How To Make Your 60-plus-year-old Skin Glow This Summer

Picture this, you are looking forward to meeting up with friends and want to look glowing, pretty, and ready for the summer! When you try to apply makeup; however, you struggle to blend the foundation, and everything looks, well, dull.

Frustrated, you turn to YouTube video tutorials and are instructed to purchase 10 new products to achieve the look you want! How can you have supple, pretty makeup and not blow too many brain cells or the budget? To that end, my friend Janet and I demonstrate 5 easy techniques for glowing, hydrated skin that save both your brain and budget. Let’s go!

Eat Your Veggies!

Okay, I know starting with vegetables is less than thrilling, but car chases and aliens attacking don’t work for a makeover. Having said that, the point cannot be made enough that you are what you eat, and that sticking to whole, natural foods while avoiding all the preservatives makes an enormous difference.

Stick to organic (if possible), brightly colored vegetables and fruits and spring water in copious amounts. And, as I stand on the proverbial veggie soap box, don’t forget Omega 3-6-9 oils, vitamins E, A, C, D, and B-complex. Internal wellness is 80% of a healthy complexion, while external topical products are a whopping 20%. Eat your veggies, take your supplements.

Topical, Hydrating Skin Care

Even though topical skin care is only 20% of great skin, it’s an important aspect that cannot be ignored. A key component to shopping wisely for products is to look for active ingredients located at the top of the ingredient deck.

For example, there are only about 7 actives that matter: vitamin C (THDA not L-ascorbic acid), retinol (vitamin A), niacinamide (vitamin B), hyaluronic acid, ceramides (or EFA’s-Essential Fatty Acids), AHA’s (alpha-hydroxy acids including lactic, glycolic, and salicylic), and vitamin E. I know that’s a mouthful, but understanding what exactly nourishes your skin will greatly assist you in buying efficacious products.

In the video, I use a mixture of vitamin C (for nourishment), hyaluronic acid (to plump), and fulvic acid to help with molecular penetration. Having said that, I know good products can be hard on the wallet, so just be sure you are buying active ingredients that work and give you the glow you want.

Brightening Primer

After eating all those vegetables and layering topical products, let’s turn to a quick fix. Don’t you just love an easy out? Primer is one of those wonderfully simple ways to get your glow on and not burst an artery in your eyeball.

Primer solves several problems. First, it helps your foundation stay put and not droop down your face. Second, it can contain ingredients that give you a long-lasting glow, or keep your skin matte if you are oily.

A fun trick with primer is if you want your foundation to be more sheer, just mix equal parts foundation and primer and apply. It makes your skin brighter and you won’t look as made-up. Don’t you just love a win-win?

Sheer Foundation (NOT Full Coverage)

We all have our makeup defaults, and full coverage foundation is one that many people fall into. My video model, Janet, has uneven skin and some red marks like most of us. In order to cover these issues and at the same time maintain sheer, glowing skin, I applied the foundation and then went back over the specific marks with either concealer, or extra foundation. That way, we kept her skin looking even and bright, while hiding the naughty bits.

As an aside, if you normally use a full coverage foundation, just give it a short funeral and toss it in the trash. If it’s a powder foundation, then make it an urgent funeral. Unless the pigments in the product are very fine (and I mean very fine), it doesn’t deserve a place in your makeup drawer.

Cream Eye Shadow and Blush

Two of the best things about using cream blush, eye shadow, and bronzer/contour, is that you can apply them with your fingers and they look sheer and happy on your skin. In the video, I made full use of a cream palette I snagged by Makeup Forever HD. I use it in my professional work, and it’s been well worth the money.

On Janet, I went for a summer look with rosy cheeks, mauve eye shadow, and bright pink lipstick, and it works beautifully. As someone who never (and I mean never) uses makeup, she was delighted and loved her bright, glowing complexion and vibe. As an aside, I also played up her eyes with a smoky gel pencil liner, and an eyelash primer and mascara that really made her eyes pop.

Let’s go back to the scene where you are headed out the door to be with friends. This time, you glance in the rearview mirror and smile. You’re feeling beautiful and ready for a wonderful time with friends and the warm, inviting summer weather. There are no aliens, you ate veggies for breakfast, and all is right with the world.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

What do you do to keep your skin bright and healthy during the summer? Do you have a special summer regime or use summer-specific makeup products?