No one likes aging but it is inevitable. As we grow old we get more and more wrinkles on our faces. Too much makeup seems to make the wrinkles look worse, but too little makeup doesn’t help us look refreshed and lively. You have to find a balance. This makeup trick of mine shows you how to diminish deeper-set wrinkles, such as those that run from the nose to outside of the mouth. I will show you that what you can do is carefully apply pressed powder in a lighter (than your foundation) beige color with a brush. This cuts back on the wrinkles shadows and makes the deep groove look less severe.

Concealer and foundation

Now, most women know that a bit of flaw concealer applied with a makeup sponge, followed by a light liquid foundation applied and blended with clean fingers, can help smooth out the skin and cover your flaws. The importance of concealer and foundation are a given. If yours aren’t working for you, consider switching brands. Consistency and color of the makeup can make a big difference in its effectiveness. The next step to give your self the final touched up finish is to use the pressed powder makeup illusion that I will describe.

Pressed powder illusion makeup trick

This is the trick for touching up deep set wrinkles with makeup. Remember, you do this after the concealer and foundation step are complete. You’ll need to purchase a medium, fine precision makeup brush for this. You will also need a good pressed powder compact makeup. You have to find a powder color and consistency that is right for your skin type. One that I like is Cover Girl Trublend. The true blend pressed powder compact gets five star reviews consistently on the beauty product and cosmetic sites I’ve seen, and it works great for this trick.

In the old days, our moms would take a giant puffy puff and dust poof puff their face with a loose beige powder. Remember those? Not today! Take the precision makeup brush, dip it lightly into the pressed powder compact, and carefully touch up the deeper set wrinkles. That’s right, paint the grooves and shadows. The pressed powder color is the key to success. It should be barely, barely lighter in shade than what your skin color looks like with the concealer and foundation already applied.

Nasolabial wrinkes and lines and Chin under lip

The barely lighter color is going to literally erase the wrinkles and flaws for you. Just paint it gently on to the dark shadowed spots. This works amazingly well to visually diminish wrinkles that extend to from the nose to the sides of the mouth. By lightening the grooves, the shadows created by the wrinkles get erased and the eye doesn’t notice them so much. This also works great for the chin area because the chin gets dark shadows. If you have a droopy lower lip you get a dark shadow cast under that bottom lip. The powder touchup trick makes your lower lip and chin look lighter and better.

Try to get the pressed powder color in a natural looking light beige shade (but not white or you’ll be able to see it and it will be too obvious!). Getting a natural looking beige or nude shade that lightens the shadows without showing itself makes the difference between looking naturally better or looking like there is makeup there. Practice applying it lightly, the makeup brush really helps.

Pressed powder works wonders on the deep set wrinkles

Now the pressed powder trick works best on the deeper wrinkles, which are usually the ones around the mouth running from the nostrils to the outside corners of the mouth. It also works under the bottom lip and on the chin if there are dark grooves or shadows. If you have deep furrows on the forehead or a strong vertical scowl line between the eyes it can work for that too.

Use the pressed powder trick where it is most effective which is for the deeper set facial lines only. Fine lines such as crow’s feet should be handled totally differently (you really don’t put powder on the fine crinkle facial lines because it can make them look worse. Instead you draw attention away from them and I will show you how to do that in a separate beauty tip).

In the meantime, beat those deep set wrinkles with the pressed powder trick. Nasolabial fold wrinkles not only look bad, they cast dark shadows and draw attention downward on the face. By lightening nasolabial folds, you not only diminish the grooves, you get a free facelift effect by eliminating the downward draw of dark shadows on the lower part of your face.

Finish with a light bronzer

Once you are done with your pressed powder touchup you can go on to apply your bronzer or a finishing mineral powder with a jumbo brush for a hint of sun kissed glow. If your powder touchups left any visual clues behind, the mineral powder step with a large makeup brush will blend it all in nicely.

I learned makeup tricks from photo retouching

One last thing I should mention is that I’ve done digital touchups and makeovers on face photographs for years. I discovered my pressed powder w/brush trick from doing digital makeovers. I know that deep nasolabial groove wrinkles cast dark shadows in a photo and in real life. When I lighten such flaws in a digital photograph using a paint program, I can transform a models face to look literally years younger.

I realized this same retouching trick can be achieved using makeup. I thought to copy cat what I was doing in the PhotoShop software using makeup. I started using a light beige pressed powder and a precision makeup brush to touch up my nasolabial lines and chin shadows because I knew the visual effect that worked digitally in Photoshop could be replicated with makeup. Believe me, it really works and it’s a lot cheaper than getting those Restylane injections in your nasolabial fold!