How to Cover Up Wrinkles the Right Way!

“Wrinkles tell our life’s story.” or “Wrinkles are our lives’ mirrors and traces of happiness.” – I don’t like these phrases. I’d rather do something against wrinkles. Do you feel the same? Then please feel free to read this article.

The topic of this article is how to cover up wrinkles – we will talk about it in detail and give tips about how to do it properly.

Before we start there are four important things to know:

Wrinkles are the skin’s natural signs of aging.
If the first wrinkles show, you can’t cover them up completely.
There are a few tips and tricks to cover up wrinkles the best way.
Our main focus will always be to retain a natural and fresh look – that’s all we need.

Table of Contents

Covering up wrinkles – what do I need to know?

Once you get past the carefree and wrinkle-free age of 20 you will start to face this topic almost every day. It’s about the ideal way of concealing these signs – on a daily beauty routine.

Therefore I will give you some general advice on what you need to pay attention to:

If you set accents to other facial parts the wrinkles will be less visible to others – or rather, the attention will be diverted to other parts.
A light foundation with a low amount of powder does not settle too much in the wrinkles. That way a natural complexion can be obtained (more coming up later).
Feel free to use a yellowish make up tone if you need to conceal little red veins.
The more mature your skin the less you should use facial powder. At most you should use it on shiny skin parts of your T-zone.
The same applies for rouge. If you use too much the colouring contrast could be exaggerated.
Eyebrows should be highlighted because they shape the face and give expression. Small gaps should be filled with a pencil for eyebrows to accentuate the eyes.
The lips should also have a clear outline – a lip liner can be useful for this. To make your lips look bigger you should use some gloss, they will look full and youthful.
The topic “eye wrinkles” will be discussed later in this article. It is an important topic and there are things that can be done wrong.

How to conceal wrinkles – for a natural look

When I first started concealing my wrinkles I had to admit to myself that I’m not 20 anymore. It is important to understand that skin gets older – you need to change your make-up habits accordingly. It will become harder to maintain a natural look. Why?

The facial skin will be more and more demanding while aging. The way you used make-up until now might look put-on or fake. This needs to be avoided while dealing with wrinkles. Your daily make-up routine needs to be reconsidered. In fact, it needs to be rethought more strongly the more mature your skin is.

Not only is your age important, but also your lifestyle. Sun as well as lack of exercise and vitamin deficiency will affect our skin. But this is something that should be discussed in another topic.

What exactly does it mean to “cover up wrinkles”? Here are some basic tips for a natural complexion while concealing wrinkles:

Our skin changes with our age. The amount of moisture will lessen and the skin will get thinner.
The collagen fibers will lessen, which means our skin will get softer and get wrinkled.
And exactly these wrinkles are my biggest problem while putting on make-up. The make-up should not be too dry or else it will displace around or set into the wrinkles.
That’s why I recommend you to use only light and liquid concealing products to cover up wrinkles!
If you buy a concealer, foundation or rouge, you should absolutely pay attention to that it is creamy and not powdery! That way it will be less likely to displace.
But at the same time your make-up products for wrinkles should not be too rich and heavy. Otherwise, the product will lie on your skin and make it more of a mask than a natural look.
Your cheeks will be less likely to have wrinkles – putting on make-up there won’t be as problematic as on the area around your eyes or mouth.
If you haven’t chosen your foundation in a darker tone you should use rouge to bring life to your cheeks. That way your face will look lively.

No matter the reason – job-related or private, we all want to radiate a certain freshness and vitality. That’s our reason why concealing wrinkles should look natural – one will seem more laid-back and adventurous.

My tip: An alternative to foundation

Instead of foundation, you can also use a tinted day cream. It is also called BB cream and is offered by almost all big manufacturers. Such a cream is well suited for a natural look without being displaced around the wrinkles or looking like a mask.
The difference between this cream and foundation: not as rich and has a lighter texture, which is more pleasant to put on.
Just as the name implies, this cream moisturizes the skin without giving the skin an unnatural shimmer. That way you won’t need to use powder.
Dior’s Hydra Life Water BB worked for me because it’s light and skin-compatible (unfortunately it’s a bit more expensive than most BB cream products).

How to cover up eye wrinkles

Wrinkles around the eyes are a different topic than wrinkles in general. That’s why we are going to focus this topic in a separate chapter.

Powder and powdery concealing products should be banned from the eye area. The skin is soft and wrinkly and powdery substances will set there directly. It only emphasises the wrinkles.

After using a liquid make-up foundation, at most, you can apply powder on the moving part of the eye lid. If your skin on the T-zone tends to oily shimmer you can also apply powder there. But that really should be all. Don’t use any more powder.

The concealer can be with shimmering mother-of-pearl particles. These particles are iridescent and make the skin look softer. The more mature and wrinkly the skin looks the bigger the result of this optical effect.

