Nearly prepped!
In my first article on 4 Starter Steps To Applying Makeup, we looked at the basic foundations of getting your face ready. Now we will look at the final steps involved in the preparation stage.
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Apply the concealer
Concealer is used to even out the skin that may be blemished or to hide dark circles under your eyes. It can also be used to brighten up darker areas of your skin or for the higher points of your face using a lighter shade.
Using a concealer brush or clean fingers, you blend the concealer in the area under your eyes, using an upside down triangular pattern.
Use a shade that matches your skin tone to hide any areas of redness and any visible acne or spots. Then blend in the concealer edges so to seamlessly blend with your foundation.
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Apply your highlighter
Now that your foundation is completed, your face may now look flat and free of any contours due to the uniform colour. To give it some depth, you’ll want to create an illusion of some shadows and highlights.
For this, use a cream or powder highlighter to brighten up the deepest areas of your face. This will add some brightness and more life to your face than if you left it alone.
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Add some depth through contours
This is the opposite of highlights. Contouring uses adding a darker shade of powder to any areas that you would like minimized. Contouring under the cheekbones, nose, and under the jaws are the typical areas.
After your face is contoured, you could add colour using a bronzer.
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Sparingly, apply some blush
The last step in preparing your face is to add some blush to those cheek bones. The cheeks carry a bit of colour, no matter what your skin tone is or what race you are. It does vary a little from person to person.
Using a large brush, apply your blush onto your cheeks (the large areas that form when smiling). Be subtle with your blush. Simply add just enough to rejuvenate the natural colour.
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Fill those eyebrows (optional step)
This is optional so it really depends on the eyebrows fullness. However, it’s generally advised for people with thin or sparsely haired brows. So, select your colour. Choose among brow pencils, powders, or pomades matching closely to the colour of your hair.
Start off by doing an outline of your brows edges with little dashes so it mimics hair. Then just fill in the center of the brow using the same technique. You should go in the same direction that your hair grows.
Finally, set them with some clear or tinted gel so that they stay all day!
Basic makeup preparation summary
- Prep
- Mositurize
- Prime
- Foundation
- Conceal
- Highlight
- Contour
- Blush
- Brow fill
So now that you have a great idea of preparing your face for makeup and getting that foundation looking nice, we will look at other areas of the face next. Check out my next article on eye makeup!