Friday, August 19, 2011

The Perfect Concealer

What do you do when you have somewhere special to go? The first thing you think of is to make yourself look nice. Whether it is your skin or eyes or face, there is always something that you want to make look nice, or nicer. The number one thing that I reach for is a Kajal…being an Indian that is only natural. But the second thing that I reach for if I need to wear makeup that day is a concealer. I recently spent time helping a friend buy a concealer for herself. She had followed the advice of a website and bought a concealer that was lighter than her skin tone. It looked horrid!

Most websites that handle this kind of topic is usually by white women for white women. No one else talks about this topic. And one of the most common things I spot on these sites is that they ask you to buy concealers that are lighten than your skin tone to cover up your dark circles. Here are pictures of what happens when darker women wear lighter coloured concealers. 

toolightconcealer    Eva-Longoria-X17_6_1222571a

In fact even when really fair women wear a concealer lighter than their skin, this happens.

101212A1

I say, never choose a lighter concealer, always wear the exact colour of your skin.

One of the basic things about skin colour is this. Your skin is never the same colour all the time.

Skin colour changes with the seasons, women are usually darker in summer and lightest at winter. And your colour changes accordingly in the middle. I have made a habit of owning three concealers. Simply because it really works for me best this way.

 

Now the left one is NW40 from MAC, it is my summer colour. The reason that it is dramatically darker is because i use it only for my dark circles. It has a slight orangish tint which the camera is refusing to pick up but i use that colour for my under eye circles. This brings me to my second point. The colour wheel theory is best for choosing concealers because it cancels things out.

For example

If you have bluish dark circles then the colour opposite to blue is orange.

Second, if you have a red pimple, the colour opposite red on the colour wheel is green, so a green concealer is best.

Now you can use an orange concealer directly but chances are that if you’re reading this post you’re probably not the type who wears makeup a lot already, so you might get scared at the thought of mixing orange into your skin. So the best thing for you would be to pick up a concealer that has an orange undertone. The same thing applies for the green concealer.

So my dark circles concealer is the darkest one above – NW40.

the second one, right in the middle, NC42, is my summer concealer. I use it in summer when my skin is at it’s natural darkest. and the third one, NC35 is my before winter colour, i use it when my skin is at it’s natural lightest before winter. I will be buying my third concealer later on (I currently use a L'Oreal concealer which isn’t easy to display here so I’ve stuck with my MAC).

As you can see, the concealers have a yellow tone to them, that’s because my skin has a yellow undertone, as most Indians’ skin tones do, and so I need to stick to warm tones. If i wear a cool toned concealer, i will look grey and washed out.

Now, if all this is going over your head, just remember these simple TIPS:

  • Always choose your concealer in the morning time. This was you aren’t too sleepy and the sunlight is at it’s natural brightest, but not harshest.
  • Apply the concealer tester to your Jaw line, not your hand. Most women make the mistake of trying out their concealers on their hands and then complain tat their makeup is making their face look too dark. I’ll show in pictures how concealers blend with skin better than with the hand.
  • After applying the concealer to your jaw line, get out into the sunlight and see how it looks. If it blends well, you have a winner.
  • Second, check it out under a fluorescent light. This is for clubbing or any events you go to, you don’t want it to look odd. The concealer should blend in both lights.
  • Last, but not the least, take a camera with flash with you and take a picture of yourself with the concealer on. If it stands out against your skin, chances are you have gotten the wrong colour.
  • when buying a special concealer (orange/green) make sure that you apply it in the exact area that you intend to use it. Some greens might be too light for Indian skin and will look psychotic against our skin tones. But you will most probably not have to search too much for oranges, MAC has an awesome one.
  • Learn your skin undertone before buying concealers or any makeup product. best way to check up, wake up in the morning(do not use the AC at night), go out in the sun and look at your skin. Or when you are really tired/sweaty and not wearing makeup, your true skin tone will show through. When I’m tired I look yellowish brown. When my sister is tired, she looks pinkinsh. My skin tone is warm while hers is cool.
  • Yellow tones concealers are always a good investment because the are best used for covering up serious dark spots.

The same tips apply for choosing foundations and powders except that orange and green don’t come into the equation here.

While this looks too light against my hand, it blends across my face perfectly. When picking a concealer or foundation, never try it against your hand. 

If your are concerned with hygiene, a place like MAC should always be clean, but other places, you might want to take some cotton swabs and tissues to clean the product before you apply it with the cotton bud.

I hope I was able to help anyone who needed help. Please do comment below and let me know.

TA

VK

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I also disagree with telling people what foundation/blush,eyeshadow,etc they should wear, its really tacky and rude.
These women that were posted look PERFECTLY FINE! take their photos around the globe and people will agree with me. Some people prefer to look pale/paler...look at dita von teese for instance, she stays clear from the sun to avoid darkening in an interview she told reporters that. Some people like to be darker and sun kissed with bronzer on top of that, its your personal preference. Its just jealousy that someone would point that out, who is anyone to tell someone theyre wearing a too light or too dark foundation, because there is no such thing. Nicole and Sam from pixiwoo(huge makeupartists in Britain) sometimes wear paler or darker foundation and it looks gorgeous! as long as people blend it to the neck its fine....some people prefer to look bright and radiant rather than dim and dark/dull. People who are already light can wear any foundation they want and not look ashen
They just need to blend it and its fine! please dont give ur horrible makeup tips! concealer isnt meant to be ur exact tone!

Kofykat said...

I'm assuming that you are a make up artist/wannabe who follows that technique. or you have pics like that of yourself and want to justify it to someone who couldn't really care less.
And I do know Pixiwoo. And I am a big fan of Samantha Chapman. But in case you can't red properly, i was talking about Indian skin. and you obviously aren't Indian because all the women you mentioned are really pale and if you were Indian you probably would have mentioned an Indian makeup artist.
This blog post is meant for Indian skin. and you don't know a thing about concealer. or Indian women. the pale thing is fine on white people, (i've mentioned the same thing above too) and not on tan skin on Indian skin.
But thank you for stopping by my blog and spreading your rudeness.