Crow’s-feet, or those crinkles in the outer corners of your eyes, may be a sign of past smiles, but they do make it difficult not to look quite your age. Changing the cosmetics you use and how you apply them can reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles around your eyes, helping you look rested, refreshed and younger than your years.

Preparation

No amount of careful makeup application will help hide your crow’s-feet if your skin isn’t well-moisturized. Use a rich eye cream with alpha-lipoic acid and vitamin C to reduce the appearance of lines and wrinkles and provide adequate moisture to the thin skin around your eyes. Pat eye cream gently into place with your fingertip. Wait until it has dried before you apply eye makeup.

Products

Opt for moisturizing cream formulas of most cosmetic products, including foundation, concealer and blush. If you do opt to use a translucent powder to set your makeup, keep it light around wrinkles to avoid it settling into lines and making them more obvious, recommends makeup artist Linda Mason. Powder eye shadows may work better than creams, but look for silky, matte formulas rather than shimmer to avoid drawing attention to lines and wrinkles.

Foundation and Concealer

Choose a foundation and concealer that closely matches your skin tone. Apply a cream or liquid foundation to moisturized skin using a foundation brush rather than your fingers or a sponge. Primers may help foundation to go on smoothly and glide over lines, including crow’s-feet. Dab concealer onto areas that need it, including the corners of your eyes and under-eye circles with a fingertip or soft brush. Avoid extending blush up and into the eye area, as it will draw attention to lines. Apply blush on the apples of the cheeks and lightly blend back along the cheekbone.

Eyeshadow and Liner

Apply eye shadow primer or a thin layer of concealer to your eyelids to help eye shadow stay in place. Brush a light shade of champagne or beige from lash line to brow bone, avoiding extending the shadow into the outer corner of the eye. Accent the crease with taupe or gray. Choose a softer shade of eye liner in a cake or soft pencil formulation, rather than a liquid that will settle into crow’s-feet and apply along the upper lash line only, rather than all around the eye. Finish your eye makeup with mascara on the upper lashes.

Brows

While you might not think of your eyebrows as having anything to do with your crow’s-feet, well-defined brows can draw attention to your eyes and away from unwanted lines and wrinkles. Keep brows well-groomed, either on your own or with regular salon visits. Define your brows with a light brow pencil, mixing in gray or darker brown if appropriate for your coloring, then brush into place. A brow gel can help to keep brows neat all day and keep the focus on your eyes, not the lines around them.