How To Wear Your Foundation Like a Pro? - For Beginners

                   A lot of women already know how to create perfect base for their makeup but there are a lot of girls I have talked to, who, do not know. They just apply their foundation on washed face, cover it with powder and put blush on but, that is not how it is done. No matter how perfect your eye makeup is, no matter how beautiful your lipstick is, if your foundation is not  applied properly, you face will look plain.

      So if you are not sure how to conceal/contour, prepare or color correct your face, you should read this post! Here is an easy and step by step guide for getting the perfect base for your makeup.

1-  Prep your face

        Yes! There are steps your take before applying foundation. They are really simple.

•    Cleanse your face with a cleanser that suits your skin.
•    Apply moisturizer that suits your skin type. I recommend lightweight moisturizers. Neutrogena, Origins, Clinique, Estee Lauder and Loreal have some very good moisturizers.
•  Wait 5-10 mins after applying moisturizer just to make sure it is absorbed in your skin. Now, it's time to prime your face. What primer does is that it protects your pores, help your makeup stay long and gives a nice and clean canvas for your makeup. Again, use a primer that goes with your skin type. My skin is more on the oily side so I use NYX Tea Tree oil primer. I would recommend you primers by Mac, Urban Decay, Smash box, Revlon , Loreal and NYX.
•  Wait for another 3-5 mins before moving on to the next step.

2- Color-Correct

  

     Some people apply correctors before the foundation and some apply after the foundation. I prefer applying them before foundation. First, let me explain what color correcting is; not everyone has a perfect equal-toned skin. A lot of us have dark circles under the eyes, redness around nose and dark spots and when we apply the foundation on, the dark spots look grey and red spots still show through. Long story short, foundation doesn't cover all the spots so that's why we color-correct before applying foundation. Now, if you have one-toned skin, you can skip that step else, let me show you how to color-correct. 

     Every color has an opposite color and we use that opposite color to hide a spot or blemish. There is a color correcting wheel that will help you understand the opposite colors of all the colors.

            As you can see that orange is the opposite of blue, violet is opposite of yellow and green is the opposite  of red. Now you must be wondering who has red or purple or blue colored spots on their face? Well not as vibrant as the colors look is this color wheel but if you look closely, dark circles have bluish/purplish tone and pimples and the area around the nose have reddish tone so we apply opposite colors on these areas before foundation so that when the foundation is on, your face looks one-toned.

     

        So, on blue tones, we apply orange/peach corrector, on purple tones, we apply yellow corrector, on yellowish tones, we apply purple corrector and on red tones, we apply green corrector. Here is another picture to help you understand.

      When you apply these multi-color correctors, make sure that the quantity is right. The amount of the product you apply should depend on the intensity of the spot you're trying to cover. Don't apply too much but don't blend either like you blend your foundation.
   
        NYX cosmetics, Morphe brushes and LA Girl sell some pretty kick-ass color correctors.

3- Foundation

               Now's the time to apply the foundation. I apply it with my beauty blender, If you want, you can use foundation brush but I prefer beauty blender. Pour some foundation on your hand, dip damp beauty blender and start applying on your face in a dabbing motion, starting from the center of your face. Remember you must dab the beauty blender and not rub it. Rubbing will mix up the multi-colors correctors. Keep dabbing and blending until the foundation is even on the skin and then apply on your neck.  My favorite foundations are NYX matte finish, Maybline Fit me, Estee Lauder double wear, Mac pro foundation, Essence camouflage foundation and Makeup Forever foundation,

4- Conceal and Contour

         Concealing and contouring enhances your features and add dimensions  to your face. Without it, your face looks plain and sometimes bigger. Contouring can also make your face look slim. Makeup without concealing and contouring is incomplete.

     Remember you always do contouring according to the shape of your face. Just because you saw an artist contouring her face in a particular way, doesn't mean you have to copy it. For example, if your forehead is small, you don't need much contouring on your forehead. If it is big and square, you should contour the sides more so it looks round. Just use your best judgment.

                 

 
    Apply concealer under the eyes, under your brows, on the bridge on your nose, on your cheeks right below the contour, on forehead and on chin and blend it with a beauty blender but don't rub too hard. Make sure that the product stays at the area, you want to conceal. Now contour under your cheekbones, sides of your nose, forehead and chin and then blend it.

5- Bake

    After contouring and concealing, it's time to set the concealed area with powder so that it doesn't crease. Check this video.

 

6- Blush and highlight

          Now apply Blush on your cheekbones. With a fan brush, apply a nice highlighter above your cheekbones, under eyebrows, above eyebrows, on cupid bone and on tip of your nose. Spray makeup setting mist and... you're good to go :)

Thanks for reading x