AARP Eye Center
| Our favorite fast beauty fix for women age 50-plus? Just add fabulous eyeglasses. Whether prescription or off-the-rack readers, these little powerhouses of style make us feel cool, fashionable and downright glam. Have all the frame fun you want, but here's one major oversight we neglect: how lenses distort or exaggerate mature eyes and our eye makeup goofs and gaffes. Here are 10 tips to keep your look specs-tacular.
1. Frame color has a cosmetic effect
Whether your frame is classic or trendy, choose a color that looks good but works hard. Black, tortoiseshell, dark navy, burgundy or charcoal define and strengthen aging eyes like instant eyeliner. Soft taupe, gray and tan have a gentle sculpting effect and can chisel cheekbones or slim faces, kind of like contour makeup. Sheer or opaque frames in pink, rose, honey or amber brighten dull, ashy, fatigued or pasty complexions like instant blush. But while attention-getting frames in bright red, turquoise or multicolor combos are memorable, they can be overpowering. Save them for occasional readers and keep the focus on you.
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Meryl Streep in angular taupe butterfly-shaped frames that chisel cheekbones and lift and open eyes.
PAUL MORIGI/WIREIMAGE/GETTY IMAGES
2. Farsighted?
You see distances well but need help with close-ups, like when reading your Kindle, checking your phone and shopping online. Your glasses magnify so that eyes look bigger (a bonus for small eyes!), but they also magnify crepey lids, circles, puffiness, and sloppy or overdone makeup. Get a dual-side 10-times amplification mirror that swivels from supersized to normal. It will improve your makeup skills, and keep application precise and blending airbrush perfect. No more smears, smudges, messy liner and gloppy lashes. Lucky you: You really can go all out, and do the smokiest eyes or line your lower lash line's inner and outer rim for emphasis.
Rita Moreno in large classic tortoiseshell frames, with precision liner above and below the eyes for extra definition and shape.
TARA ZIEMBATARA ZIEMBA/FILMMAGIC/GETTY IMAGES
3. Nearsighted?
You see swell up close, but distances are trouble. No matter how luminous and large your real-life eyes are, behind the lenses they look smaller. If your eyes are deep set or hooded, that's double trouble. They can appear sunken, almost invisible. Black eyeliner saves the day, but be sure to match liner thickness to frame thickness. Do a thinner tight line with skinny frames (concentrating liner as close as possible to lash roots), and do a thicker liner with more substantial frames. Learn to line the under rim of upper lashes to fill the gap and power up eye shape. Keep lid shadow in a soft, shimmery sand or peach shade rather than a dark or matte one that closes up the eyes. Try lining the lower waterline with nude or ivory to open up your eyes even more.
