How To Apply Foundation

from makeup

Before applying foundation, always prep skin with moisturizer, otherwise the foundation will look blotchy and cracked. If your skin is oily, use astringent to clean off dirt and oil, then moisturize and follow with foundation.

No matter what tool you decide to use to apply the foundation, it's all applied the same way: DOWN. The fine hairs on your face grow downward, so you want to apply foundation in the same direction to make them less visible. Start from the forehead and work my way down. Apply foundation to your chosen tool and swipe in a downward motion from the center to the sides of your forehead. Work your way down the nose and along the sides of the nose, adding more foundation in small amounts as necessary. For the eye area, start from the inner corner of the eyes and move to the outer corner, blending gently. (Applying foundation to the eyelids helps in the even application of eye shadows and makes them stay on longer.) Don't forget the temples. Continue applying foundation downward from the cheeks and under the nose and chin. Blend into the neck, so there is no line of demarcation, conceal any still-visible blemishes, set the whole look with powder, and voila! perfect skin.

Primer

There are many types of primer on the market—some are more for a better foundation application, others are meant to fill in pores; some do both, and some do nothing. If you choose the wrong primer it can leave foundation looking blotchy. To avoid bad results use the same brand of primer as your foundation. If you want to try it out, ask about return policies or take your foundation with you to try the combination at the counter.

Tinted Moisturizer

This product provides the sheerest coverage—just a hint of colour added to moisturizer. Most do come in yellow based tones and they are so sheer that they blend with most skin tones. This is great for someone who doesn't need much coverage and has very little to no acne, or for mature skin that needs just a bit of colour. It's also great for those in a huge hurry. Most tinted moisturizers contain moisturizer, sunscreen, and some colour, so you get three steps covered in one product.

Sheer Foundation

The lightest substance in the foundation family, this is great if you have fairly good skin tone and just need a little help evening out your overall colour. Choose foundation with silicone bases as they mix well with most moisturizers and work well with dry to oily skin.

Liquid Foundation

This type of foundation is generally found in a bottle. It comes in a variety of textures from very sheer to heavy, full coverage. Liquid foundation works better for mature or dry skin as well as skin that needs only minimal coverage but has some redness.

Cake Foundation

This foundation is found in compact or stick form and gives the most amount of coverage, as it has very dense pigment. I prefer cake foundation for very dark skin as well as oily skin. Because of its consistency and dense pigment, you can use very little and it is less likely to slide or melt off of oily skin.

Cream Foundation

This usually comes in pots or tubes and has a thicker consistency but still provides a wide variety of coverage, from light to heavy. However most of the time it contains more pigment than liquid foundation so you need to use less of it to get the same coverage.