Beauty Thought Leader: Elise Marquam-Jahns
Your spring makeup routine over 50 deserves a fresh look, and the right drugstore products can give you a gorgeous, glowy complexion that feels just as alive as the season.
I was inspired to create a fun spring drugstore makeup look when our family recently made a trip to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, which is a real treasure in our area. Our grandkids know us very well, and for Christmas this year they gave us a yearlong membership. In the spring we especially love seeing all the flowering trees, as well as the gorgeous redbud trees in all their full glory.
The pinks, purples, and blues from BH Cosmetics’ Summer in St. Tropez palette seemed like the perfect eyeshadow choice for today’s look. Unfortunately this palette seems to be sold out on the BH Cosmetics website and it’s unclear if it’s coming back, but other drugstore palettes I love to pull out this time of year include ColourPop’s Lilac You a Lot and their In the Springs palette.
What I feel really complements these beautiful springtime eyeshadow colors is face makeup that’s soft and glowy. And the drugstore products I’ll be talking about and demonstrating are the key to creating a gorgeous glowy springtime look.
Brows: A Softer Spring Approach
The first product is one that I feel works especially well for a softer spring look, and it’s actually the product I used today on my eyebrows. Rather than filling in my brows precisely with a brow powder and pencil like I usually do, I simply used the e.l.f. Wow Brow Gel to give my brows some color and greater fullness, due to the built-in fibers. It’s definitely a softer look. But I also need a product to cover up my white and gray eyebrow hairs, and that’s when Maybelline’s product comes in handy. It’s their Maybelline Express Brow Ultra Slim Pencil, which gives a beautifully precise finish.
Creating a Glowy Complexion: The Heart of a Spring Makeup Routine Over 50
When I picture a beautiful spring makeup look, the first thing I envision is beautiful, healthy, glowing skin. There are many different ways to accomplish this look, and skincare and skin prep before makeup are crucial, as we all know. But there are also some specific products that can be absolute game-changers.
How to Control Your Glow: Primers, Foundation, and Skin Type
Two of my favorites are the next two products, which can be used in multiple ways to create stunning glowy skin. They can be applied after moisturizer and before foundation as a face primer, mixed in with foundation, or applied over makeup in strategic places.
Just how much glow we can create depends on two things. First, when in our makeup routine we apply a glowy product. If we apply a glowy face primer before foundation, we most likely won’t see as much glow as we would if we mix the glowy product with our foundation.
Second, the other products we’re applying along with it. If we mix a glowy product into a foundation that has a strong matte finish, we won’t see as much glow as we would with a foundation that has a more skin-like or satin finish. And of course, if we mix a glowy product in with a glowy foundation, we might end up looking a bit like an oil slick by the end of the day! We also have to keep in mind what works best for us. If we have dry, combination, or oily skin, those of us with oily skin may not need to add any glowy product as a face primer or mix it in with foundation.
Product 2: Flower Beauty Supernova Celestial Skin Elixir
The first of these two great drugstore glow products is the Flower Beauty Supernova Celestial Skin Elixir. This is a product I’d never talked about before because, frankly, I never knew about it until recently, although it’s been around for quite a long time.
It first launched in 2018. It’s a gel serum with a pearlescent pigment that turns into an easy-to-apply, slightly thicker liquid when applied to the skin, and creates a soft, hydrated complexion that helps foundation glide on more easily. It’s a blend of six antioxidant-rich oils including jojoba seed oil, camellia seed oil, and kukui nut oil, all of which nourish, protect, and soothe the skin.Â
I love the lovely glassy, skin-like look that it creates, especially when mixed with foundation or applied over foundation. It can also be used as a moisturizer after cleansing, as a face primer, or added to foundation for even more glow. And if you love the idea of a Flower Beauty illuminating serum, their Afterglow Luminous Serum is another beautiful option from the brand worth exploring.
Discretion is the name of the game when applying this one. You don’t need nearly as much as I used in the video!
Product 3: ColourPop Liquid Light Glow Drops
The second beautiful drugstore option is ColourPop’s Liquid Light Glow Drops, which come in three colors: Petalite, which is a silvery soft baby pink; Sun O’Clock, which is an icy champagne; and Venice Boulevard, which is a warm golden bronze. This is an ultra-reflective liquid highlighter for face or body that is weightless and blends in effortlessly. It has light-reflecting super pearls and is infused with squalane to boost hydration as well.
As with the Flower Beauty product, you can wear it alone, mix it with foundation, use it as a highlighter, or even add it to body lotion. You can always mix any of these colors together, or mix them with other highlighters or blushes in your collection, to create a custom look. And I have a hunch you could even use the beautiful warm golden bronze shade, Venice Boulevard, as an eyeshadow! If you’re looking for a similar liquid highlighter from ColourPop, their Hi-Lite Dewy Liquid Highlighter is a great option with the same buildable, blendable glow.
These two products create a different kind of glow. The Flower Beauty elixir is more liquidy and spreads easily; the ColourPop drops have a slightly thicker texture and a more metallic look. Both are beautiful, and once foundation goes on over them, the glow calms down to a very flattering, approachable level.
