From pearl skin to freckle pencils, the strange TikTok beauty tips that REALLY do the trick
If you’ve never heard of boyfriend blush, pearl skin or cherry cola lips, consider this your introduction to the strange world of TikTok beauty.
When it comes to doing your make-up, the video-sharing platform produces a constant stream of new ideas. But are these viral crazes really worth dabbling in when you’re over 50, or do you have to be a glowing-skinned 20-something to pull them off?
Wendy Turner (@wendyturnermakeup) is a celebrity make-up artist who has worked with stars including singer Billie Eilish and House Of The Dragon star Olivia Cooke.
And, having just turned 51 herself, she also knows exactly what works on mature skin. Here, she reveals which trends could effortlessly take ten years off you — and which will look like you’re trying a little too hard...
Wendy Turner is a make-up artist who has worked with stars including singer Billie Eilish (pictured)
DON’T (EVER) DITCH THE CONCEALER
THE TREND: Concealer accentuates your fine lines, so you should do your make-up without using it at all. TikTok user @hannahsuberr declared: ‘Honestly my under-eyes have never looked better… it’s going to be a concealer-free summer.’
WENDY’S VERDICT: I turned 51 this year and I’m aware the shadow in the corner of my eye has deepened. So, unless you’ve somehow managed to defy ageing, you should still be using concealer. That said, as you get older be wary of applying too much concealer as it will tend to sit in the fine lines around your eyes.
It’s vital to get the right product. A new concealer I recently tried and have now stocked up on is Ole Henriksen Banana Bright stick. It contains Vitamin C so it helps to brighten and nourish your under-eye area without drying it out, and is available in a range of shades (£25, boots.com).
Ole Henriksen's Banana Bright concealer stick will brighten and nourish your under-eye area without drying it out
SAVOUR APEROL SPRITZ SUMMER SHADES
THE TREND: Inspired by the Italian tipple, this make-up look is all about orange hues. Think tangerine eyeshadow with coral-tinted blush and lips. Beauty influencer @rachleary said: ‘The sunset colour scheme just looks incredible on anyone.’
WENDY’S VERDICT: This is one that women over 50 should try. It gives a bright summer glow and, most importantly, it adds colour on the high points of the face — the cheekbones, browbones and nose. This is important as you get older as you don’t want to pull your face down.
To get this look use Trinny London Lip2Cheek (£26, trinny london.com) to add the flush of colour to your lips, cheeks and nose. It’s buildable so you can go for a more pared-back soft wash or do a real pop of colour depending on how brave you want to be.
Use Trinny London Lip2Cheek to add a flush of colour to your lips, cheeks and nose
SAY NO TO THE BOYFRIEND BLUSH
THE TREND: Rather than a supermodel or popstar, this TikTok blusher trend draws inspiration from photos of Prince William as a young man. Bizarre as that may sound, the aim is to create a natural, ruddy glow similar to the flush the Prince had as a teenager.
Concentrate blusher on the apple of your cheek, where you would naturally become flushed, then spread it up and out towards the top of the ear as well as down towards the jaw. Hailey Bieber’s new Rhode pocket blush is a favourite product for achieving this look (£24, rhodeskin.com).
WENDY’S VERDICT: Oh, no. When we’re younger we can apply blush to the apple of the cheek, but as we age we need to move blush application to the upper part of the cheek, to lift the face. Boyfriend blush does the total opposite, it’s all in the wrong place for an older face and will age you by about ten years.
It’s certainly not advisable if you’re a woman going through the menopause as the last thing you need is double the flush.
Hailey Bieber’s Rhode pocket blush is a favourite product for creating a natural, ruddy glow
DON’T BE A ‘POMEGRANATE GIRL’
THE TREND: Last year it was all about ‘strawberry girl’ make-up but this year the fruit du jour is the pomegranate. Using an intense pink or red blush, apply to the cheeks, eyelids and lips. For an extra sun-kissed finish, use a freckle pen to apply a smattering of freckles.
WENDY’S VERDICT: For me, this is too flushed, there’s too much colour. It’s important to focus on certain points of the face whereas this involves putting product everywhere. In fact, I don’t think anyone, regardless of their age, needs this amount of product on their face. This is one to avoid.
GET GLOWING WITH LUMINOUS PEARL SKIN
THE TREND: Pearl skin is, you guessed it, all about trying to give your face a luminous, pearl-like sheen. Highlighter is applied along the tops of the cheekbones and forehead — it’s also swept across the eyelids and applied to the cheeks.
While it may sound similar to last year’s ‘glass skin’ trend, the aim of pearl skin is to give lustre without the impractical ‘wet’ finish of glass skin.
