I’ve been engrossed in eye shadows lately. Not just the different colors and products but also different ways to apply them. You see, the problem is, I’ve got old eyes now! I’m talking about the skin around my eyes.

Our skin repairs itself…continually healing the effects of the sun and the little scratches and scrapes and bruises, even little ones that we cannot see. We take all this for granted while it works tirelessly night and day until we notice the lines and sagging.

About this time, we realize our skin takes longer and longer to repair itself. The harm gangs up on us. I know this, and this is why I think sleep is one of my best beauty tools. I try to get eight hours and do so regularly.

Of course, even with eight hours it still catches up. We all start life with taut, smooth baby skin around our eyes, and during our senior years, our skin starts to look like raisins. It doesn’t matter how careful we are; the skin around our eyes sags, wrinkles, discolors, and…you get the picture.

How My Skin Aged (from 2 to 69So here’s my dilemma. I still like to wear eye shadow. It especially hides the discoloration, but there are the sags and wrinkles to contend with.

So, this is when I started experimenting with eye shadows. Imagine that! I remember doing this as a teenager, so here I am again. Instead of reading teen magazines, though, I did what we do today. I googled “old eyes and eye shadow”, and I started reading what other people were saying.

I found that some women liked the new metallic shades. I went to my Estee Lauder counter and told the lady there that I wanted to try a shade or two. I liked it, and I bought one in a nice neutral pink. I also have a nice shimmery peach, too.

A note here, though. I’ve had eye surgery years ago, and my eyelids aren’t as wrinkled yet. You can read about it here. I’m told that if your lids are wrinkled, you need to use a silky neutral instead of a shimmery shadow.

Both shades help reflect light, and they go on great. I use them all over my eye area as a nice neutral. Most days it is all I wear, but I try to keep it off of my brow bone. When I get it up on my brow bone, it makes it too noticeable. I think it even ages me more.

Next for dressier times, I use a darker shade of eye shadow on my lower lid and blend it up to my crease. Sometimes, I start on the outside of the lower lid and come toward the middle. I don’t want much at all on the inside of my lower eyelid. Then I blend, blend, blend. I do all this with an 8x mirror.

I then dip my little finger in either my pink or peach-neutral shadow and dot the inside of my eye. This little dot helps open up my eyes.

I also changed the applicators I use. I always used the little foam applicators that came with my shadows. Not anymore. I noticed that brushes work better now.

I finally broke down and bought a couple of good eye shadow brushes. I use the larger one for applying my neutral and the smaller, shorter bristled one for the crease and blending. Shadows go on much nicer using a brush. Our crepey, wrinkled skin need them to get the shadow to go on smoothly.

I’m also careful to not apply too much shadow. That is why the 8x mirror is needed.

Finally, if I’m going somewhere special, I will bring the darker shadow up higher and blend it farther outside the edge of my eye, above the crease, but here is the difference because of age. If I blend it outside from the lower lid, it drags my eye down. It is only an allusion, but I don’t like how it looks. I’ve learned how to blend the darker shadow just above this area and out but not too far out. It picks my eye up and opens it up, too.

For eyeliner, I run a Kohl line from just above my iris almost to the outside edge of my eye. My favorite is a khaki green by Lancôme that I’ve had forever, but a plum or soft brown looks good, too. I have greyish-brown hair and hazel eyes. Liner and waterproof mascara give my eyes a good definition.

Silkisseme by L’Oreal is a great product. It goes on easiest of all, and it looks great all day. I liked it so much that I already have four different colors.

I don’t wear shadow, mascara, or liner on the lower lid because of another problem with aging: watery eyes.

So there you have it. This is what I do differently to compensate for my old eyes. I’m happy for the time being, but I know that this is an ever-changing process that seems to evolve faster and faster as I age.