Heat-Proof Makeup Over 50 for Mature Skin

You can check the weather. A hot flash doesn't come with a forecast, and it doesn't care that it's 40 degrees outside.

This routine is built for heat you didn't plan on, whether that's a hot flash at your desk or a crowded restaurant with the heat cranked all the way up. It’s a short routine, and the last step is the one you’ll do in a restroom mirror at 3 p.m.

Quick Tips for When You’re Running Hot

• Don't skip primer. If you only have time for one extra step, make it this one. It gives everything after it something to hold on to.

• Use less foundation than you think you need. You can always press on a little more where you want it.

• Switch to cream blush. You tap it on with your fingers, and it won't go patchy the way powder sometimes does by the end of the day.

• Powder once and put it away. Every extra pass shows up later as dryness around your nose and mouth.

• Line your lash line, not your waterline. Liner on the waterline is usually the first thing to smudge.

• Blot, then mist. If you mist first, you're just spreading the shine around.

• Touch up where it shows. Most days that's your nose and chin. The rest of your face is probably fine.

What Heat Does to Makeup on Mature Skin

Drier cheeks, shinier T-zone

Somewhere along the way, a lot of us ended up with two skin types on one face. Cheeks that feel drier than they used to, and a forehead and nose that still get shiny, just like in high school.

Heavy foundation doesn't know what to do with that. It clings to the dry patches and slides off the shiny ones, and heat speeds both up. Primer gives you a head start on both. Our Spackle Primers come in a few versions, including ones made for hydration and for blurring, so you can choose for the skin you have now.

Hot flashes are their own kind of heat

If you've ever been sitting in a perfectly cool room and suddenly felt like you were standing next to a pizza oven, you know. The Cleveland Clinic describes a hot flash as a sudden flare of heat, sweating and flushed skin that usually lasts one to five minutes. You're in good company, too. As many as 3 in 4 people report them in the years leading up to menopause.

They can show up more than once a day, and almost never when there's a mirror nearby. If yours are frequent or disruptive, they're worth bringing up with your doctor. As far as your makeup goes, they're mostly a reason to plan for a quick touch-up in the middle of the day.

Build a Base That Won't Slide, Cake or Melt

Prime for dryness and shine at once

Spackle Skin Perfecting Primer: Brighten-n-Blur was made for the two-skin-types-on-one-face situation. It takes the shine down through your T-zone while botanicals help hydrate the drier spots, and it blurs the look of pores and fine lines so foundation goes on smoother.

If you're dry pretty much everywhere, Spackle Skin Perfecting Primer: Hydrate is the better pick. Whichever one you use, give it about a minute to settle before foundation. It's a good excuse to stand in front of the fan.

Keep your foundation light

The more foundation you put on, the more there is to slide around later. Baked Balance-n-Brighten Color Correcting Foundation gives you light to medium coverage. It goes on like a powder, melts into skin like a cream and is made not to cake or crease into fine lines.

If there's a spot of redness you want to cover a little more, press the foundation on right there with your brush. Looking for a different finish? There's more to choose from in our Baked Makeup collection.

Reach for cream on your cheeks

Cream blush is about as low-effort as makeup gets. You can blend it with your fingertips in about five seconds, which makes it easy to touch up after a heated moment, whether that was a hot flash or another argument about the thermostat. The Wonder Balm is a sheer cream color that adds a little moisture and stays out of fine lines. Tap it onto your cheeks and blend. For more shades, take a look at our Blush, Bronze and Highlight collection.

Set it once and walk away

Matte Maker Translucent Setting Powder soaks up extra oil without drying out or tightening your skin, and it's finely milled, so it won't settle into fine lines. Sweep a light layer over your T-zone, then put it away. If matte isn't your thing, our Setting Powders and Sprays collection has other finishes.

Keep Your Liner and Lipstick Where You Put Them

Liner that doesn't end up under your eyes

Raccoon eyes are cute on raccoons. For the rest of us, it helps to keep liner on the lash line and off the waterline. Kajal Longwear Eyeliner is a soft, chubby pencil that glides right on, and once it sets, it's made not to smear or smudge. If you like a smokier look, blend it out first, while it's still soft.

If your eyes water at every sad commercial, INKcredible Waterproof Gel Eyeliner Pencil is waterproof and made to last all day. Both are in our Eyes Collection, and our guide on how to keep eyeliner from smudging has more tricks.

Lip color that doesn't wander

Lipstick has a way of drifting into the little lines around your mouth once the room heats up. Start with Modern Classic Invisible Color Locking Lip Liner. It's clear, so it goes under whatever color you're wearing. Trace it around your natural lip line to help guard against feathering. On days you skip lipstick, it works as a lip conditioner on its own.

Then add Jelly Balm Hydrating Lip Color. It feels like a balm, gives you soft, shiny color and is comfortable enough to keep on all day.

Your Heat-Proof Routine, Start to Finish

Here's the whole routine in order, in case you want to screenshot it.

• Prime: Spackle Skin Perfecting Primer: Brighten-n-Blur (or Hydrate if you run dry)

• Bake: Baked Balance-n-Brighten Color Correcting Foundation

• Color: The Wonder Balm

• Set: Matte Maker Translucent Setting Powder, just where you get shiny

• Eyes: Kajal Longwear Eyeliner on the lash line

• Lips: Modern Classic Invisible Color Locking Lip Liner, then Jelly Balm Hydrating Lip Color

• Refresh: Spackle Mist Boost with Electrolytes

How to Refresh Your Look Without Starting Over

Around 3 p.m., it's tempting to wipe it all off and start again. You don't need to.

Blot first. Press a blotting paper or a clean tissue over the shiny spots to lift the oil. Then hold Spackle Mist Boost with Electrolytes about 8 to 10 inches from your face and mist lightly. It's a weightless mist made to use over makeup anytime you want to refresh. 

If you need a little more after that, touch up only where you need it. For most of us that's around the nose and under the eyes.

Geller Gal Tip: On a day you know will be hot, keep a few blotting papers and the mist in your bag. Our Travel Friendly collection has smaller sizes that fit easily.

Habits Worth Breaking Before the Heat Hits

• Skipping primer to save time. It feels like the optional step, but in the heat it's the one holding everything else in place.

• Treating powder like a security blanket. Every extra pass adds up, and eventually your skin starts to look dry instead of fresh.

• Wiping sweat away with your hand. It drags foundation along with it. Press a tissue on and lift instead.

No Forecast Needed

You still won't get any warning before the next hot flash. This time, though, you'll have a plan: blot, mist and carry on like nothing happened. Nobody else needs to know.

Every other step in this routine builds on primer, so that's the place to start. Find the Spackle Primer that fits your skin.