How to Apply Old-Age Makeup

One of the most important things to understand about applying age makeup is the way that lighting affects the appearance of your face. When you become familiar with how light and shade cast shadows on your bone structure, you will be better able to use that knowledge to create the illusion of age with stage makeup. As we age, the muscles in our face begin to sag as the fat under our skin begins to break down, and we lose muscle tone. To age your face through makeup, you need to emphasize the bone structure in your face and de-emphasize the muscle and fat, creating a hollow or gaunt appearance. You can easily do this by becoming acquainted with your facial bones and by drawing on highlights and shadows in the correct places. Here’s how.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Gray pancake base
• Highlighting greasepaint at least 10 shades lighter than base
• Shading several shades darker than base
• Wig cap or the cut end of pantyhose
• Corn starch powder
• Translucent powder

1. Feel the bones of your face with your fingers, pressing into the muscles and skin to get a good sense of your facial bone structure. Apply pancake base to your face in a slightly grayer tone than your own skin tone.

2. Using greasepaint highlighter at least 10 shades lighter than your base, highlight the forehead bone at the top front of your skull, the area just above and just under each eyebrow, the bone just above your cheekbone and under and to the side of each eye, the circle directly under the dark area under your eye, the bridge of your nose, the flair of your nostrils, the area just under the diagonal crease from the side of the nostril to the edge of your mouth, your chin, the edges of your jaw, the underside of the crease from the edge of the mouth to your jaw and the muscle that runs diagonally from your neck to your collar bone.

3. Use a makeup shade several shades darker than your base to emphasize dark circles under your eyes, your cheekbones, directly above the highlighting beside your mouth and underneath the jaw line. Draw and smudge a slight triangular crease pointing upward from the top innermost edge of each eyebrow, creating a furrow above the bridge of your nose.

4. Highlight and powder over your natural eyebrows and lips, then set the makeup with translucent powder or cake.

5. Use an old cut pantyhose end to wrap your hair under a gray wig, or powder your hair with cornstarch. Stand back a bit from the mirror, and admire your beautiful, old self!

Tips & Warnings

• To create an even more pronounced appearance of old age, use a soft pencil liner in the crease of your furrowed brow, and powder over it as needed. Look at age-progressive photographs of your relatives. Notice how the facial features begin to change at 10, 20, 40, 60 and 80. Use these photos as a guide when applying your makeup.
• Although rare, some people may have a severe allergic reaction to traditional stage “greasepaint.” To find out if your skin will tolerate greasepaint, apply a small amount to your wrist 24 hours before using it on your face. If you notice any kind of a rash or discomfort, try using cake or liquid makeup instead.

Resources

• More Stage Makeup Tricks