Apologies for the delay in my post this week, I can only imagine the devastation the delay caused. I have returned at the opposite end of the week to bring you more tips and tricks. As per usual real life decided to park itself right in the middle of my routine. Honest to God, the cheek.
Anyway! My skin has been a bit unruly as of late, so I've taken to using an old school green corrector under my foundation to tackle the high colouring around some choice "activity". I haven't used a correcting product in ages, so naturally the novelty kicked in and I had to have a go of everything; the under-eye blackness, the blemishes, and a little bit of brightening primer for the whole shooting galley. I lost the run of myself entirely.
I've since calmed down and gone back to a more moderate routine that lets me out the door at a reasonable time in the morning. Today I've brought a little bit of information with me about correcting products and what they do. I'll be sharing this info with you ('cause I'm nice, see) and talking about how to use different products for different problems. If needs be then now would be the time to grab a cuppa/snack/put the child to bed before we move on.
The whole theory behind colour correcting is that opposite colours on the colour wheel will cancel each other out. Products with specific tones in them will even the look of the skin once foundation is applied on top, helping to conceal really stubborn colour issues. There are different colours for different problems, but we'll get into that a little bit later on. The general rule with this technique is that the deeper your skin tone is, the more intense the colour of your corrector should be.
It can all be a little bit complicated if it's new to you. Chances are that either the packaging or a consultant will inform you as to what each product does, so take your time when picking out one for yourself if you think you'd like to try it out.
Colour correctors usually come in two forms, one being a densely pigmented cream product. These are used for specific areas of discolouration on the skin. These usually include heavy under eye circles and redness or red blemishes. These creamy products are applied to the area and your foundation is applied on top. They're best applied only to the offending colour, as if they bleed onto any areas of clear skin the colour can show through your base.
The second kind of product is a sheer primer to be applied all over the face. A product like this will counteract more widespread discolouration. These have less colour in them and are used to even out a difference in skin tone rather than specific problems. Redness is one that crops up here a lot, but also sallow complections and dull, tired skin benefit from these bad boys. Again, both formulas come in different colours to take care of different things. The general, run of the mill colours that crop up again and again will be broken down for you below.
Green: As far as I've seen this is by and large the most common colour marketed to the public. It's also very easy to use this wrong, although I kind of feel like that's not always the consumer's fault. Green tones will cancel out excess redness, be it widespread or localised. These come in either a concentrated corrector or a fluid base depending on what your skin needs.
Green can be notoriously difficult to hide with a foundation, so using a softer green tone is definitely more advisable. Less intense redness could get away with a yellow toned primer, and it'll be far easier to cover.
Peach/Pink: Either a soft peach or a rosy pink will cancel out blue tones in the skin. Sometimes these guys go unnoticed because they're often sold as concealers for the under eye area rather than dedicated correctors. That being said they're most suited to that area as they combat the cool tone in under eye darkness. For paler skin, try a more pink tone. For medium skin tones a warm peach will be fine. If you have a deeper skin tone then something more orange-peach will work better for you.
If you find a primer with this tone to it (Smashbox do a fantastic one) then you can use it to brighten dull skin. Darker ladies will see a renewed glow to their skin if a warm base is applied under foundation.
Yellow: This is for covering bruising or scar tissue with a purple hue to a it. Yellow creams are fantastic for hiding stubborn purple discolouration, especially those found in healing surface injuries. An eye primer with a yellow tone to it can help to disguise visible veins under the thin skin on the eyelid. That much has been learned from experience!
A sheer base with a yellow tint to it will liven up tired skin on the paler end of the spectrum, or kick start a warmer skin tone and give it an extra lit-from-within kind of radiance.
Lilac: So we know that yellow will cancel out purple, so a purple will cancel out... Yup. Sallowness, or excessive yellow tones in the skin.
Purple creams can be used to correct brown age spots in pale skin, disguise old bruising or any other discolouration with a visibly warm hue to it. I wouldn't use this colour on warmer or black skin as it'll show up as ashy and grey. Us white walkers can pull this off, though.
Lilac toned base products will revive cooler skin tones and add back a porcelain glow. The palest of pink tones will love the effect this has one waking up your skin. Just don't go too purple, anyone remember that scene with Edward Scissorhands and the Avon lady? Yeah. That can actually happen.
Beyond those listed above there are a multitude of colours that aim to conceal and correct something or other. Take your time picking out one for you, and keep in mind the four basic colours above. Any other variations will generally stem from one of the problem solvers we discussed mere moments ago.
Colour correcting can be a fantastic weapon in your beauty arsenal but if you're still a bit iffy, feel free to contact a make up artist and book an appointment. Let them know what it is you're looking to learn and achieve, I've no doubt they'll be more than happy to give you a dig out.
As always, any queries or questions are more than welcome! You know where to find us.
Until next time,
J x
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