Concealing and highlighting tips for flawless skin
All of us would love clear, flawless skin. But given the pollution and hormones, not many of us get our wish. Acne, pimple scars, dark circles, and eye bags – the stuff nightmares are made of – is indeed a reality for many of us. But makeup can do wonders here. What you can’t have, you can create and what you don’t want to be seen with, you can hide. The Week sought beautician Shreya Shrestha’s help for some step-by-step tutorials for basic highlighting and concealing tricks that we can use in our day-to-day life.
Hiding blemishes and acne
If you have acne marks and blemishes on your face, you don’t need to feel self conscious about it when you step out anymore. You can cover then up with makeup. Just make sure you don’t overdo it and look too caked up. Here’s how you can hide those marks.
Steps:
Make sure to clean your face properly before applying anything.
Apply moisturizer and then primer for a smooth finish.
Apply some concealer on the affected area in a crisscross manner and blend it by patting on it.
After the concealer is set, apply foundation with a brush or sponge or blender.
Wait for a few minutes before applying pressed powder or loose powder to give it a finishing touch.
Apply a finishing spray/setting spray for long lasting results.
To mask dark circles and eye bags
Almost everyone these days seem to have dark circles or eye bags. Given how hectic lives have become for those who work, these beauty issues are perhaps unavoidable. You can use makeup to your advantage here too and sport a fresh and dewy look despite how tired you feel inside. However remember that not the same makeup or concealer works every time. To cover dark circles, you need to keep the shade of the dark circle in mind too.
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Steps:
Pick the right shade of concealer for your skin tone keeping the dark circle in mind. Always choose a concealer that is one shade lighter than your skin tone.
Apply concealer with a small brush under your eye area by gently pressing it to your skin with your ring finger or a brush/sponge for full coverage.
First, apply a color corrector under your eyes’ darkest parts and cover these areas by patting on the corrector. Don’t rub, simply pat it on till it blends.
Apply the required neutral concealer under your eye area after that for best results.
Though the dark circles might not look entirely hidden when you just try to cover it, with the rest of the makeup in place, your dark circles will barely be noticeable.
Basic contouring and highlighting tips for everyday use
Everybody has a facial feature they love and one they despise. The one they don’t like is usually the nose. But you don’t need to have the perfect features in order to look beautiful – something as basic as contouring and then highlighting your best feature can uplift your look and make you look and feel a hundred times better.
Steps:
For contouring, map your face in accordance to your facial structure in such a way that brings out the cheekbones and jaw line.
Narrow the nose by blending it by tapping the areas around it in a circular motion. Except for the nose line, gently tap the other areas with a light downward motion.
Apply some highlighter powder over the concealed areas like under the eye, bridge of the nose, center of forehead, and chin (if you need extra shimmer then apply highlighter to the part you want to bring to focus).
Blend carefully by patting over it with a brush.
Again, the trick here is to blend well by patting and not overdoing it by using too much highlighter or concealer.
