How to Achieve Your Perfect Make-Up Base
In today’s blog post I will be explaining how to achieve your perfect make-up base. In last week’s blog we looked at my two must have products for your make-up kit. The MAC Studio Finish Concealer and MAC Studio Fix Fluid. These products will help you achieve a flawless base but there is more to it.
Today, I will be giving you tips on: how to prep your skin, finding your perfect foundation match and final touch-ups with powder and concealer.
How to Prep Your Skin
The key for long lasting perfect looking skin is how you prep your skin for makeup.
I like to consult my client before any appointment by asking them about their skin and skin needs. While I’m doing this, I’ll be examining my clients face to notice any other requirements.
It’s important to start here before deciding what skincare products to apply. For example, my skin is oily but also dehydrated so I like to use a gel based moisturiser because it is hydrating, lightweight and fast absorbing.
Some of my favourite products are, Origins Ginzing, MAC Mineralize and Neutrogena Hydra Boost.
Pro Tip: if your skin is particularly dry, you may need a richer moisturiser, one I keep in my kit is Embryolisse.
Once you have moisturised your skin it is now time for priming.
A primer is different to a moisturiser as its purpose is to hold your make-up in place, smooth out skin texture and help with the application of foundation. Although you can get hydrating primers, I would still moisturise your skin beforehand.
There are different primers to suit your skin type and some of my favourites are:
- Tom Ford Illuminating Primer – which gives you a gorgeous glow!
- Too Faced Hangover Primer – great for skin hydration.
- Benefit Professional Matte Rescue Gel – great for a combination-oily skin type.
Finding Your Perfect Foundation Match
Now, we can begin to apply makeup.
Picking the right foundation for you comes in 4 stages:
- Finish
- Coverage
- Colour
- Formula
Finish
When I say finish, this is whether you want a matte, glowy or satin texture to your skin. It’s really up to you on what finish you would like.
Pro Tip: if you have oily skin and you want a glowy finish. You should use products to apply the glow after you have applied your foundation.
Coverage
The coverage can be natural, medium, medium-full or full coverage. And, coverage is basically how much of your natural skin you want to see through the foundation.
For example, like a pair of tights the higher the denier, the less skin you can see. It’s basically the same principle.
Colour
The colour of your foundation comes down to personal preference. It’s good to ask yourself a few questions like:
- Do I want it to match my skin?
- Do I want to make my skin look darker?
- Do I want to make my skin lighter?
Some foundations come in different undertones such as yellow or pink. The pinker undertones will suit a warmer shade and yellow undertones will suit a golden shade.
Pro Tip: if you are unsure of what undertone you are, a quick way of checking is to look at your veins, if your veins are slightly blue you have more pink undertones and if your veins appear greener than you have yellow undertones to your skin.
Formula
The final thing to consider is the formula.
Again, this is a personal preference as to whether you prefer a liquid, powder, compact or tinted moisturiser.
Final Touch-Ups with Powder and Concealer
Additional steps can be concealer and powder.
I would only conceal where it is needed such as under the eyes to correct darkness and areas you want more coverage such as:
- blemishes, scars, redness etc.
Similar to selecting a foundation, when choosing a concealer you would go through those 4 stages as previously spoken about.
Powdering the skin will help set the makeup into place. Choose a powder to finish by looking at the appearance of your skin after the previous steps. Ask yourself:
- Do I need more coverage?
- Do I need to mattify the skin or add a glow?
Pro Tip: if you have drier skin, you may tend to avoid this step as you feel it will make your skin look dry. However, there are hydrating and glowy powders on the market or you can use a setting mist instead.
That’s all for this blog post guys, thanks for reading. I hope you have all learned something new about how to achieve your perfect make-up base.
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See you next week!
