Best Cruelty-Free Makeup for Women Over 50

Someday, it may happen to you: You’ll make up your face with all your reliable favorites, look in the mirror, and think, “Why does it look like I drew all over my face with crayons?” Whether you’ve developed visible aging signs such as wrinkles or not, the texture of your skin changes when you reach a certain age (for me, it was 52), and it may be time to unlearn everything you know about what works for you. This guide to vegan and cruelty-free makeup for people with mature skin and women over 50 will help you get started.

General Makeup Tips for Women Over 50

The most important things I’ve had to keep in mind are:

• Don’t put anything powdery directly on your skin. It can accentuate even the finest lines and wrinkles.
• Avoid anything glittery or metallic. It has the same drawbacks, but worse.
• If the skin around your eyes is starting to sag, you may want to reconsider the dramatic cat’s-eye look and try simply lining your eyes, adding a tiny flick at the corner if you’d like.
• Use brushes rather than the small applicators that come with eyeshadow and blush. I would recommend this to anyone at any age, but it’s especially helpful now that proper blending may be getting a bit trickier. Here’s a great starter kit from e.l.f., and please make sure to choose synthetic brushes over those made with animal hair.

Vegan Skincare for Aging Skin

Having a solid skincare routine is crucial to the way your makeup interacts with your skin. Luckily, a healthy vegan diet gives you a great start, providing skin-friendly nutrients like vitamins C and E. And if you haven’t gotten into the sunscreen habit yet, it’s never too late.

There are plentiful options for anti-aging skincare products that are vegan and cruelty free; try e.l.f.’s Youth Boosting Advanced Night Retinoid Serum or Thrive Causemetics’ Defying Gravity moisturizer. Looking for more tips? We have a full-length article that delves more deeply into vegan and cruelty-free anti-aging skincare.

Here’s a secret I discovered through pure laziness: If you don’t have the patience for a whole routine, you may get surprisingly good results from simply using an inexpensive konjac sponge with water twice a day. After two weeks, my dark circles vanished and my skin was softer than it’s ever been.

Prime Everything

A good primer creates a smooth canvas for the rest of your makeup, which you’ll find is more important now. I like to use a Smashbox Photo Finish primer on my face (I use the redness control version, but there are varieties for pretty much any skin concern you might have), and Urban Decay’s Eyeshadow Primer Potion on my eyelids.

Cruelty-Free Foundations for Mature Skin

This depends on the type of finish you prefer on your skin. For full coverage that doesn’t cake or settle into wrinkles, try this Il Makiage foundation that comes in a wide range of colors for various skin types, or this budget-friendly option from e.l.f. that comes in dozens of different shades. For lighter coverage, you might prefer a tinted moisturizer such as this one from Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty line, or a CC cream like e.l.f.’s Camo CC cream. Whichever you choose, I recommend applying a small amount (you can always add more) with a stippling brush and blending it out with a damp Beauty Blender.

Blush and Contouring

This is a category where our “no powder directly on skin/no glitter” rules come into play. There are several options at e.l.f for non-sparkly cream or liquid blush (try their putty blush), and they make a cream contouring kit that I swear by—plus, their prices are so reasonable that you can afford to play around with a few options and see what works best for you.

Eyes

Your lashes get shorter, straighter, and sparser as you get older. This can lead to a problem beyond the obvious aesthetic one—it’s easier for flakes of makeup to fall into your eyes and cause irritation or even infections. The products listed here will help you avoid that.

Once you’re properly primed, a cream eyeshadow crayon is easy to apply and may last for hours (primer is absolutely essential for good results). You may want to experiment with lighter shades than you normally use, which will brighten your eye area. For an affordable version, e.l.f comes through once again. For eyeliner, KVD Beauty’s Tattoo Liner lives up to its considerable hype. A tubing mascara will restore some of the length and curl of your lashes and eliminate the flaking issue—I like Tarte’s Tartlette Tubing Mascara or Thrive Causemetics’ Liquid Lash ™ Extensions Mascara. For liner and mascara, you’ll fare better by sticking with black, as brown shades can make your eyes look tired. If you find black liner is too harsh for you, try a soft black, plum, a very dark gray or a softer pencil that you can blend out a bit—and be sure to avoid shades with names like “super black” or “intense black.”

A defined brow is one of your best defenses against fading features. For me, the eyebrows have been an exception to the “avoid powder” rule, and I just use a little bit of brown eyeshadow and a brow brush. However, there are many different formulas—for example, Thrive Causemetics’ Instant Brow Fix gel applies more like mascara, and It Cosmetics has a gel option.

If you have dark circles, you’ll want to use a good concealer – as always, a light hand is important. Try Il Makiage’s Mystique Concealer Palette, which will allow you to experiment with different shades until you find the perfect one. A light shade on the inner corner of your eyes is a good idea.

Lips

Aging skin tends to be drier, and that includes your lips. When you’re not wearing lipstick, keep them hydrated with a balm like Pacifica’s Vegan Collagen Complex lip balm or Lavender Moon bedtime lip treatment. You may also want to exfoliate with something like Lush’s Cookie Dough lip scrub.

Much like foundation, preferences for lip color can vary quite a bit by individual. I prefer a long-wear formula because honestly, who has time to reapply lipstick all day? My go-to is Beauty Bakerie’s matte Lip Whips, while my sister prefers NYX Shine Loud High Shine lip color, which is shiny and super-hydrating. If you’re looking for a more traditional lipstick, Thrive Causemetics’ Impact-FULL™ Smoothing Lipstick is a good option.

A More Permanent Solution

If your hands aren’t as steady as they used to be, you have arthritis, or you’re just tired of doing your makeup every day, you may want to look into getting eyeliner, brows, or lip color tattooed on, or having lash extensions done. Tattoos normally need to be freshened up every five years or so, and lash extensions last about six weeks. You’ll need to contact salons near you to make sure the ink they use is vegan, and that extensions are synthetic rather than mink.

Hair Color for Older Women

Gray hair is having a moment right now—if you’d like to rock your natural look, you may want to try a purple or silver shampoo to keep it from looking yellowish and dingy.

For 100% gray coverage, eSalon has gorgeous, dimensional colors that are custom blended for you—plus, they make root cover-up kits that will buy you some time between having to re-dye.

If you’re thinking, “that’s all well and good, but what if I want teal or magenta hair?”, I’ve had good luck with Overtone’s color-depositing conditioners, in the extreme (i.e., darkest) shades only—please note that they don’t guarantee grey coverage, this is just something that’s worked for me. They also make conditioners in more natural colors that are perfect for keeping your color from fading over time.

Why Vegan and Cruelty-Free?

It’s easy to look great without harming animals. Buying synthetic brushes and lashes ensures that animals like minks and sables aren’t trapped, drowned, and beaten to death in the wild and strangled, electrocuted, or beaten and skinned alive in the fur industry. Choosing cruelty-free cosmetics spares sensitive, emotionally complex animals like rats and rabbits from cruel, painful tests.

Find more cruelty-free and vegan options in PETA’s database of cruelty-free companies.

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