The Best Makeup Brands for Mature Skin

Creal isn’t alone in her mission to develop makeup for those in their 40s, 50s, and 60s: this year, brands both established and new are shifting their focus to this long-forgotten section of the market. Trinny Woodall’s coveted beauty brand Trinny London is another example: “Our core demographic is women aged 40 plus who have felt ignored in the world of beauty,” the founder says. “We have customers in their 20s and customers in their 80s, but the woman who comes to Trinny London is usually someone navigating a change in her life—whether that’s turning 40, going through perimenopause, or just wanting a routine that actually works for her skin right now."

Of course, it’s not quite as simple as placing mature women in front of the lens: the formulas must hit the mark too. “The performance bar is much, much harder to hit for skin that is 40-plus,” confirms Creal. “You can imagine that younger skin is like a bouncy rubber mat: it's smooth, uniform, and almost anything looks decent on it. When you're formulating for somebody my age, the skin is more like tissue paper, so I have to be very specific in the way that I create products at the raw material level.”

Ahead, keep reading for more on the best makeup brands for mature skin to shop now, including Sarah Creal Beauty, Trinny London, and other beloved favorites.

The Best Makeup Brands for Mature Skin

Sarah Creal Beauty

Sarah Creal Beauty masterfully combines weighty, luxurious packaging with beautiful marketing and, crucially, products that really work on older skin. “My customer knows a thing or two; she’s discerning, and she has been disappointed over and over. I wanted to really curate the beauty landscape—which is a disaster—for women our age, and make sure they know that I have their back,” adds Creal.

If anyone can crack the code and deliver makeup that shines on mature skin, it's Sarah Creal: a seasoned product developer who fits her own demographic. But it's how the founder has designed her truly exciting brand: these weighty, satisfyingly luxe products are anything but utilitarian, making for a wholly aspirational proposition.

What to Try

Sarah Creal’s Just Like Paradise sculpting bronzer is one of those products that’ll make everything that preceded it feel starkly outdated. It comes in the form of a solid balm, which melts when it meets a sturdy stipple brush (synthetic hairs work best) or, in a pinch, a fingertip. Whatever your tool may be, simply dab it over your cheeks—upward and outward—and lightly over your nose to create the kind of skin that glows without looking greasy. With skin-quenching emollients in lieu of dated powder pigments, it’ll keep skin looking hydrated and glowy for hours on end, without settling into fine lines.

Merit Beauty

When Merit launched just five years ago, it paved the way for a host of slick, fashion-conscious beauty brands that truly considered what the long-forgotten over-30s market wants. Cue a concise edit of easy and flattering products that don't ask you to master complicated techniques or embrace constantly shifting trends. Instead, all you'll find here are perfected essentials, tweaked for real life. Think: translucent blushes you can apply straight from the pan, and lipsticks that don't turn flakey or faded as the day unfolds.

The brand can be considered the catalyst for this new wave of ultra-luxe beauty brands that speak to women over 40: at the time, its beautiful, refined campaigns featuring a diverse cast of women felt revolutionary. “We were one of the first brands to cater to the over-30 demographic and actually reflect the way they use beauty,” says Lola Gonzalez Marra, vice president of creative at Merit Beauty. “The women we serve are at a point in their life where they know who they are; they believe that beauty is a tool to express themselves, but it’s not their whole world. That’s a fundamentally different use case than a Gen Z shopper, who’s playing with all the new products and techniques—and who has the time to do so.”

True to its ethos, every Merit product combines effortless usability with a strong fashion feel (helped in no small part by its major collaborations with the likes of Tove and Erdem). Aligning itself with the new school of Fashion Week favorites, Merit has collaborated with the likes of Proenza Schouler, Tove and, most recently, Erdem.

What to Try

The Minimalist is one of Merit’s kingpin products: it’s a complexion stick designed to replace your foundation. It’s intended to be applied strategically, rather than over your whole face: a smart tactic that keeps your face looking and feeling fresh. Simply scribble the precise, domed tip over patches of pigmentation and thread veins for an effortless yet flawless base.

Another hit is the Flush Balm: a cream blush you can simply stamp on and blend in with no mess or fuss. The secret here is in the translucent finish, which delivers a more flattering effect than a solid block of color.

Victoria Beckham Beauty

Victoria Beckham is no stranger to the beauty industry: when she launched her now-iconic collaboration with Estée Lauder back in 2016, it sold out instantly (you may remember the game-changing Modern Mercury highlighter). Now, Beckham's own beauty line is a behemoth in its own right, loved for its sublime textures and truly beautiful packaging.

When it comes to formulation, Beckham is almost impossibly pedantic—she's known to put products through countless reworks until they perform just right—and this is exactly what makes her line so coveted. There's truly nothing here that doesn't excel.

What to Try

You can't go wrong with anything in the VBB lineup, but if you'd like an easy entry route, start with the bestselling Satin Kajal Liner, which is as soft as silk so applies without dragging (ideal for thinner skin) and easy to blend with the built-in sponge. Use it to draw a defined line, or scribble it over your entire lid, blending outwards to master Beckham's signature smoky eye (a perfect festive party look).