Mother-of-pearl particles are ok for make-up, but not for eye shadow. This kind of eye shadow will emphasise the wrinkles of your eye lids instead of softening them.

You should not use the smokey-eye look in advanced age. The wrinkles will be underlined and your eyes can look zombie-like in the worst case. That’s something we really want to avoid, right?

By the way, we will write a separate post concerning treatment for dark circles around the eyes.

How to cover up wrinkles around the eyes

Putting on make-up on your eyes is a difficult topic. There are a few tips I can give you. So the following should be considered:

Black eyeliner on the upper lid will make the eyes more expressive.
You can easily blur the hard lines with cotton swabs.
You can also blur the eyeliner with a matching eye shadow.
Mascara may be used not only on the upper but also on the lower eye lashes. The mascara should not be too dry or else it will form lumps.
You should avoid bright and screaming colours for your eyes.

To let wrinkles temporarily disappear around your eyes it’s important to use a good moisturizer. If used as a base it will certainly make your skin look fresher and firmer. That way it will be a lot easier to cover up wrinkles on these sensitive skin parts.

What works best against deep wrinkles?

To cover up deep wrinkles a liquid foundation is essential! The foundation helps to gain an even complexion and covers well without looking unnatural or being mask-like.

For the deep wrinkles under your eyes you need to use a liquid concealer instead of foundation. It does not settle deeply into the wrinkles and therefore seems more natural.

Like I mentioned before you should almost completely abstain from powder. But if you can’t pass on it you should never forget to apply it sparingly. Otherwise it will rather display the wrinkles instead of concealing them.

It is important to moisturize even deep wrinkles. A good moisturizing serum (with Hyaluronic Acid or Vitamin C), which is used before your day cream, can give your skin a kick of freshness.

It is important to always remove your make-up before going to bed and to cleanse your skin in the morning. After your gentle cleansing routine a moisturizer should be applied every time.

You should start thinking about a good Anti-Ageing Serum in your early to middle thirties. To not worsen your deep wrinkles it is important to use a permanent sun blocker. UV rays ignore age and skin type – they are the worst wrinkle producer.

In order to hide deep facial wrinkles and other skin imperfections, try using a Camouflage Cream. These are strongly pigmented make-up products being able to cover prominent skin unevenness as well as liver spots or damaged skin.

Most common errors concerning concealing wrinkles

Concealing wrinkles has to be learned – the more mature the skin the more important is this principle. Therefore we will list a few possible errors you can do while hiding wrinkles:

While concealing wrinkles with age 45 you still use the same techniques and products as with age 20. Don’t do it, you skin needs a different treatment when you get older.
Putting on make-up while ignoring your skin type – the products were not chosen depending on your skin type, the colours don’t match your facial skin tone, and existing skin blemishes are not treated the proper way. Take your time choosing make-up and get some help if you are unsure.
Eyebrows are not highlighted sufficiently or are overemphasised. Neat and correct emphasised eyebrows are the most important thing of your anti-aging make-up routine. If you pick a colour you can orient yourself based on your hair colour. Normally, eyebrow pencils are marked with “blonde”, “light-brown” or “dark-brown”. If you want to be on the safe side you can ask in a drugstore or a beautician.
Too strong lines can make our face look older. Kajal or black eyeliner should not be overused. Try to smooth hard lines with a cotton stick or matching eye shadow.
Concealer is used on unvarnished skin. That way blemishes are rather emphasised than covered up. A concealer should be used on a liquid and transparent base foundation.
The use of dark foundation to get your skin more colourful can reverse the desired effect. Our skin might look even sallower. You should rather discreetly use rouge – it looks more natural.
Too much powder is used. Because our skin will dry with age, powder is will set in the wrinkles and thereby emphasises them instead of covering. Mature skin should know: keep your hands off of powder!

My conclusion on how to properly cover up wrinkles

It’s time to shortly summarise our make-up tips for wrinkles:

We should always ask ourselves if our daily make-up routine is up-to-date. Does it fit my age, skin type or even lifestyle?
Things I used in my twenties won’t work for my older self. This goes for make-up techniques as well as concealing products.
While getting older our skin dries and gets more complicated. To reduce wrinkles I would recommend you to use products that are especially made for mature skin.
Skin-matching foundation and concealer should be used instead of powder. Else you might emphasise your wrinkles instead of hiding them.
Properly shaped and tended eyebrows will make our face have more expression and redirect others’ gaze from wrinkles or other blemishes.
Dry skin needs moisturizing. First, a preparatory Fruit Acid Peeling, following a moisturizing serum and lastly, a good Skin Care Cream can make miracles happen.
The less the better. The best look needs the proper dosage of anything. This is important for make-up as well as other things.