Basic concepts: foundation coverage and color
You might all be tempted to use full coverage products right off the bat because you think it will hide your man’s face instantly. Well, take a minute before you buy and think about your skin and your intentions.
First you have to understand that coverage is only in terms of color! It’s not some kind of putty that will fill up holes and erase your wrinkles! It can actually do the exact opposite and make any imperfection on your skin pop out! So if you have a baby’s skin, go crazy, but if you do not, then I suggest either a light to medium coverage foundation or, even better, a buildable coverage foundation (one you can layer until you reach the desired coverage).
You can also mix some of your foundation with your day cream or serum to give it some coverage. It’s surprising how it can actually help achieve a very natural look when you don’t feel like wearing a full makeup. It evens out and brighten the skin without hiding everything and making you look plastic.
Then, you need to see your skin for what it is. Nobody has a perfectly even skin color. You have blood vessels, redness, etc. You have to pick a foundation that will match your general complexion. When in store, it is a good idea to try the samplers on the back of your hand and then compare in the mirror with your face! One step further would he to actually bring a mirror and go look at yourself in the sunlight. Don’t forget to blend the product on your skin!
In this picture you can see a lot of things I mentioned earlier. First, you can see that there is a slight different of shade between a fresh drop of foundation and a blended/dried foundation.
In the top picture, you can see how the skin color is not even: i have veins that show through, the redness of the skin is not even, etc.
In the bottom picture, you see the effect of a full coverage, matte foundation. It’s the back of my hand, but you can see that the skin texture is a lot more visible than in the top picture. Also, you can see that it litterally erases all the nuances in the skin tone: no more veins, no more uneven redness… personally, I think it doesn’t look very natural in person, but it looks good in pictures.
I say colors (plural) because at some point, you will probably end up needing more than one concealer. If you had to get just one, ask yourself the question: do you have beard shadow to cover? If the answer is yes, well be patient because I will be covering (hahaha!) that topic in another post. Color correction is a topic on its own!
If the beard is not an issue (yet) and you simply want the basic concealer everyone need, it’s simple enough. Pick the color that is the closest to your skin tone as well! This will be used in the undereye area and the T-Zone (which is the nose and browbone area). You will be using it for a bunch of different things. It is your secret eraser. It helps you cleanup a messy eyeshadow job, etc.
Concealers usually come in cream or in liquid form. Depending on your skin type and the use, you might prefer one over the other. I personally love liquid concealers for most of the work, but for beard coverage, I prefer cream ones. If you go liquid, pick one with a built-in applicator as I find those are less wasteful. I have a MAC concealer, amazing product, but it’s a small pump and I never use a full pump. So every time, I waste a lot of product because it’s so stiff that it’s almost impossible not to do a full pump.
If you want to do contouring with your concealer, also get one that is two shades lighter than your skin and another one that is two or three shades darker as well. We will discuss contouring eventually, but this is just a hint if you plan on going on a shopping spree soon!
Thanks for reading! I hope this is helpful to some of you! My next post will be about color correction and beard cover! Stay tuned as this is a big one!
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