The short answer: There are three responses to a trend, not two. You can wear it as shown, you can refuse it, or you can modify it — keep the idea and change the intensity, the shade, or the placement until it belongs to you. Nikol's summary of the third option: "we're in the game, we're just altering it a little bit."
The worked example: powder blue becomes navy
The spring the runways and the magazines went to powder blue eyeshadow, Nikol had no intention of wearing powder blue eyeshadow. She is, by her own description, not a trendy person — "I'm very classic, I stick to what I know, I'm always in my lane."
She did not skip it. She changed one variable.
"I'm not talking about the powder blue that they're showing on the runways or in the spring trends in the magazines. I am talking about navy."
Same family, same idea, entirely different wearability. Navy reads as sophisticated on a mature eye where powder blue reads as a costume, and nobody looking at her could tell she had opted out of anything. She was in the trend.
The three dials you can turn
Any trend can be modified on at least one of these. Usually all three.
| Dial | What turning it down looks like | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Shade | Stay in the color family, go deeper or more muted | Powder blue becomes navy. Bright coral becomes a soft apricot |
| Intensity | A wash instead of full opacity | "A wash of color doesn't have to be dark. You can experiment with any level you want" |
| Placement | Put it somewhere smaller, lower, or less central | A color at the lash line instead of across the whole lid |
Nikol's version of the general rule, and the most useful sentence in the video:
"Any look you see and you love, you can take that look and just pare it down to giving yourself a wash of color. You don't have to go as strong as maybe someone you're watching. You can take it, modify it, and make it really work for you."
How the navy version actually goes on
The technique is as interesting as the shade choice, because every step is an intensity dial.
- Prime the lid. A colored lid muddies any color you put on it, and it matters more with an unexpected shade than with a neutral.
- Lay the brush flat, do not press. The specific instruction: "I lay it flat like this, I don't press down." Pressing deposits pigment; laying it flat sweeps a wash. Same shadow, half the intensity.
- Do not re-dip. Work with what is already on the brush and spread it. If it looks like too much, sheer it out rather than removing it — "you can tap off, you can go back."
- Soften it with the lightest shade over the top. This is the step that makes navy wearable. A pale shade on the brow bone, then dragged down across the whole lid, knocks the navy back into a hint of color. Nikol calls it "the key."
- Keep the darkest shade low. Take it across the lash line and flick it up at the outer corner only — not up through the crease, which is where she would normally take it. "I don't want it to be overwhelming to my eye." With a strong color, depth at the base gives definition; depth in the crease gives drama you did not ask for.
- Under the lower lash line, three-quarters of the way. Whatever is left on the brush, and not all the way to the inner corner.
- Crisp the outer edge with a cotton pad. Sweep along the outer corner to sharpen the line before liner goes on.
- Line in charcoal rather than black, at the base of the lashes. Deep and rich without the hardness of black — which matters more when the shadow is already doing something unusual.
If you want the full treatment of this particular shade family, that is how to wear blue eyeshadow over 50 without looking dated. The three-well trios give you the light, mid and deep shades this method needs.
Why the modification is the point, not the compromise
There is a background Nikol names at the start of the video that explains why this matters more than it sounds:
"I enjoy bringing you makeup, skincare, hair care — really just giving women over 40 a space in this industry that really kind of pushes us out and says we're really not cool anymore."
A trend that arrives designed for a twenty-five-year-old is not an instruction and it is not an insult. It is raw material. Modifying it is how you stay current without pretending to be someone else, and it is a skill rather than a taste — which means it transfers to the next trend, and the one after that.
Her reason for bothering at all is worth keeping: "it makes you happy when you look in the mirror, because you're like, oh, I don't see nudes, or I don't see a really dark smoky eye. It's just something different to try."
Two techniques from this video worth having on their own
Do your eyes before your foundation — and skip the baking
Nikol does eye makeup first, before any base, and her reasoning is not the usual one.
"I am not one to put tons of powder underneath, let all my eyeshadow fall and then sweep it away. I don't feel that that is the best look for anyone — it doesn't matter your age."
The trick of packing powder under the eye to catch fallout means you are then dragging a brush across finished under-eye skin. Do the eyes on bare skin, clean up, and then build the base onto skin that was never disturbed.
The mosaic correcting method
She flags this as something she has not shown before, and it is genuinely clever.
Rather than covering an area with one corrector and then layering a second over the top, she places each corrector only on the exact spot that needs it — green where the redness is, peach where the darkness is — so the two meet edge to edge like tiles, then blends across the join with a buffing brush.
Her reason: "so I'm not layering too many products on top of each other." On mature skin, every avoided layer is a crease that does not happen. Use No Redness and Just Peachy as a map of your own face rather than as two coats. The rest of the corrector logic is in what cancels what.
Frequently asked questions
How do you wear a makeup trend over 50 without looking costumey?
Modify one of three things: the shade (stay in the family but go deeper or more muted), the intensity (a wash rather than full opacity), or the placement (lower, smaller, or off-center). You keep the idea and drop whatever made it unwearable.
Can women over 50 wear blue eyeshadow?
Yes, in navy rather than powder blue. Same family, entirely different effect — navy reads as sophisticated on a mature eye, and softening it with a pale shade over the top turns it into a hint of color rather than a statement.
How do you make an eyeshadow color less intense?
Lay the brush flat rather than pressing it into the pan, do not re-dip, and sweep a pale shade over the top afterward to knock the color back. All three reduce intensity without changing the product.
Where should you place a bold eyeshadow color on a mature eye?
Low. Across the lash line with a flick up at the outer corner, rather than up through the crease. Depth at the base gives definition; depth in the crease turns a strong color into drama.
Should you do eye makeup before or after foundation?
Nikol does eyes first, so that fallout lands on bare skin and can be cleaned off without disturbing a finished base. It also avoids packing powder under the eye to catch fallout, which she does not think flatters anyone.
What is the mosaic method for color correcting?
Placing each corrector only on the specific spot that needs it — green on redness, peach on darkness — so they meet edge to edge rather than layering one over the other, then blending across the join. It uses fewer layers, which means less creasing.
Is charcoal eyeliner better than black over 50?
It is softer. Charcoal gives depth and richness without the hardness of true black, which matters especially when the eyeshadow is already an unexpected color.
Do you have to follow trends at all?
No, and Nikol does not consider herself a trendy person. The argument for engaging with one is enjoyment rather than obligation — doing something different from your usual nude or smoky eye, because it is pleasant to see something new in the mirror.
Start here
Pick the trend you have most firmly decided is not for you, and instead of rejecting it, ask which of the three dials you would need to turn. Usually it is the shade — the same idea two steps deeper or more muted. Then apply it as a wash with the brush laid flat, soften it with a pale shade over the top, and keep the depth at your lash line. You will be wearing the trend, and it will look like you.
