You're probably wondering why I've dedicated an entire blog to colour correcting, concealing & contour, this is simply because these three c's (steps) can make or break your beauty routine and final look!
I'm going to share with you not only the products that I think work the best but also some of the biggest faux pas I've had with correcting, concealing and contour that can hopefully help you not make them EVER again!
Faux pas no 1 - PINK UNDER EYES?
Colour correcting - I never used to think this is integral! I always thought of this step as optional and for make up artists who love to experiment or are much advanced in their field! I could never get around to using correctors or understanding what colours are used to cover what or how I would set a nude foundation/concealer on basically what I saw as a kid's primary palette - the reds, the yellows, the greens! ah! felt like kindergarten all over again. But having said that, I knew I wanted to experiment with colour correcting and see if there are any benefits to actually using correctors. I saw a youtube video hack on using liquid lipsticks, and decided to use a matte Huda beauty liquid lipstick in red to colour correct my dark eye circles! While this might have seemed like a tame idea, I didn't quite realise how much pigment liquid lipsticks actually have (even in miniscule quantities) and how long you should let it dry! Lo behold! Once I put my concealer on,I didn't have the perfect undereye's - I had weird looking pink eye bags! (No, they were not Chanel, and yes, I was utterly disappointed!) Jokes aside, that definitely put me off colour correcting for a while! Until I found the dream product! I honestly have been using this for months now and think it is the best solution to colour correcting pesky dark spots and under eye circles. Hold tight - honestly this is magic:
Becca's Under Eye Brightening Corrector (4.5 gms) retails for £21, $32, INR 2500
(Shade - Medium to Dark)
Such an amazing product! It lasts ages, and the creamy consistency of the formula allows for the smoothest application, once you've prepped your skin, use this on your dark spots/ under eyes for base perfection! I tend to use my fingers to apply because the consistency is so buttery that I think it works better with the heat of your finger tips vs a brush, I've never tried to use a brush with this product to be fair! Just apply a relatively thin layer before you conceal and you will immediately see a difference! For all those putting highlighter underneath their foundations - same concept but works 100x times better! I'm not sure if this retails in India at the moment, but is readily available online, Sephora and other stores!
Faux pas no 2 - WHITE UNDER EYES & CREASED CONCEALER?
Concealer - I don't know whether this is a problem for most Indians in general or just me, but boy do I struggle with under eye dark circles, and want to know the good news? No, there's no beauty product that makes them go away completely for real! (but there are ones that can hide them pretty damn well!)
A few years ago I learned the technique of layering concealers to give under eye bags maximum coverage. I used to use the MAC Pro Longwear Concealer in (NC 42 - has a slight orange undertone and perfect for my skin tone!) followed by the eye brightening stick from Bobbi brown in natural tan (4.5) - they discontinued this product unfortunately! This combination definitely worked for me for a while, but I did notice that my concealer often came out looking super white or cakey, which led to creasing and sometimes came out with me looking like Casper in pictures with flash on! (see below circa 2017- YIKES)
Shoutout to my friend Pratiksha, who's make up actually does look on point here! At the time, I knew little about baking either! Anyway fast forward to a few months and some experimentation later and I discovered the two most amazing products that give you full coverage for dark eye circles - the first being, Tarte's Shape Tape Concealer, available here- https://tartecosmetics.com/EU/en_GB/makeup/face/concealer/shape-tape-concealer/836.html in shade Medium 35 N for neutral undertones which is perfect for my skin tone! - I'm a standard indian wheatish complexion.
With this product, a little goes a long way! It retails for £23, $27 or INR 2000 approx for 10 ml, and this tube lasts me over 6 months easy! How to use: After I've prepped and primed my skin, I use a thin layer of the colour corrector, before applying a few dabs of this around my eyes, nose and a few spots I want to conceal. (Tip - It also works great as a base underneath eyeshadow and really makes colours pop & last long!). I tend to use my fingers to blend this out (my ring finger mostly) because I think that gives the best application and again the heat of your fingertips allows for a better blend. Once I've finished blending, I go in with Laura Mercier's Translucent Setting Powder, retails for £32/$38 for 29gms (pictured below) and voila! You're ready for a fun long night of creaseless, concealed magic!
(I'll post a separate blog on baking, setting powders & how to use later in the week)
Moving on to our final C & probably the most daunting, here it is ladies!
Faux pas no 3 - BAD CONTOUR = UNBLENDED PATCHY DARK SPOTS?
Let me start by saying contouring is something I've personally dreaded doing because I could never grasp the concept of how to blend out super dark cream contours to make them look natural & not cakey! While I loved the idea of highlighting or accentuating certain high points of my face or slimming them (seriously, who doesn't love a sharp jawline or a Bella Hadid nose?!), I just couldn't understand where/how to start. Safe to say, I did try a few experiments with cream contour using Bobbi Brown's stick foundations in a much much darker shade & failed miserably(Unfortunately or fortunately I don't have a picture as proof!)
However, I think what actually did work for me was when I started using Bronzer as a contour! It's easy, less harder to mess up & works perfectly to sharpen features without risking looking like a chessboard!
My suggestion is buying a bronzer that is 2 shades darker than your skin tone such as the Bobbi Brown Bronzing Powder (Shade - Deep), available for purchase here: https://www.bobbibrown.co.uk/product/14020/8166/makeup/face-and-cheek/bronzer/bronzing-powder#/shade/Natural, and applying it to the same points of contour on your face as shown below - forehead blending into your hairline, either side of the bridge of your nose, beneath the cheekbones & your jawline.
What's great about using a powder contour, is that it blends much more easily into your foundation and blush & should you over do it, you can just dust the excess off! For tinier areas like the bridge of your nose, I like using a smaller travel sized bronzer (I'm currently obsessed with Benefit's Hoola Mini Bronzer, 4 gms, retails for £14.50, $17, INR 1530 - also available on Nykaa in India). The smaller brush allows you to control the amount of product you can apply, and since it's square, it helps give you a more angled, sharper look without much effort at all! Highly recommend it!
After much experimentation, I finally think I've found the all encompassing solution to these 3 C's! Here's what my final look turns out like now 3 years later! *Thank heavens*
(P.S - It's faux fur :))
Hope you found this blog helpful! Let me know in the comments below if you've had an funny colour correcting, concealer or contouring faux pas! Lots of love, stay safe xx Farah