Quick answer: In this Fierce Aging Series episode, Nikol gives Maxine — a spirited 78-year-old guest she met by chance at Williams Sonoma — a complete mature-skin makeover while Maxine shares her life story. Along the way Nikol demonstrates the newly launched Serum Foundation, a lightweight, skin-like veil built for mature skin, inside a full color-correct-to-lip routine. It's a real makeover on a real face, not a product-only demo.
Key takeaways
- This is a Fierce Aging Series makeover and interview — the guest is Maxine, 78 — so it's a real, on-camera application rather than a scripted launch.
- Nikol builds a soft, natural mature-skin look step by step: prime, brows, eyes, color-correct, complexion, cheeks and lips.
- The recently launched Serum Foundation goes on as a lightweight veil (shake first, three to four drops, buffed in) — not heavy full coverage.
- Redness is corrected first with a green corrector, then a peach corrector lifts under-eye darkness, so the foundation can stay sheer.
- The whole look is buildable: Nikol shows a natural daytime version and layers up to an evening finish.
Hey ladies — this one is a little different. It's an episode of my Fierce Aging Series, where I sit down with a real woman over 50, hear her story, and give her a full makeover on camera. Today's guest is Maxine, who is 78, and yes, I really did meet her while she was helping me at Williams Sonoma. As we talk, I take her from bare skin to a soft, glowing look — and it's the perfect way to show how the new Serum Foundation behaves on genuinely mature skin.
Who is this Fierce Aging makeover for?
Maxine is the heart of this video. She married in Las Vegas back in 1979, spent her life around the boating world, and shares hard-won wisdom about strength, self-care and taking care of yourself so you can care for others. When I asked what she struggles with most in her makeup, her answer was redness — years of sun and beach living left her wanting a more even tone. She loves enhancing her eyes. So this look is built around exactly those goals: calm the redness, brighten the eyes, and keep everything soft and natural on mature skin.
What's the step-by-step mature-skin routine?
Here's the order I actually worked in, start to finish:
- Prime the whole face with the Fiercely Smooth face primer, and prep the lips with a rose lip balm so they're hydrated by the time we get to lipstick.
- Apply eye primer to neutralize and set up the lid so eyeshadow grabs and lasts.
- Fill and shape the brows with a taupe skinny brow pencil, using short strokes and softening with a spoolie — keeping them natural, since brows thin as we age.
- Wash the lids with the Sweet Carol palette: the soft sheen center shade all over, a petal-pink on the brow bone, and the deeper shade worked in near the lash line for definition.
- Line with a plum waterproof eyeliner over Maxine's permanent liner, then coat the lashes with Volume Up mascara in black.
- Color-correct the skin: a green "no redness" corrector over the red areas (green cancels red), then a peach corrector under the eyes and on dark spots.
- Apply the Serum Foundation — shake first, three to four drops — buffed in with the foundation buffing brush, adding creamy concealer only where it's needed.
- Set the under-eye area with Nikita Banana brightening powder.
- Add warmth and glow with the Classic Beach Glow cream palette: cream blush on the cheeks, a little highlight up top, and a touch of bronzer.
- Line the lips in the shade Cameo, fill with a natural lipstick topped by a sheer coordinating shade, finish the brows with brow mascara, and mist with rose water.
How does the Serum Foundation actually go on?
This is the product the video is named for, and I was excited to show it on Maxine. I tested so many serum foundations back in 2022 that I knew exactly what I wanted: very light, almost like buffing a nice veil into the skin, never heavy. Some products say "serum" and then apply like full coverage — I didn't want that. You shake the bottle, use maybe three to four drops (it spreads beautifully, so too much just goes everywhere), and buff it in. The shade shown is Light, which reads as a cool-neutral tone rather than pink or warm. It's the foundation I always wished existed for mature skin.
What eye, cheek and lip products does Nikol use?
On the eyes, the Sweet Carol palette is a three-well, talc-free set — two mattes and one sheen — that I love because it's buildable from a soft wash to real evening depth, without looking glittery or "clowny." I define with a plum waterproof eyeliner and finish lashes with Volume Up mascara, whose comb-style wand catches even the baby lashes that thin with age. Cheeks get the Classic Beach Glow cream palette for a lit-from-within flush, highlight and hint of bronzer. Lips are lined in Cameo, then filled with a natural nude lipstick and topped with a sheer coordinating shade for hydrated, not-too-glossy color that's flattering on mature lips. Everything here is applied to keep the finish fresh, soft and age-appropriate.
The bottom line
Maxine's makeover is the best kind of demo: a real 78-year-old, a real conversation, and a soft, glowing result that proves great mature-skin makeup is about the right lightweight products and smart color correction — not more coverage. If you want to build a look like this, start with the complexion pieces in Face, explore the full Makeup range, or browse the Best Sellers to see what other women love.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Nikol's Fierce Aging Series?
The Fierce Aging Series is Nikol's ongoing show celebrating real women over 50. In this episode she features Maxine, a spirited 78-year-old she met by chance at Williams Sonoma, giving her a full makeover while Maxine shares her life story and her advice for aging with confidence and self-care.
Is the Serum Foundation full coverage?
No. Nikol designed it as a lightweight, serum-like veil rather than a heavy, full-coverage base. It buffs into the skin for a soft, skin-true finish that evens tone without masking texture, and it layers where you want a little more. She calls it the kind of light foundation she always wanted for mature skin.
How much Serum Foundation should you use?
Shake the bottle first, then start with about three to four drops. The formula spreads easily, so a little goes a long way — too much can look like too much. Nikol buffs it in with a foundation buffing brush, building only in the areas that need extra evening rather than coating the whole face heavily.
Why does Nikol color-correct before foundation?
Maxine's main concern was facial redness from years in the sun. Nikol neutralizes it first with a green color corrector, since green cancels red, then uses a peach corrector to lift under-eye darkness and spots. Correcting underneath means the lightweight foundation can stay sheer while the finished skin still looks even.
Is this a natural everyday look or an evening look?
Both. Nikol builds a soft, natural daytime version first, keeping the eyeshadow as a wash of color, then layers more depth for an evening finish. She stresses that the Sweet Carol palette and the whole look are buildable, so you can wear one color for the day or all three when you want more.
What shade of Serum Foundation is shown?
The video uses the Light shade, which Nikol describes as a cool-neutral tone rather than a pink or warm undertone. For your own match, check the current shade range and descriptions on nikolbeauty.com, and patch-test a new complexion product on your jaw or wrist before wearing it for a full day.