Another worthy investment is the hugely hyped Foundation Drops, which Beckham created in collaboration with skincare behemoth Augustinus Bader. With an oil-rich serum texture, they impart a luminous, fresh glow to skin, as well as a veil of hydration that lasts all day.

Jones Road Beauty

Bobbi Brown is known and loved for making products that work on skin of all ages—and her current venture, Jones Road, is no exception. The focus here is 'no-makeup' makeup, which essentially means that novices and newcomers are in very good hands. From the Just Enough Tinted Moisturizer (great for a glow) to the Your Skin Foundation Stick (for more of an airbrushed effect) everything is designed to be totally foolproof and brilliantly effective, meaning you really can't go wrong.

What to Try

If you find your usual concealer settles frustratingly in those crepey crow's feet, you might need their new Wide Awake Brightening Neutralizer. Working on the basis of color theory, it uses peach and orange pigments to color-correct your under-eye circles, instead of simply masking them. This essentially means it works much harder; you need to use less product—which in turn means no cakey residue.

And of course, another must-try is the famous Miracle Balm: a generously sized pot of flattering oil-based luminosity, which can be used to highlight your eyelids (more forgiving than a flat powder eyeshadow), enhance your cheeks, or simply add an all-over glow. Rich in oils, it's perfect for dry, more mature skin.

Trinny London

Trinny Woodall has been many midlife women’s style barometer for decades. Now, she applies her famously no-nonsense approach to the beauty world, creating products that truly stand up to the scrutiny. Pragmatism reigns supreme at Trinny London, where products come in miniature stackable pots, and the website is brimming with (un-retouched) how-to videos, portraying each product on women of all ages. These small, pigmented creams are designed to be stashed in the smallest of bags and applied with little more than a ring finger. But now, it’s in the complexion realm that Trinny really shines.

Woodall, too, knows the challenges inherent in making great makeup for mature skin: her latest launch, the Fearless Skin Tint Drops, aims to offer the holy grail: proper complexion coverage without caking. “Our research highlighted that so many women are choosing between a heavy foundation that promises coverage but settles into every line, or a barely there tint that looks pretty but does nothing on mature skin,” she says. “Most brands solve this by picking a side. Instead, we built a formula with a genuinely high pigment load, so it delivers real coverage, then paired it with a weightless, serum-like texture so it never sits heavy or catches in fine lines.” Did she succeed? If the women raving about it on her social-media accounts are to be believed, it’s a slam dunk.

"I looked at the beauty landscape and saw a massive sea of youth-centric marketing that completely ignored women over 40,” says Woodall. “The industry was obsessed with 20-year-old models and powder products that sit horribly on aging skin. Having spent two decades doing makeovers with real women, I knew exactly what they were missing: multitasking, advanced formulas that give you your glow back without taking 45 minutes. I deliberately set out to build a brand that validated these women, made them feel seen, and gave them back their confidence."

What to Try

There’s plenty of hype around Trinny’s most-loved product, BFF Cream—and for good reason. Absolutely the best place to start, it’s essentially your do-it-all tinted SPF for days when you just want to look a little more awake and put-together.

For days when you want a little more coverage, try the recently launched Fearless Skin Tint Drops. Created specifically for women over 40, this smart foundation is designed to target redness, sun spots, and sallow skin, all without settling into fine lines or highlighting pores. The coverage is light but buildable, and we can attest, it truly brings dry, dehydrated skin swiftly back to life.

Westman Atelier

Having made up everyone from Halle Berry to Cameron Diaz, Gucci Westman is an artist that truly knows great makeup—on women of all ages. So, it's hardly surprising that her own line, Westman Atelier, is both beautifully chic and up to the task of making older skin shine.

Subtle, flattering makeup is Westman's signature, so don't expect any intimidating shades or complicated products. Instead, everything is designed to brighten and enhance your features, without ever looking like a mask. Think: sheer pigments, mega-hydrating formulas, and packaging that deserves to be displayed.

What to Try

Westman Atelier's Vital Skin Foundation Stick and Suprême Bio-Complex Liquid Foundation are brilliant options for anyone who finds most formulas settle in fine lines and exaggerate dry patches. It's rich, creamy, and applied via a small doe-foot wand, so you can easily be precise.

Highlighters are a Westman Atelier signature, with both cream, stick, and liquid formulas in the lineup. But the one you really ought to know is their Liquid Super Loaded essential: an oil-rich luminizing fluid that lends itself perfectly to older skin. Available in three shades, it's more sheer and hydrating than its cream sister, somehow making skin look dewy and glossy without that giveaway shot of sparkle.

Looking for More Mature Beauty Ideas?

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• The Best Eyeliners for Mature Eyes, According to Experts
• How Catherine Zeta-Jones, 57, Maintains Her Lush, Shiny Hair
• 10 Styling Products Experts Swear By for Fine, Mature Hair

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