Product 4: Flower Beauty Spotlight Liquid Highlighter
The fourth product is for those who want some glow but perhaps not quite as much as the two previous products provide. It’s a longtime cult favorite from Flower Beauty and a remarkable dupe for one of Charlotte Tilbury’s liquid highlighters. It’s Flower Beauty’s Spotlight Liquid Highlighter, and I have it in the shade Opal, which is a white gold. It also comes in Gleam, which is a rose gold, and Gilded, which is a bronze shade.
These can be strategically applied to areas where you’d like to create additional glow, such as along the upper cheekbones and at the top of the Cupid’s bow. It’s a squeeze tube with a sponge-tip applicator, and fortunately there is a way to twist the top to keep the product from leaking. This is truly one of Flower Beauty’s best products.
Concealing and Color Correcting With NYX Pro Fix Sticks
Product 5: NYX Pro Fix Sticks for Spring Makeup Over 50
The fifth product that can help create a beautiful springtime look is from NYX. It’s their Pro Fix Sticks, which are not only wonderfully easy to use and handy, but which also offer a wide range of shades not only for concealing but also for color correcting. You can use them to deal with redness, blemishes, dark spots, under-eye circles, and discoloration. After color correcting, layer on the complexion shades as needed to conceal and brighten. What I love most is that they layer flawlessly under or over foundation, or for a full-face fix. Since they’re very slim and have an angled tip, it’s possible to apply them very precisely.
Here’s how the color-correcting shades can help:
- 0.1 Green neutralizes redness on light to medium skin tones
- 0.2 Pink brightens and conceals discoloration on fair to medium skin tones
- 0.3 Yellow brightens and conceals discoloration on fair to light skin tones
- 0.4 Dark Peach brightens and conceals discoloration on medium to deep skin tones
- 0.5 Apricot conceals hyperpigmentation and offsets dark areas on deep skin tones
- 0.6 Brick Red corrects deep discoloration on rich, deep skin tones
I used the Pink shade under my eyes, the Fair shade as my light contour (applied in the marionette lines, over the Cupid’s bow, and down the center of the face), and the Light shade to cover age spots and other discoloration. These are really nice and creamy, and the NYX Pro Fix Sticks have been a standout discovery for me this year.
Blush: The Mistake-Proof Way to a Soft Spring Glow
Product 6: Hard Candy Face Off Luminous Liquid Blush
I tried some makeup brands this year that hadn’t previously been on my radar screen, and when I saw a positive review of this liquid blush from the drugstore brand Hard Candy, I decided to take a chance. I’m so glad I did. This is Hard Candy’s Face Off Luminous Liquid Blush. It’s a slightly dewy, gel-like product that is not only buildable but also mistake-proof to apply, because it’s almost impossible to overdo the application. And I think the mistake-proof feature is a big deal for most of us, especially when we’re talking about all-too-easy-to-go-wrong blush products.
The soft glow this blush creates is not only lovely for a soft spring makeup look, but the product itself is comprised of skin-loving ingredients such as vitamins, peptides, hyaluronic acid, and squalane. It’s also vegan and cruelty-free. One of the biggest selling points for me is the applicator. It’s similar to a lip gloss applicator, so you’re not dealing with an overly large doe foot that immediately deposits too much product. This applicator allows for easy and precise application.
Don’t be fooled by the image on the tube. This blush definitely doesn’t come off as metallic. It’s just a soft, dewy look, which is a great look on more mature skin. The shades available include Pop Star (a beautiful but extremely light lavender, best for very fair skin), Born Yesterday (a lovely baby bubblegum pink that sheers out to a soft pink, the one I’m wearing today), Who Is She (a slightly deeper, more muted pink with a hint of mauve), Sparks Fly (a lovely peach shade), and Beel (a light bronze).
I don’t think this blush has gotten the hype it should. It’s a really wonderful product. For more options at every price point, check out Elise’s guide to the best blushes for mature skin.
Finishing the Look: Foundation and Lips
For foundation, I used a mixture of L’Oreal’s Age Perfect Serum Foundation with Catrice’s True Skin Hydrating Foundation. The L’Oreal foundation has a bit of a glow, but when mixed with the Catrice foundation it becomes more of a satin to matte finish, which helped calm down the glow from my two primers beautifully.
For lips, I finished with L’Oreal Age Perfect lip liner, Milani lipstick in Violet Volt, and Juvia’s Place lip gloss in So Glazed, which is a beautiful metallic shimmery pink. Another fun option is the NYX Jumbo Multi-Use Stick in what I believe is the shade Blueberry.
I’d love to know in the comments below what some of your favorite products are to use for a spring glowy makeup look. Thank you so much for giving me the gift of your time. I wish you good health and happiness, and I hope you have a fabulous rest of your day!
About the Author:
Elise Marquam-Jahns is a professional, working makeup-artist who is passionate about helping women 45+ get their glow back. In addition to her work as a makeup artist for a major cosmetics line, she founded Boomer and Beyond Beauty. She is also an author and a speaker. Be sure to check out Elise’s YouTube channel which specifically focuses on makeup tips, techniques, and product reviews for those of us 45+ and don’t forget to subscribe. She also does personalized online Zoom makeup consultations so be sure to contact her at boomerandbeyondbeauty@gmail.com if you’d like to work with her. And, if you’d like to receive more inspiration each week, check out her weekly newsletter here.
