Smile lines don't have to show through your makeup. Professional makeup artist Charly Salvator has a one-product trick that visually smooths nasolabial folds in seconds, using nothing more than a liquid illuminator applied before foundation. The result: a plumper, more even complexion without heavy coverage.
Smile lines, technically called nasolabial folds, are one of the most common makeup challenges for anyone with mature skin. They form where the cheeks meet the area around the mouth, deepening over time as the skin loses elasticity and repeated muscle contractions, from smiling to drinking through a straw, gradually etch themselves into the face. The skin in that zone is particularly thin, which makes it both prone to creasing and frustratingly difficult to cover without making things worse.
And that's exactly the trap most people fall into: piling on foundation, hoping more product equals better coverage. It doesn't.
Too much foundation is the real problem with smile lines
Charly Salvator, the professional makeup artist with 845,000 followers on Instagram, is clear on this. The most common mistake is applying too much product directly onto nasolabial folds. Foundation, especially in excess, doesn't smooth the skin. It settles into the creases, making them appear deeper and the overall complexion heavier.
Why powder foundation makes things worse on mature skin
The texture of the product matters as much as the quantity. Powder foundation, in particular, is a problem on mature skin. Its dry, matte finish clings to fine lines and accentuates every fold rather than blurring them. Harold James, global make-up artist for L'Oréal Paris, echoes the same warning: the finish of a foundation on mature skin should always lean toward fluid and light, never dry or cakey.
The skin around the mouth is among the thinnest on the face. It loses elasticity with age, and any heavy or powdery texture will emphasize that loss rather than compensate for it. Salvator's recommendation is firm: stick to fluid, lightweight textures and use no more than a half pump of foundation on the areas prone to creasing.
Powder foundations and heavy coverage formulas tend to settle into smile lines and nasolabial folds, making them more visible rather than concealing them. Always opt for fluid textures on mature skin.
The one-product trick that visually smooths nasolabial folds
Here's where Salvator's method diverges from conventional wisdom. Instead of starting with foundation, he applies a liquid illuminator directly onto the smile lines first, then layers the foundation on top. That's it. One extra product, one extra step, and the optical result is a noticeably plumper, smoother-looking area.
Illuminator vs. highlighter: an important distinction
Not all luminous products work the same way here, and Salvator is specific about it. A liquid illuminator (lumineux in French) is not the same as a highlighter (satiné). Highlighters have a more pronounced, satin-to-glitter finish that can draw attention to texture rather than softening it. A liquid illuminator, by contrast, creates a diffused, light-reflecting effect that visually fills in the fold without adding shimmer or sparkle.
The mechanism is purely optical: light bouncing off the product creates an illusion of volume, making the skin appear smoother and more lifted. Applied beneath foundation, the illuminator works subtly, without any visible shimmer on the surface. The foundation blends over it, locking in that soft-focus effect.
This approach works particularly well alongside other techniques designed for mature skin. If you're already adapting your routine for aging features, the same logic applies to the eye area, where makeup artists use specific blending techniques to work with mature skin rather than against it.
of foundation maximum, recommended by Charly Salvator for the nasolabial fold area
Harold James adds a finishing move that takes under a minute
Harold James, who shared his advice just days before the L'Oréal Paris runway show in September 2025, brings a complementary technique to the table. After applying foundation over the nasolabial folds, he uses a cotton swab to remove any excess product that has accumulated in the crease, then taps the area lightly with a fingertip to blend.
The logic is the same: less product in the fold means less visibility of the fold. The cotton swab lifts the surplus without disturbing the surrounding coverage, and the finger-tapping motion warms the remaining product slightly, helping it meld into the skin rather than sit on top of it. According to James, the entire gesture takes under one minute.
Together, Salvator's illuminator-first approach and James's finishing technique form a complete method for addressing smile lines at the makeup stage, without any invasive treatment or heavy-coverage product.
The Armani Beauty Luminous Silk reformulation fits this technique perfectly
The conversation around smile lines and nasolabial folds gained fresh momentum with the relaunch of the Armani Beauty Luminous Silk foundation, an icon that first launched roughly 25 years ago (around 2001) and has now been reformulated with updated ingredients and texture. The interview with Salvator was conducted by Anissa Nassr, head of the Fashion and Beauty desk at Femme Actuelle (where she has worked since 2016), on the occasion of this launch.
What changed in the Luminous Silk formula
The reformulated Luminous Silk has a more fluid and modulable texture than its predecessor, which makes it particularly suited to the half-pump, light-layer approach recommended for mature skin. The updated formula includes glycerin for hydration, niacinamide for a smoothing effect on skin texture, and Mediterranean floral extracts for radiance. The result, according to the brand, is a more even complexion with a natural, luminous finish rather than a heavy or matte one.
That kind of finish pairs well with the illuminator-underneath technique: both work toward the same goal of a light-reflecting, plump-looking skin surface. And because the texture is genuinely fluid, it won't pile up in the nasolabial folds the way denser formulas tend to. For anyone building a makeup routine around skin that has changed with age, the product choice matters as much as the technique, and both Salvator and James point toward the same direction: lighter, more luminous, always less.
Apply a liquid illuminator (not a highlighter) directly onto the smile lines. Layer a maximum of half a pump of fluid foundation on top. Use a cotton swab to remove any excess product from the fold. Tap lightly with a fingertip to blend. Total time: under one minute.
The underlying principle behind all of this is that concealing smile lines isn't about adding more, it's about redirecting light. A single well-chosen product, applied before foundation rather than over it, does more for the nasolabial fold area than any amount of coverage applied on top. That's the kind of technique-over-quantity approach that separates a professional result from an everyday one, and it's accessible to anyone willing to swap one habit for another.
