Foundation that highlights your wrinkles, lipstick that makes you look older and eyeliner that makes you look tired: TRINNY WOODALL reveals eight make-up mistakes adding years to your face – and how you can take them off

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When was the last time you took an honest look at your make-up routine? We tend to stick to the things we’re used to. Yet you have evolved over time – has your make-up?

Many of the women I make over are still wedded to their pale pink lipstick, for example. It makes them feel pretty, feminine and represents a stage in their life when they felt good.

But by this point in life, we’ve lost a bit of pigment in our lips so pale pink washes us out. And the long-wear, matte foundations that worked for us in the early 90s? Now it sits in our lines, sapping the life from our skin.

Over 40, your make-up routine should help put the juiciness back into your skin, even out skin tone and restore some of the definition you had ten years ago.

Here are the simple techniques I swear by…

First step to dewy skin

Just because your skin is drier, don’t just slap on another moisturiser. The first thing I’ll say to women who tell me their skin is dry and dull is, ‘Do you exfoliate?’ It’s actually the first step to getting your skin more hydrated, as your products sink in better. 

A vitamin C serum such as Trinny London Naked Ambition, £69, will give vibrancy to your skin. Ingredients such as alpha arbutin and tranexamic acid will help break down the pigmentation that can make your skin look uneven.

Look more awake with a rosy blush

If I look especially tired one morning, I reach for blusher, as it just makes you look well slept. The rule of thumb is find the apple of your cheek (below the pupil, level with the bottom of your nose) and if you have a very narrow face, like me, keep your blush just in that area, where you see it from the front. 

But if you have a broader face, you can afford to put it higher on the side. Any spare blush on the brush goes on my forehead.

Go easy on foundation

I don’t like to slather my face in foundation – less is more. Ask yourself, where do I most need it? It could be where you’ve developed some rosacea, melasma or a stubborn age spot. Or, like me, you might have some discoloration around your nose and chin.

Start with those places. Use a light formula such as Trinny London Fearless Skin Tint Drops, £45, which we made for women over 40 to look like skin.

Foundation should look like you you’re not wearing it, so choose the shade of your actual skin, not the shade you want your skin to be. 

Take very little product with fingers or a brush and keep going over your skin as if you are polishing it up. I use a ‘times six’ magnifying mirror to check I’ve blended it in. If you wear a white shirt, put a little hairspray on the collar to stop it transferring.

Brush up your brow to open your eyes

As we age, our brows fade and we lose the colour of the tail. But we tend to focus on the larger part of the brow, nearer the nose. 

Focusing on this area, however, can give you a wizened, squinting expression. Take a brow pencil or a brush and evenly distribute the colour from the inner corner right to the tail. 

This opens up your face and gives you a freshness. When I get to the arch, I go a bit higher than my brow actually is, to slightly lift my brow and give an illusion of more space.

Brush your brows upwards; it seems weird, but it gives more space between your eyelid and your eyebrow so you look more open-eyed.

Brown eyeliner’s your new bestie

The eyes are one place you want to soften the look. Step away from the hard black eyeliner all around the eye, which actually makes your eyes look smaller. 

Instead, use a dark brown pencil on the upper water line and a lighter brown on the lower lid under the lashes. Only go halfway in with your eyeliner – it’s a trick I learned at Elizabeth Hurley’s wedding, when her make-up artist did my make-up. 

Then wing it out. Where you wing is really important because winging out low brings your eyes down; winging up too high looks fake. If you think you’ve gone too high or too low, clean up any mistakes with a cotton bud dipped in moisturiser.

Get your glow back

If you are of a certain age, matte make-up is likely to be what you know. But if your skin is not reflecting light as it used to, a matt finish will really show its age. 

So it’s best to trick the eye with a light-reflecting product such as Trinny London Miracle Halo, £33. I use it under foundation, either all over or on the high points of the face and it gives you back your gorgeous glow.

Plump up your pout

A lip liner in the tone of your lip can give a good lip that maybe you haven’t seen for a few years. I never ever draw in my Cupid’s bow, because it emphasises my lip lines. Instead, I go straight across, which works for thin lips too because it gives you some extra space, making lips look fuller.

If you have thin lips, keep the emphasis at the front, avoid taking the liner all the way to the corners. Then apply gloss in the middle for light reflection. My 62-year-old lips now look fresher, fuller, and juicier.

High shine your hair

Finally, your hair frames your face and the shinier it is, the more vibrant you’ll look. I have a hard water filter as I notice that soft water makes my hair less frizzy. And I don’t use lathering shampoo. 

Seven years ago, I switched to Hairstory New Wash (£48, hairstory.com), which cleans and conditions without harsh foaming detergents, and I think that’s kept the shine. For deep conditioning, I love Philip Kingsley Elasticizer (£22 phlilipkingsley.co.uk).