WENDY’S VERDICT: As we get older, we lose our radiance. Skin becomes drier, dehydrated and dull. Regardless of how much skincare you use, by lunchtime, a lot of the product will have been absorbed. So anything that gives added, lasting luminosity is brilliant.
The pearl skin look adds a glow to the upper browbone, the forehead and high points of the cheeks, which is exactly what we want to see. The trick to pulling off this look over 50 is to keep reapplying. The vanilla highlighter from Ere Perez would be perfect for a pearly glow (£34, ereperez.com).
The vanilla highlighter from Ere Perez is perfect for creating a pearly glow
TRY ‘DARK FEMININE’ ON LIPS OR EYES, NEVER BOTH
THE TREND: The muses for this sultry make-up include Angelina Jolie in the late 1990s and Megan Fox in Noughties horror Jennifer’s Body. It’s all about gothic glamour and involves intense black eyeliner, smoky eyeshadow and bold contouring. It can be done with a nude lip or a striking red, but well-defined lip liner is key.
WENDY’S VERDICT: This is much bold for someone who is older. That harsh lip and eye line would be very difficult to maintain on an older face. My go-to for many years was a really soft, dark eyeliner that I could smudge, but now I’m older I find as the day goes on it doesn’t last, it just creases and melts away.
This doesn’t mean you can’t still do a bold make-up look, but pick a certain feature to focus on. Make your eyebrows strong, or do a red lip. If you’re keen to do a smokey eye, just make it softer with dark greys and browns rather than black.
BLUR YOUR LIPLINE FOR A SOFT FINISH
THE TREND: Recently demonstrated by model Kendall Jenner, who explained that she’d seen videos on TikTok of the ‘undone red lip, kind of French-girl vibes’. Rather than using lip liner, apply red or berry lipstick and then use your finger to smudge the lipstick up to the edges of your lips. The aim is to create a blurred, soft finish rather than a clean line.
WENDY’S VERDICT: This is a brilliant, low-maintenance look and is great for a mature face as our lips blur around the edges really easily anyway. Everything needs to be softened as we age, so a lipstick with medium to light coverage is better. Glossier’s Generation G (£20, uk.glossier.com) or Bisou Balm from French brand Violette Fr (£30, violettefr.com) have a gorgeous matte finish which will work for this look.
Bisou Balm lipsticks from French brand Violette Fr have a gorgeous matte finish which will work for this look
CHERRY-COLA LIPS ARE A NIGHTMARE OVER 50
THE TREND: This lipstick trend pays homage to the flavoured fizzy drink. Use a dark brown lip liner pencil to outline the lips. Some tutorials recommend then setting this in place with an eyeshadow of a similar shade with an angled brush, follow by filling the rest of the lip in with a dark red lip pencil and finish with a high-shine gloss.
WENDY’S VERDICT: That lip liner would be a nightmare, it would bleed around the edges after about 30 minutes. You could try a modified version of this if you went for a mid-brown lip pencil to define the lips and followed it with a rose tinted gloss. But you’d need to pare it back.
DITCH THE BROCCOLI — KEEP THE FRECKLES
THE TREND: Apply a cream bronzer to a raw broccoli floret. Then use it to apply a smattering of faux freckles across your cheeks, nose and forehead.
WENDY’S VERDICT: I love the gimmick, but I don’t think it is a practical way to apply make-up. However, freckles are youthful and work well on mature skin — just use a freckle or eyebrow pen.
One in particular that I love, and I’ve used on Billie Eilish, is the West Barn Co pencil in Sand (£17, lookfantastic.com). Rather than stamping freckles randomly across your face, use the pen to slightly darken any existing freckles. And again, focus them higher up your face.
Use the West Barn Co pencil in shade Sand to slightly darken any existing freckles
CARTOON LASHES ARE ONE TO SWERVE
THE TREND: Taking its name from the Japanese comics, this is a dramatic, almost cartoonish look. Rather than sticking a standard strip of false eyelashes to the eyelid, devotees cut up their strip to create several ‘clusters’ of lashes, alternating between longer and shorter styles to achieve ‘a spidery, spikey look’.
WENDY’S VERDICT: Less is more as we age – this is definitely a trend to swerve. My top tip for youthful lashes is to invest in a good eyelash curler, to open up the eyes. Trish McEvoy’s eyelash curler (£16, selfridges.com) is a great one to try.
In terms of whether or not you should apply mascara to your bottom lashes, face shape is the deciding factor rather than age. If your bottom eyelashes touch your face I’d advise against applying mascara to them because they’ll smudge in no time. Avoid the temptation to use waterproof mascara to avoid smudging, as scrubbing the product off will damage your lashes over time.
