powder highlighter, I like PYT Upgrade Highlighter. It’s satiny, smooth and buildable for a sun-kissed glow.
For a dewy way to highlight your skin, try using the Olie x Melissa Meyers Golden Ray Drops dabbed lightly on top of cheekbones over your makeup. This new face oil is not only the perfect primer for your skin, it also leaves it with an overall velvety texture (made with active ingredient French Marine algae--proven to build collagen)!
4. Plump it Up
Plump and Condition your Lips
As we get older our lips thin, leaving our pouts not so plump! A great lip plumper will be your best friend if you find the right one. The secret is to have it moisturize and hydrate! I have a few favorites. Glossier’s Bubblewrap actually does double duty as a lip and eye plumper. It hydrates both of these delicate areas, plumping the skin, and it never feels sticky. I also love using Bare Minerals' Moxie Plumping Lip Gloss and their Gen Nude Under Over Lip Liner to help mask those pesky fine lines around my mouth. Whish Watermelon Lip Balm is great for leaving my lips hydrated. It's made with bakuchiol, a less irritating plant-based alternative to retinol.
5. The Great Cover-Up
Use a Great Concealer
Dark under-eye circles and skin imperfections can scream old and tired! This is where the help of a great concealer can come to the rescue. My fave is RMS’s “Un” Cover-up Cream. It comes in a ton of shades and never gets dry or cakey on the skin, which many other concealers tend to do. Also, I never leave home without using cult beauty must-have Yves Saint Laurent’s Touche Eclat Overall Brightening Pen, and even keep one in my bag at all times for touch ups! For super dark circles and tired eyes, they have one for higher coverage as well. It’s truly one of the best products to camouflage and brighten tired eyes. Another game-changing concealer that works wonders for hiding dark circles and sun-spots is Amazing Cosmetics, Amazing Concealer. It’s no wonder why they call it the magic eraser!
Of course, there are fantastic skincare products and other non-invasive procedures that can also help with aging softly, but many of those things take time and patience to see results and can get costly. Sometimes, it’s all about needing instant gratification. That’s when I turn to makeup hacks for their quick and easy fixes to give an immediate confidence boost! Try adding these products to your arsenal of makeup basics and let me know how you like them.
Click on the images in the carousel below to shop the full story! And make sure to read the original post on Who What Wear HERE!
xxMelissa
Indie Beauty Brands You’ll Want to Try from This Year’s Indie Beauty Expo
Did you know that when it comes to beauty, indie brands are one of the fastest-growing categories? I personally love discovering new brands and was thrilled to be chosen by the IndieBeautyExpo (IBE) to curate my own personal clean beauty boutique called onTUWI.
onTUWI stands for Team Up With Indie and it is a platform where influencers are asked to style a digital boutique with their favorite brands from the IndieBeautyExpo (IBE), which was held in Los Angeles last month. From close to 200 beauty, wellness and lifestyle brands, I chose 11 of my favorites that were represented at IBE, and I will be selling them through my online boutique at a 20% discount when you use the promotion code Melissam20.
My boutique will only be open for a limited time, so check out my fave picks below to see which ones you may want to try for yourself, and to read a bit more about each individual brand’s mission.
Click the images or shop buttons to purchase directly until March 31st and remember to use special promo code Melissam20 to receive 20% off all purchases!
Hush & Hush MindYourMind Supplement
What do you get when you blend natural sleep aids like tryptophan, valerian root, holy basil leaf and magnesium together? A good night’s sleep with no sluggishness the next morning!
Hush & Hush TimeCapsule Supplement
I’m all about looking and feeling 10 years younger, and with a little help from TimeCapsule I get a boost of energy and my skin and hair have never looked better. Hacking the aging process from the inside out!
Daily Concepts Daily Bio-Cotton Makeup Removers
Clean beauty and sustainability go hand in hand. These reusable, washable cotton pads check both of those boxes and remove make-up easily without the hassle of tiny fibers getting stuck in your eyelashes like with disposable cotton balls or pads.
evanhealy The Daily Balancing Ritual Kit
(with Cleanser, Hydrosoul, and Oil Serum)
This product trio centers around rose geranium and its ability to harmonize any oil imbalance. Make this cleansing ritual part of your routine and leave your dry winter skin happy and harmonious.
Watch out sun-damaged and wrinkled skin! This serum helps with reducing both of these woes as it reduces the appearance of wrinkles and discoloration while plumping skin with moisture.
Winged Radiance Body Oil with CBD
Perfect for after shower or bath, this oil keeps skin super-hydrated from head to toe with 100mg of CBD. It is also great to calm irritated skin after shaving.
berlin skin Sandalwood Facial Cream
Made using sustainable practices, this lightweight face cream is free of parabens, sulfates, mineral oil, and synthetic fragrances to soothe and restore skin texture.
Root Pretty Hair Day Dry Shampoo
Packaged in a recyclable bottle, this clean beauty dry shampoo is a champion at soaking up excess oil using organic, natural ingredients. It comes untinted or in a brown tint.
Province Apothecary Rejuvenating + Hydrating Face Serum
There’s nothing like a good face serum and this one is a gem! It has an incredible fragrance and is full of plant oils absorbing easily into the skin to hydrate and firm.
Moon Boost Lash & Brow Enhancing Serum
Who wants long lashes, raise your hand! One hundred percent natural, vegan, organic and cruelty-free, this serum is made to leave your lashes and browns conditioned and growing…and the best part…it won’t break the bank like lash extensions!
Color: Front Row
A satiny, smooth, buildable powder highlighter that adds an instant sun-kissed glow to the skin. Gives a natural look and is enriched with jojoba seed oil and vitamin E. Vegan, hypoallergenic and of course, cruelty-free.
I hope you’ll discover a favorite or two from this list of hidden gems. I’m proud to help support these brands and the entrepreneurs behind them through the onTUWI platform. Make sure to follow me on Instagram where I will be storying these brands over the next few weeks so you can get to know them a bit better!
xxMelissa