Danny Martindale
Beauty knows no age, and women over 40 should still continue to embrace themselves and their expression. According to makeup expert Mia Hawkswell, the key to the perfect blush is application.
Not many TikTok beauty trends are aimed at women over the age of 40. That’s just my personal opinion, and I should add the caveat that I adore TikTok beauty trends, but they mostly just make me wish I was young enough to try them. Until now.
Make-up artist Mia Hawkswell, who has worked with Pamela Anderson and Rose Byrne, creates beauty content specifically aimed at women over 40, and explains why the techniques we’ve grown up using don’t always work once you hit a certain age. Her most effective trick? Hawkswell divides her face in two, using one half to demonstrate what to do, and the other what not to do. As a blusher obsessive, Hawkswell’s demonstration of how you should switch up your application at a certain point really caught my attention – and I’m pleased to report that it works.
Hawkswell explains that the classic application technique – where you apply your blusher on the apples of your cheeks – doesn’t work as well after a certain point, as the apple, as Hawkswell puts it, “has fallen”. Instead of placing blusher where you normally would – which actually starts to drag the face down – she suggests applying it under the eye, on the top of the cheekbones and close to your contour if you use it. (She also recommends applying contour higher than you used to.) Next, simply use a brush to blend the blusher upwards towards your temples.
I can attest that this diffused blusher technique works. Hawkswell’s simple yet effective make-up tricks work against gravity and help to soften make-up when you need it. I’m a (40-something) fan.
This article was originally published on British Vogue.
