SKIN DEEP
Seven of the best anti-ageing beauty tips from your make-up to saggy neck – and the £7 product pros love
Read on to find out how you should apply your eyeliner if you have sagging eyelids
THINNING lips, sagging eyelids and loose skin are some of the issues that women have to navigate as they get older.
But according to renowned beauty journalist India Knight, there are some simple tips that will ensure that you still look great, no matter what your age.
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In her latest book, India Knight’s Beauty Edit: What Works When You’re Older, she explains that you might have to swap some products and do things slightly differently as the years pass.
India says: “We used to know what to buy, how to do our make-up, and what to put on our skin, but what was once second nature – open the makeup bag and this goes here, and that goes there, and I like putting this on like that, done, let’s go – is now more challenging.
“I wore flicky black eyeliner most days from the age of 15 to when I was about 50, to the point where I could practically put it on in the dark, until one day, it just didn’t work any more.
“It didn’t look right.
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“I hadn’t changed, and my love of flicky black liquid eyeliner hadn’t changed.
“But my eyes had.
“The liner brush now had to travel across significantly more rugged terrain.
“Those new creases made it harder to apply neatly, and because – yay – my eyelids are more hooded than they used to be, the eyeliner wasn’t properly visible when I had my eyes open.
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“You’ll have your own version of my eyeliner: the lipstick that always used to look great, until it didn’t because your lips had thinned.
“The reliable foundation that now makes your skin look kind of dead.
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"The eyeshadow that once glided on, but now migrates to creases and sits there stubbornly.
“The once-reliable concealer that’s started saying: ‘Hi. Let me just really emphasise your pores.’
“My latest book’s purpose is to make older women feel and look better in relation to things that might disconcert them about their appearance, and to identify the things that they – we – can actually do something about.”
Here, India reveals some of her top tips.
HOW CAN I MAKE MY THINNING LIPS LOOK FULLER?
Always overline very slightly. It is madness not to.
I match the pencil to the natural shade of my lips rather than to the shade of the lipstick, meaning nothing is obvious if the lipstick fades off.
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Only go a very small bit over your lip outline or it looks ridiculous, but don’t be shy about applying pencil well inside your lips too, so the line blends with them rather than sits there separately.
Gloss makes lips look fuller than anything matte, even if it’s just a dab in the centre, and so does a tiny bit of highlighter in the cupid’s bow.
But go really easy with this – it’s great in dim light, but can look mad in the daytime.
CAN I STILL WEAR EYELINER ON SAGGING EYELIDS?
Yes, you can.
A good rule of thumb is to only draw the line from the centre of the eye outwards (i.e. from your iris towards your temples rather than towards your nose).
There’s a limited amount of space on saggy eyelids, meaning there’s no point in trying to cram in too much – it just makes everything look smaller and more closed.
For the same reason, keep the line thin and always tightline – this is lining the bit between your eyelashes from underneath (you’ll have to gently pull your eyelid up).
This is not the waterline, which is the ‘wet’ bit. Look online to see how to do it, as it’s much easier than trying to explain it in words.
It makes a huge difference to the look of your eyes and doesn’t take up any real estate on the eyelid. It’s great.
AM I TOO OLD FOR CONTOURING?
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No. Contouring is about creating flattering shadows.
If you feel your nose is too wide, you can make it appear slimmer by drawing two lines down the sides and carefully blending them in.
If you think your forehead is too big, you can shrink it by applying and blending contour up towards the hairline.
If you’re going to try contouring, there are three things to remember: use a contouring cream that is a couple of shades darker than your skin and no more.
Second, blend carefully with a dense angled brush or sponge, always working upwards.
Third, skinny contour sticks are easier to use than fat ones.
Contouring takes practice, but do give it a go if you’re curious. It does work.
WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT THE LOOSE SKIN ON MY NECK?
I’m afraid the brutal answer is, not a lot.
There are a couple of very good creams I recommend, including (currently £12 from and (around £17.50 to Beauty Pie members), but they can only do so much.
The trick is to get started early (which I never did, because no one worries about their neck until it’s too late).
If you have a daughter, tell her to use neck cream.
Never mind the injectables and tweakments.
The neck is the thing you need to start looking after early.
IS IT OK TO HAVE TWEAKMENTS AND NOT TELL ANYONE?
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It’s absolutely fine.
It’s your face and you are the only person who decides how you want it to look.
The only thing I would say is that some tweakment providers can be very persuasive and push you into having unnecessary procedures.
I think it’s always a good idea to tell one person what you’re having done, on the understanding that they will tell you if you start looking weird.
Which is very easily done.
AND WHICH TWEAKMENTS, IF ANY, SHOULD I HAVE?
It depends entirely on you. Botox and fillers can make a big difference, but they can also make you look unlike yourself.
I have both twice a year, in minuscule doses, which is plenty.
But then I’m not especially lined.
I personally wouldn’t go near lip fillers, cheek fillers or the crazier end of the menu.
Or anything that requires you to hide away at home for a week.
If you have a massive frown line that you hate and that makes you look cross, go ahead and fix it.
If you have nice lines from laughing around your mouth and eyes, I would leave them well alone.
DO AT HOME TREATMENTS WORK?
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Short answer: yes.
Masks have come a long, long way from the days when little sachets of clay-based masks were glued to the covers of teenage magazines.
Nothing wrong with a clay-based mask, mind you.
They’re the business when it comes to drawing out impurities if you’re very oily. In their more modern iterations, I rate (around £13 to Beauty Pie members).
Clay, being widely available, is cheap, hence these likeable prices.
At-home peels need to be safe for a layperson to use and are therefore necessarily weaker beasts than those designed to be administered by a licensed professional.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
(currently £7.30 at ) is a great, cheap, quasi-miraculous product that basically eats away all the gubbins clogging up your face and making your skin look dull.
- India Knight’s Beauty Edit: What Works When You’re Older by India Knight (Fig Tree, £20) is out now.
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