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If you’re a person who wears makeup, you know how long it can take to develop the perfect personalized beauty routine. So if you’ve experienced any changes to your skin lately, you might be looking for a new makeup practice to help your evolving face shine.
One common change that people experience as they age is a thinning face. Many women over 50, in particular, may be curious about ways to use makeup to help lift facial features that have experienced volume loss over the years.
We spoke with Andrea Claire, a licensed makeup artist and hairstylist, and the founder of AClaireBeauty, to get some tips. Claire’s work has appeared in print, in advertising and on runways, and her celebrity clients include Alanis Morissette and Henry Golding.
According to Claire, there is one strategic makeup technique involving blush that can help a thinning face look a bit fuller and more hydrated. As a quick hint, “The key is to apply blush to soften, lift and brighten,” Claire tells Parade.
Curious to learn about the trick and how to apply it? Keep reading!
Related: Makeup Artist Reveals How To Give Mature Eyes a ‘Natural Lift’ With 1 Key Product
Elena Popova / Getty Images
What Is a Thinning Face?
Our skin is composed of three layers, and a “thinning face” means that at least one layer of your skin has become thinner. This is typically the outer layer of skin (the epidermis), but it can also be the inner layer (hypodermis), per MedicalNewsToday.
When the skin on one’s face becomes thinner, the skin may become less elastic, more transparent and less full in appearance. Sometimes, a face that has lost volume appears as a bit emaciated or gaunt.
Related: This ‘Gold Standard’ Anti-Aging Ingredient Is ‘Non-Negotiable’ Over 50, Dermatologist Says
What causes a face to thin?
For many people, the natural aging process can cause skin thinning, according to MedicalNewsToday. However, factors like sun exposure and significant weight loss can also cause the skin to thin, meaning people of any age can experience a thinning face.
This ‘Strategic Blush’ Technique Can Lift a Thinning Face
“My ‘strategic blush’ technique for thinning faces is an upper triangle blush placement,” says Claire. This specific method “follows similar principles to highlighting, which is drawing attention to [the cheekbone] and/or making fuller.”
She adds that the key to this trick is to “brighten and lift,” and to never shade or contour, as that “only adds to an already thin or drawn look.”
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Fortunately, this trick is super easy.
“For an experienced makeup wearer you can bang this technique off in under a minute,” says Claire. “For those learning and understanding face shape and lighting, give yourself a few minutes grace to perfect balance and blending.”
Here are the three steps to follow:
1. Assess your face with proper lighting
“Look directly into the mirror with front-facing light and a deadpan expression” as your first step, advises Claire. Front-facing light is crucial, she says, because “overhead lighting creates shadows which can add to a thinner, drawn appearance leaving blush placement less accurate.”
To evaluate where you’re going to put your blush, “look at your cheekbones and cheek hollows,” Claire instructs. “Generally, placement will be just above the apples of your cheeks—give a natural smile and aim to start just past the round of your cheek.”
Related: 7 Best Hair Colors After 50 To Brighten and Rejuvenate Your Face, According to a Celebrity Stylist
2. Make a triangle
Johner Images / Getty Images
“Think of a triangle shape with the temple being the high point,” Claire says, and the “base of the triangle running alongside the edge of the apple of your cheek.”
If you’re using a cream blush for this method (Claire recommends Makeup By Mario’s Soft Pop Plumping Blush Veil), go for “a simple ‘old school’ application.”
Simply put a dab of the cream blush in the center of the triangle, and then use a brush to blend it.
For powder blush, Claire says you should “swirl your brush around the blush pan and start on the middle of the triangle blending up and out with circular movements towards the temple.”
But no matter what blush you use, always start the color in the center of your triangle.
“Blend up and out concentrating the pigment in the centre, feathering it out for a seamless blend,” she tells Parade.
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3. Highlight
As a final step, Claire recommends you “add a hint of highlight for more dimension.”
She suggests using a cream highlighter for this—just “add the highlight to the temple and top of the cheekbone just under the outer ring of your iris.”
Related: Dermatologists Warn: These 7 Habits Make Crepey Skin Worse After 50
Why the Triangle Method Looks So Good on a Thinning Face
“This trick looks great on thinning faces as it will brighten the eye area and lift up the face, adding a healthy glow appearance counterbalancing what happens with a thinner, drawn look,” Claire explains.
By applying blush using the triangle method, she tells Parade, you give your face “that pop of brightness that softens, adding a fuller illusion to a thinning face.”
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Sources:
- Andrea Claire, licensed makeup artist and hairstylist and founder of AClaireBeauty.
- What to know about thin skin and how to manage it. MedicalNewsToday.
