Baby-Faced Ladies Listen Up: 3 Makeup Tips To Help You Look Older

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There are countless tips and tricks out there for using makeup to look younger, but not a lot for those who want to look older. As wonderful as it sounds, having an ever-youthful baby face can be a blessing and a curse. Everyone thinks you look young and vibrant? Great! Having to be ID checked every time you want to enjoy a bottle of wine? Not so great.

Baby-faced people usually have rounder faces, no prominent cheekbones, small noses, and big eyes. "[These] are the common features of babies," fashion/red carpet makeup artist Luna Viola exclusively explained to us, noting these features can make you look unintentionally younger. To fix that, we asked Viola to break down her best makeup tips to help you look a little older, while still avoiding the common makeup mistakes that could age you in the opposite direction.

It seems obvious that one of the best makeup tips for looking older is to actually wear makeup, but a lot of baby-faced women's first mistake is having too light a hand with it. "Wearing makeup will make anyone look slightly older, [the] majority of people with baby faces look even younger because they don't wear any," Viola said. "When used strategically, makeup can improve any feature that needs some tweaking," she added. So don't be afraid to go a little bolder with your cosmetics. And these are the best ways to do it.

"The absence of cheekbones is primarily what makes someone's face look very young," Luna Viola told us. As such, adding definition to this area with contouring can help make you look older. That's because its primary purpose is to make the face look more sculpted and less round. As fat loss in the face happens to most of us naturally as we age, having a thinner face is often associated with older people. So, by making your cheekbones stand out, you'll automatically look more mature.

"Sculpting the cheeks and jaw with blush and bronzer will definitely add a grown-up look to the face. Blend the contour right below the cheekbone and the jaw line to carve a more elongated shape," Viola exclusively shared. If you have a round face, as most baby-faced people do, try the vertical contour hack that went viral on TikTok. It involves applying a contour product to the lower part of the cheek rather than a simple line under the cheekbone to give the illusion of a narrower face.

There are countless makeup tutorials advising how to make your eyes look rounder, but it's best to avoid these if you're hoping to age up your look. Instead, focus on elongating your peepers, as looking less wide-eyed will give you a more sultry, less youthful aesthetic. "Elongating the eye shape into an almond, cat eye shape, will add a sophisticated look and make the face look less round," Luna Viola shared in our exclusive chat.

To do that, she explained, "When using shadow or eyeliner add a piece of tape to the corner of your eye, this will help you trace the shape wanted and will add that lifting effect that is necessary for a cat eye look." The oversized winged eyeliner method can also be a great way to get your peepers looking longer, as can applying liner to waterline. It's also a good idea to apply black mascara to the bottom and top lashes, as leaving your bottom lashes bare will open the eye too much.

As tempting and flattering as it can be to rock a Blake Lively-esque nude lip, subtle pink shades could be making you look younger. Instead, a bolder lipstick and liner will instantly make you look more mature. "A hint of bright color and drawing the lips with a slightly darker lipliner can add a touch of maturity to the face without looking harsh," Luna Viola shared exclusively with us. "Brighter shades can give the impression of a more mature face when applied on lips and cheeks, adding an overall womanly sultry vibe," she added. So take inspo from our favorite celebrities who have mastered the art of the red lip. You don't see many babies rocking fierce red lipstick, after all. MAC's Macximal Silky Matte lipstick in Ruby Woo is a classic, while L'Oréal Paris Colour Riche lipstick in British Red claims to have hydrating properties so you'll avoid dry lips.

Equally, steer clear of lip glosses, particularly glittery ones, as they have a reputation for being juvenile. Instead, Viola recommended plumping the lips to break free of your young look. "A plumper, more defined lip can add a grown up look to a baby face," she said. Try Anne Hathaway's viral lip plumping hack using just a hair pin to get the look, and remember that underdrawn lipstick or liner can be blunder making you look older in the wrong way.  

Just remember though that beauty is all about confidence, and wearing a bold lip, extra contour, or heavy eyeliner won't work if it doesn't feel 'you.' Every makeup tip is open to interpretation, so play around and have fun finding out how to make each trick your own.