Using Concealer

So time and time again I find myself reading posts from other bloggers giving their "expert" opinion on how to choose a concealer, how to apply it and shades you should use.. In my honest opinion and experience on myself and clients, I prefer using a concealer shade that's closest to or is the exact shade of my foundation. Why you ask? well, it just doesn't make sense to put a shade lighter concealer on a blemish. All you're doing is brightening the blemish and bringing attention to it. of course you don't want to go darker. You'll just look like you have dirt on your face.



Instead I find using the same color as your foundation helps to cover best. Remember, concealer is pretty much foundation. it's just thicker and therefore leaves better coverage or more coverage this is why it's recommended by many to use foundation first then concealer. 1. you use less foundation, 2. you also use less concealer (if you apply before foundation chances are you will rub most of it off and have to reapply. Also, when foundation is on first, you can see what it didn't cover then apply your concealer. Foundation can sometimes do a lot on it's own)



For concealer under the eyes I prefer to use a warm shade concealer. For example, In MAC I use NC42 in Studio Sculpt foundation. My face concealer is also NC42 in Studio Sculpt but my under eye concealer is NW25 in Select Moisturecover (I use select moisturecover because I tend to get dry patches under my eyes during the winter/fall). I use a warm tone concealer under my eyes because orange combats blue (under eye circles are usually blue-ish purple) warm tones=red/orange undertone. Some people like to use yellow color corrector which is also okay to do because yellow combats purple.



I understand some of you may want to brighten your under eye area which is fine but I wouldn't suggest using concealer that's 2 and 3 shades lighter than your shade even one shade lighter can be a little difficult for some to pull off. Instead, use a highlighting cream (benefit's High Beam) or flash cream (smashbox) or strob liquid (MAC).



Hope this gives a bit of understanding to some.

XOXO Mel.