4 Lipstick Shades That Can Age Mature Women, And What To Wear Instead For A Youthful Glow: Avoid Dark Red, More

Back in the day it might have felt like all you needed was a pop of lipstick (any bright color would work), maybe a little mascara if you felt like it, and you could roll out the door and look put together. When did lipstick decide to become so difficult? Suddenly, some lipstick shades seem to accentuate fine lines and wrinkles around the mouth or make your lips look smaller than they are.

With age comes normal and expected changes, and this includes more texture in your skin and a loss of volume in your lips. Choosing lipstick hues that complement your lips and skin tone becomes even more of a priority when you want to look and feel your best.

While no one lipstick rule applied to everyone, there are some universal do’s and don’t’s when it comes to lipstick colors and mature skin. For starters, here are four lipstick shades that can age mature women, as well as some ideas from Glam Girl Gabi on what to wear instead.

1. Avoid: Brown

If you have light skin, lipsticks like brown and brown-based reds can create too much of a contrast and emphasize texture and lines as a result of this. Brown lipsticks also tend to be more matte based, and any matte lipstick is more drying on the lips and can make the lips look thinner.

2. Avoid: Nude

A nude lipstick that lacks any hint of color, like pink or peach, can make your skin look sallow and dull. With age, the skin can lose some of its natural glow, and a lipstick shade that doesn’t help restore some of that glow, and just blends right into the skin, isn’t going to bring out the radiance in your complexion.

3. Avoid: Dark Red

Aside from the fact that dark red lipstick creates too much of a contrast sometimes if your skin tone has lost some of its natural color, it bleeds easily on the lips and along the lip line. With age, we can lose definition not only in the lips but along the lip border, so an uneven red lip will show more easily.

4. Avoid: Bright Red Lipstick

It goes back to extreme contrast: a bright red lipstick can stand out from a mile away and put an emphasis on thinner lips and fine lines and wrinkles around the mouth. Wearing a more subdued shade of light, muted red will help if your intention is to brighten up your skin.

Try: Tinted Lip Balm

If you’re prone to having chapped, dry lips, getting a tinted lip balm is a great idea to “add a pop of color” to your face without overdoing it, Gabi says. The downfall of this product is that it isn’t long-lasting, so expect to apply it a few times a day. Tinted lip balm can also transfer easily.

Try: A Rose-Tinted Gloss

Gabi is a fan of infusing radiance in the lip (she stresses that matte lipstick can make the lips look smaller). Glosses have the lowest staying power of all lip options, but they look “beautiful” and can be worn alone to plump up small lips or as a layering product over lipstick to enhance color. A rose-tinted gloss is perfect for bringing out the natural color of lips, just kicked up a notch.