Exactly how your makeup ages you. I’ve been a celebrity makeup artist for 40 years and here are the nine tricks that will last you for years to come (my concealer hack is a must try!)

Jeanine Lobell, 60, is a celebrity makeup artist and founder of the cult makeup brand Stila, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Here she shares her nine simple tricks to keep makeup from adding years to your face…

It’s time to use cream blush

I have been a makeup artist for over 40 years and have been fortunate to work with top Hollywood stars such as Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett, Michelle Williams and Rachel Weisz. The one thing I use on every woman, whether they are 24 or 64, is cream blush. It blends into the skin rather than sitting on top of it, and gives a real ‘glow from within’ vibe.

I always use Stila Convertible Color Dual Lip & Cheek Cream (£18, stila.co.uk), one of the products I created for the brand when I founded it 30 years ago. Cream blusher didn’t really exist back then, but I did dab lipstick on my cheeks. I wanted a product with enough pigment payload to give you the color a lipstick could achieve, but one that wasn’t so slippery that it had no staying power (and, crucially, not so sticky that it dragged).

You’re applying dark lipstick incorrectly

It’s a makeup myth that older women shouldn’t wear certain lip colors because they make your lips look thinner. It’s not that it can’t be done, you just have to do it differently. Yes, it’s true: dark colors make things look smaller and light colors make them look bigger – so sometimes a plum or dark red lipstick can make the mouth look thinner and older.

Here’s my trick… after applying, use a little bit of concealer in the center of the lips to accentuate this area and make them look fuller and more youthful.

You have to use makeup brushes

In your twenties, you can stick your finger in a green eyeshadow and apply it and you’ll look great. But as you get older, a nice set of brushes are your friends and will help you apply makeup more precisely.

The less dense a brush is, the less product it picks up – when you touch the end of it with your finger you want the bristles to collapse – and that means you can build up product. Good brushes are a long-term investment. I’ve had Hakuhodo brushes (£293.99 for a set of six, amazon.co.uk), the best Japanese brushes for ten years.

For great budget options, Mac has great brushes (from £16.50, maccosmetics.nl) and Elf too (from £3, elfcosmetics.nl).

Stop applying shimmer all over your eye

Another myth I want to bust is the idea that you can’t wear gloss because it will make you look wrinklier. Again, you just have to know where to put it. A good product shouldn’t settle into wrinkles, but gloss is essentially a highlighter and emphasizes whatever is there.

So no, I wouldn’t take it from your lash line to under your brow, but if you take a smaller brush and use it in the arch of your brow, or line the inner tear duct with gloss, it will wake up the eyes. and makes them look wider and brighter. I’d say it, but I love the Pretty Shady Pressed Pigment Shadows (£23, cultbeauty.co.uk) from Neen, the sustainable brand that I founded in 2022.

You’re not too old for lip gloss

I like lip gloss on older lips. I always start by finding a lip liner that is as close to the actual lip color as possible so that you can trace over a little and create the illusion of a larger lip. I’m not a fan of lip liner that looks like a line – the goal is fullness without fakeness.

I like to use long-wear lip liners or, if that doesn’t work, a long-wear lip color that you apply as a lip liner with a very fine brush. I Need A Nude Lip Crayons by Natasha Denona (£23, cultbeauty.co.uk) come in some really nice shades, and that includes Macs (£20, maccosmetics.nl) and Nars’s (£22, narcosmetica.nl).

If you have fine lines, smile tightly with your mouth closed to flatten them as you apply the liner, then use a little pressed powder to set it. Try the amazing Aqua Seal from Make Up For Ever (£18.64, klipshop.nl) that ensures that lipstick and lip liner do not bleed. Then I use a gloss – any gloss. Light makes things look bigger, so gloss with reflective properties creates fuller, softer lips.

Beware of eyebrows that pull your face down

As we age, eyebrows become thinner and paler, even if you didn’t over-pluck them when you were younger, like most of us did. It is important to have nice, soft eyebrows – not too sharp or angular. I like to use a pencil like Stila Sketch & Sculpt Brow Pencil (£18, stila.co.uk), starting at the top of the arch and working through the outer slope of the brow, creating the shape before filling in the rest.

Then I set it with pressed powder. Try Clinique’s Stay Matte Universal Blotting Powder (£35.50, clinic.nl) on a fluffy eyeshadow brush, as this will make your eyebrows look like a natural part of your face instead of drawn in.

You should also really think about the shape of your eyebrows. If your eyebrows curve down at the edges, they pull your eyes down. Sharon Stone has the ultimate eyebrows: they’re almost straight, and that’s the look you want to go for. Honestly, in my experience, sometimes you can pluck just three hairs from the outer edge of an eyebrow and it completely changes someone’s face.

You are applying concealer in the wrong place

If you’re concerned about concealer settling into fine lines, avoid using it in the outer part of the under-eye area, where most fine lines are located. Most of us want to get rid of the darkness that often resides in the inner corner, under the tear ducts. You also don’t want to emphasize under-eye bags, which concealer can do.

Use a pointed, teardrop-shaped brush to place the tip in the corner and blend it out. This way you accentuate the dent and if you have bags under the eyes, the entire under-eye area becomes flatter.

It’s time to change your eyeliner technique

As we age, our eyelids can look covered and the upper eyelid folds over at the outer corner, making it harder to achieve a cat-eye movement, if that’s your thing. To achieve this, instead of a liquid liner, I use a damp liner brush with some chocolate brown or dark gray shadow – these colors are softer and more forgiving than black.

Looking straight ahead, with your eyes open, place the brush in the outer corner of the eye and pull outward and upward. If you make just a single line with your eyes open instead of a thicker stroke with your eyes closed, it won’t distort when you open your eyes. Then you can mark the upper waterline with a dark pencil. With that light tap on the outside, but more lightness on the lid, you still get the look of that winged or cat’s eye liner.

Stop matching your foundation to your skin

One of the problems you face as skin ages, besides dryness and texture, is hyperpigmentation, either from hormones or sun damage. If you apply a foundation that matches your skin over these dark spots, it won’t cover them – it just makes the skin look a bit ashen. That’s why I prefer to use a tinted moisturizer that is darker for better coverage, such as Nars Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer (£38, narcosmetica.nl) and then dust the skin with a lighter pressed powder. Try Make Up For Ever Ultra HD Pressed Powder (£21, sephora.nl) to give the face and neck the same color.

That said, I’ve found one incredible foundation for mature skin, and that’s the Shiseido Revitalessence Skin Glow Foundation (£49, shiseido.nl). It has a very high pigment load in a liquid that is very dewy and moist, so you can get a lot of color in a very thin layer, which means good coverage without it looking cakey. And it comes in 30 shades.

• As told to Claire Coleman