The arrival of spring has me all kinds of excited for new eyeshadow palettes and lip colors. I love playing with new looks, and I hope to bring lots of fun new products to the blog this season. Today, I'm focusing on a staple in my makeup bag: concealer!
I do not leave the house without concealer on. Period. Believe it or not, this is a relatively new practice for me. I was always content to just wear foundation, and I assumed foundation coverage was as good as it was gonna get for my eyes. I was so wrong.
Before I get started on today's product, I have to convince you non-believers to welcome concealer into your lives. I have extremely dark circles under my eyes. It's a family trait, much to my dismay, and I'm not super into looking like Uncle Fester. I also have dark eyelids, making it difficult for them to accept pigment even from the most pigmented shadows on the market. Whenever I don't have makeup on, I'm always prepared to be told "You look tired today" at least once. I also have a lot (and I mean a lot) of freckles. My husband loves them; I'm not a fan of mine, but I do like freckles on other people. Anyway, if any of the above mentioned issues plague you as well, consider concealing. It can completely change your look and eliminate unwanted shadows, darkness, redness, and blemishes.
Here I am, completely fresh-faced and unfiltered after my morning skincare routine. My skin is much redder than usual, because I was exfoliating for five minutes straight prior to taking these photos. (Also, shout-out to my hubby for the beautiful anniversary present around my neck. He did good.)
Oy vey. Click on the closeup for a good look at those freckles. This is the first and probably the last time that I will ever encourage anyone to take an up-close look at my makeup-free face. Notice the dark circles below my eyes and my dark eyelids. (And I got a fabulous pimple right on my widow's peak this week.)
If you're new to concealer and want to try it out for the first time without spending an arm and a leg, I have just the product for you! I recently had a huge drug store haul, and I've really been enjoying the Face Studio Master Conceal by Maybelline. It retails for about $9 and really gets the job done well. It's easy to apply and a little product goes a long way, so you'll definitely get your money's worth here. I'm in the shade Light/Medium 30.
The best part about this product is that it doesn't crease. Longtime concealer users will know that finding an eye product that doesn't crease is difficult but imperative. Creasing just plain sucks, and no one wants to look like their face is caked with makeup. With a good setting powder, or even just a cheap face powder, this sucker does not crease at all. It also does a wonderful job at lightening and brightening the area around the eye. It completely covers the freckles on my cheeks and even works as a great primer for my eyelids.
So let's get started. When we last checked in with my face, it was completely naked and ready for product.
Here, my face is primed with one of my holy grail products, but we'll save that for another post. I have been applying my foundation in small dots all over my face lately to help with blending. (This photo and the coming photos have been edited, so the darkness of my eyes is not as intense as in the first photos.)
After blending my foundation out. I do not apply foundation to my eyes. The darkness of my eyes is much more obvious in this photo due to the lack of foundation.
When I don't have any eyeshadow primer, I like to prime my lids with a dab of concealer to help brighten my shadow. I'm not shy about the amount of product that I apply to my dark circles. I blend the concealer down about two to three inches below my eyes and out toward the highest part of my cheekbones.
Looks a little like this before I blend everything out with a damp beauty blender and a very light hand. I'm careful to avoid removing any product, and beauty blenders are perfect for the job.
Here's how things look after they've been blended out. For the purpose of this drug store product post, I used a cheap powder to set the concealer. Even if you don't use powder on your entire face, you must use a setting powder on any spots that you've concealed in order to avoid creasing.
My next step is my eyes and brows. The effects of the concealer become more obvious around this stage. Notice how bright and pigmented my shadow is thanks to priming my lids with the concealer.
These next few photos are not edited, because my normal editing process tends to make it difficult to see details. Here, I've lightly contoured, added blush, and highlighted my face.
And after adding lip color, this look is complete.
Here's the before and after. Freckles, dark circles, and redness be gone!
Finish it all off with a little setting spray, and you're ready to go! So what do you think? Are you convinced? I love concealing and can't believe I ever went without doing it! I don't know about you guys, but I love learning new makeup techniques and adding new products to my routine. If you don't already conceal, give it a shot. You might end up being a huge fan! If you already enjoy concealing, have you used the Face Studio Master Conceal? What are your favorite concealers? Let me know your thoughts below!
xo
No comments:
Post a Comment