How to Apply Foundation and Concealer
Not everyone is lucky enough to have beautiful, skin with an even tone. There are few people who can wake up in the morning and roll out of bed, with a flawless complexion. Most of us have various skin imperfections, like blotchiness or a dull complexion, even if you follow various skin care tips and regimes/routines. But luckily there are ways to make it appear like one has that perfect skin, and below are our suggestions on how to achieve that with three cosmetics:
The very first step is to wash your face. If you have acne, or other skin problems, use the appropriate cleanser, recommended by a dermatologist. If you have skin with only a few blemishes, use a light, gentle cleanser. Wash your face, rinse with cold water and then lightly apply a moisturizer.
This will give your face the priming it needs before you begin applying makeup. In fact, using moisturizer will actually help the makeup to last longer. If you have oily skin, use an oil-free cleanser and oil-free moisturizer, and you may wish to stick with a powder foundation, instead of liquid, to avoid extra shine.
Before we discuss the application, we want to make sure that you have the right color for your skin tone. Here are our suggestions:
- First, test the foundation along the jawline of your face. Do not test it on the back of your hand or your wrist because that will not give you an accurate idea of how it will look on your face, since the skin on your hand and face are different.
- Look at the test patches that you have applied along your jawline in natural daylight, to get an idea of how it will look in natural light.
- If your skin tends to burn in the sun, then most likely you have a pink or rosy undertone in your skin and you want to go with one that also has a base of pink/light rose.
- If your skin tends to tan, when you are out in the sun, then your skin likely has a yellow base and you want to choose a makeup with a yellow base.
- Also, make sure that it has at least SPF 15, even if your moisturizer already has SPF. You can never have too much protection from the sun. Remember that skin exposed directly to the sun too much can cause premature aging and wrinkles.
Many people wonder what is the right way to apply foundation?
The answer: there are many ways to apply it. You may want to try out these different techniques to see which one works best for you and which you are most comfortable using. One way to apply foundation is to use a cosmetics sponge, like the round disk-like sponges or the wedge-shaped sponges. For applying it all over, try the round sponge for more even coverage. On the back of your hand, put a small amount of makeup, and then dab the sponge in, before applying it to your face.
Another way to apply it is by using your hand. Do this by spreading the foundation over the palm of your hand, and then patting your skin. After you have lightly applied it over your face, use the wedge sponge to blend it in gently. Blend it very softly so that you don’t pull on your skin. If you are having any trouble blending it in, or you want to thin out the coverage, dampen the sponge, just slightly and this will help.
If you are wondering when to apply concealer, you should do that after you have applied the foundation. With the concealer, focus on blemishes, acne, under-eye circles or discolorations. Simply dab a little bit on the problem area and blend it in softly with a wedge-shaped sponge.
After you have applied both foundation and concealer, use a little bit of powder on the areas where your skin tends to get oily, like around the nose, on the forehead and chin. You need to apply powder right after applying both to make sure that the makeup sets and does not rub off. To make your makeup look extra special for evenings, mix just a little bit of shimmer with your powder and apply it on areas like your cheekbones, shoulders and underneath your eyebrows.
Now that you face makeup is complete, you may want to think about your lips. If you need help finding the right one, see our page on How to choose lipstick. Or if you would like to draw attention to your eyes, then the posting on how to apply eyeliner, may be instructive. Also, please feel free to just browse around to learn more and thanks for visiting our page on how to put on foundation.