Just when you get your makeup routine down cold, new challenges like thinning brows, droopy lids, and sunspots step in to throw you off your game. But that’s nothing a little expert coaching can’t fix. We tapped Bobbi Brown, professional makeup artist and CEO of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, to share her secrets for keeping your look youthful and beautiful at 40 and beyond. 

  1. How to camouflage lip lines Step one: never skip moisturizer, especially around your mouth. It helps plump the skin, making any fine lines near your upper lip less noticeable, Brown explains. As for grooves on your actual lips, start with a balm with beeswax, like Burt’s Bees Beeswax Lip Balm ($3.30, burtsbees.com). The emollient ingredient softens lip lines and creates a barrier that keeps lip color from pooling in your lip grooves and drawing more attention to them. Finally, line your mouth with a pencil that matches your natural lip color to prevent feathering, and follow up with a creamy matte lipstick, like Ilia’s Tinted Lip Conditioner ($26, ilia.com), which contains moisturizing castor, sunflower, jojoba, and sesame seed oils to further soften any remaining lines. MORE: 9 Bad Habits That Make Winter Skin So Much Worse
  2. How to get foundation to go on smoothly over your retinol cream Retinol creams, which stimulate collagen growth, are so good at fixing wrinkles that the FDA classifies them as one of just two ingredients that can officially claim to be anti-aging (the other is sunscreen). The downside: foundation doesn’t exactly go on smoothly over them—the cream forms a film that can get lumpy or even pill when you try to apply makeup on top. To get a smooth foundation application without sacrificing the power of retinol, try this layering trick: Apply a basic lotion or cream without any active ingredients, like Dr. Robin Daily Moisture Cream ($12, drrobin.md), after you’ve applied your retinol cream and before you apply your foundation, creating a smooth barrier between the two. Wait a minute between each layer to give it time to sink into the skin.
  3. How to make filled-in brows look natural Truth time: Whether they thinned naturally with age or are still recovering from years of over-eager tweezing, your brows aren’t as thick as they used to be. Restore them to their former glory (and make it look believable) with Brown’s 4-step process: “Start by using the pencil to fill in your brows with short, featherlike strokes,” Brown says. “Next, layer a coat of powder over the pencil with an angled brow brush, use a brow comb to soften and blend the brow, and set with brow gel.” Not sure which color is right for you? Choose shades that match the darkest tones in your hair to add definition and create an eye-opening effect, she says.
  4. How to hide sun damage Photo by Nicole Hill Gerulat/Getty Images Chances are you weren’t always a dedicated sunscreen user, and now you’ve got the sun spots to prove it. If you don’t want to splurge on pricey laser treatments, try this makeup vanishing act: First, use your finger to cover each spot with a yellow-based concealer (it looks more natural than red- or blue-toned shades) two shades lighter than your skin tone, like the ones from Dermablend ($37, dermablend.com), Brown says. Then, pat—don’t rub—your regular foundation over the spots, blending it beyond the edges of each one, and set it by lightly brushing loose yellow-toned powder over your entire face and chest.
  5. How to soften the lines running from your nose to mouth Downplay the fold running from your nose to your mouth (your nasolabial fold, to be exact) by using a rich moisturizer for a plumping effect, then applying a creamy liquid foundation, like Covergirl Smoothers All-Day Hydrating Makeup ($8, covergirl.com), to your entire face, making sure to apply it in the folds, too, to disguise shadows, Brown says. Bonus: Draw attention away from this trouble spot—and direct it to your cheekbones—by blending a bright pink blush, like RMS Lip2cheek in Beloved ($36, rmsbeauty.com), onto the apples of your cheeks.
  6. How to get fuller lips without injections Photo by Peter Dazeley/Getty Images The more candles on your cake, the more likely you are to have thinning lips, thanks to a lack of hydrating oil glands and a loss of bone density, which can cause them start to roll inward and look thinner due to the less-robust support structure around your mouth. But you don’t need to deal with needles to reverse the effect. Line your lips with a pencil a shade deeper than your natural lip color to define the outer edges, then fill them in with a creamy lipstick in a lighter hue, like a soft rose or peach, which will reflect light and create the illusion of fullness, Brown explains. For extra oomph, finish the look with a gloss that contains collagen-boosting palmitoyl oligopeptide, like Cargo’s Essential Lip Gloss ($16, cargocosmetics.com).
  7. How to choose the right foundation Nothing’s more frustrating and frankly, horrifying, than putting on foundation only to discover it’s made you look worse—ashy, pasty, and more wrinkled, to be exact. The trick to avoiding that unpleasantness is choosing foundations and powders with yellow undertones. “Formulas with a yellow tint work best because most complexions have yellow undertones,” Brown explains. “If you can’t give it a test run, compare a few shades to determine which has more yellow versus blue or red,” she says. If you don’t get it right on the first try, all is not lost—most stores allow returns on opened makeup that didn’t pan out.
  8. How to wear blush without looking like a clown Photo by Studio 504/Getty Images You want to look vibrant—not like you’re auditioning to join the circus. Prime your skin for a smooth blush application by applying a face moisturizer with hyaluronic acid, like Neutrogena’s Rapid Wrinkle Repair Moisturizer Broad Spectrum SPF 30 ($21, neutrogena.com), which attracts water to the skin’s surface and restores volume and radiance, Brown says. Then try this one-two-punch: Dab a hydrating cream blush that mimics the color of your cheeks after a brisk walk just below your cheekbone, blending up and back toward your hairline, and follow up with a pop of powder blush just a shade deeper on the apples of your cheek to finish the fresh flush. We like Josie Maran’s Argan Color Stick ($22, josiemarancosmetics.com) and BareMinerals Ready Blush ($22, bareescentuals.com).
  9. How to keep wiry brows in check As if thinning brows weren’t bad enough, your sparse arches can start to get wiry instead of smooth and tame. “The trick is to trim, not tweeze,” Brown says. “Plucking individual strands can leave patches, but reducing their bulky weight helps eyebrows lie flat.” Follow her method: Grab a brow comb and brush your brows up toward your hairline, then trim the tips that extend past your arches with cuticle scissors (they’ll give you the most precise cut). Then, brush them down toward your eyes and snip any stragglers hanging way below your brow line. 
  10. How to minimize droopy lids Your eyes can be your best feature even if your lids aren’t quite as perky as they used to be. Brown suggests lining top and bottom, keeping close to the lash line, and sweeping a soft, medium-toned nude shadow like Clinique All About Shadow Single in Sunset Glow ($15, clinique.com) on the outer corner of your lid, blending gently toward the inner corner, to add definition and depth. MORE: 9 Haircuts That Take Off Years