A concealer is one of those products that every girl needs in their beauty bag. It has so many uses in everyday makeup application, if you are about that life. For me, my makeup is never complete without a concealer. There are so many concealers in the market with so many shades, consistencies and textures that we are almost spoilt for choice. Let me share some of the ways I use my concealers, in varying shades, and maybe you will learn a thing or two..
1.Building up foundation coverage
If you are a fan of light/medium coverage foundation, and this is what you use the most so you don’t own any fuller coverage foundation, or you are just having one of those days when your skin needs a little more coverage then just add in some of your concealer in the same shade as the foundation and immediately you have created more coverage to your foundation. Alternatively dab your face with concealer and foundation in alternating areas of your face and blend in. For an even fuller coverage use a foundation brush instead of a beauty blender.
2.Contouring and defining the contour
There are so many contour products in the market that are heavily priced just because they carry the name ‘contour’. If you are a fan of cream contour and don’t want to purchase another contour kit, you can use a darker concealer to achieve the same results. Just apply some of the darker concealer along the natural shadow of your cheek and blend upwards, making sure you don’t bring the product too low.
If the product you are not as tidy as you would have liked, just apply a little concealer, same color as your foundation under the contour line to clean up the darker one and your contour will be defined and clean. Avoid using a lighter than your foundation concealer for this as you will end up with a sharp contrast that may not be very flattering.
3.Brightening under the eyes
This is the most commonly known use of a concealer. Simply apply the concealer under the eye and blend with a beauty blender or a concealer brush to cover any discoloration or veins under the eyes. For a natural look, use a concealer same color as your foundation, and to achieve a more brighter look use a concealer one or two shades lighter than your foundation. Avoid going too light as the under eye may look too light and result in a less flattering look.
4.Priming eyelids
If you have discoloration or veins peeking through the skin on their eyelids, and applying a concealer evens out the color of the eyelids and prepares a clean canvas for the eyeshadows to be applied. Also the tackiness of the concealer provides a nice surface for eyeshadows to stick to, especially for the more shimmery or glittery eyeshadows. You can save yourself from buying an eyeshadow primer.
5.Clean winged eyeliner and eyebrows and lipstick
Winged eyeliners never go according to plan 99% of the time, for me at least. I use a concealer with a small angled brush to clean the areas that are not tidy and to sharpen the wing.
Eyebrows are almost never perfect, so just the extra step of using a lighter concealer to clean up the bottom of the brows and give them a lift and a foundation color concealer for cleaning above the brows makes a really big difference.
After applying your lipstick, should you find that some of the color is out of your lip lien or you are looking for a perfect application, use a small flat brush along the lips to clean out the imperfections.
6.Bronzing the skin
I find that bronzers tend to fade away throughout the day. Apply a small amount of warm base concealer with a stippling brush along the forehead and temples and places you would normally bronze with a powder bronzer. The concealer is naturally made to have staying power so your skin will stay bronzed for way longer than a just a powder bronzer would. You can set it with a powder broker or just a normal setting powder if you prefer.
Also if your foundation is too light, you can use the same technique to bring some warmth to your face.
What are some of the ways you use your concealers?
Here are some of my favorite concealers: