Everyone knows if you want to cover up those annoying blemishes, redness of the skin or dark areas under the eyes, you grab the concealer from your make-up bag. Concealer can also be a great tool for highlighting areas of your face such as the cheek bones, center of the nose, forehead, or center of the chin. So, how do you find the right one?

Shopping for a Conceal

When deciding on a concealer, keep two basic things in mind: 1) Concealers with thicker consistencies are best for covering redness in the skin as well as the dark circles under your eyes; and 2) If you are looking for a concealer to highlight areas of your face, you’ll want to look for a lighter or thinner consistency.

Other things to look for when shopping for a concealer:

·           A neutral skin tone, one to two shades lighter than your foundation

·           A smooth texture for easy application and blending

·           A coverage that suits your needs (e.g. thicker consistency if skin has a lot of redness)

·           One that will last, so it doesn’t end up creased into the lines around your eyes.

Application

Before applying concealers, it is helpful to apply a moisturizer so that the concealer looks more natural—dry skin tends to look even flakier when concealer is applied.

Blending to conceal

The vote is split on whether you should apply concealer before or after foundation. If you apply before, it’s easier to blend into the foundation, but if you apply after, it will give you more coverage. Regardless, when you begin application, dot the concealer in a round arc around the inside corner of your eye. If you have darkness all the way across your under-eye, you can choose to apply to the whole area and even up into the top of the cheekbone. Do not rub concealer in, but pat instead. This ensures that you are not simply wiping away the concealer and it also protects the sensitive skin under the eye—repeated rubbing can create sagging.

Basically, you can use concealer wherever darkness or redness appears—above your eyes, around the nose, cheeks, etcetera. Those who have lines around their eyes should be careful, though, and use a lighter consistency so it doesn’t look caked.

Blending to highlight

Concealer is often used to highlight parts of the face such as the bridge of the nose, along the laugh lines, along the entire eye area, the top of the cheekbone and in the center of the forehead and chin. This is a more difficult technique in make-up application, and if you are applying the rest of your make-up correctly, highlighting probably isn’t necessary.

Lastly, concealer can be used on those days where you don’t feel like wearing a lot of make-up. For this particular purpose you will want to use a color that is closer to your true skin tone. Just blend and go!

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