The Areas To Apply Concealer for an Elevated Base
When it comes to concealer, you probably know the drill — dab onto your dark circles and blemishes, and voila, clear skin! However, simply covering up imperfections is only the start of what a high-quality concealer can do. When applied properly, concealer can brighten, highlight, and conceal with just a few pats of product.
If you couldn’t tell, makeup is kind of our specialty. So, we’ve put together a guide to explain exactly where you need to apply your concealer to create a much more elevated base.
Where To Put Concealer
In general, concealer has two main purposes: To brighten and to cover up.
Using Concealer To Hide Blemishes
When using concealer to cover up, you’ll want to use as little product as possible to minimize cakiness. It’s a delicate art — too little product, and your blemish will still be visible. Too much, and the abundance of concealer will make the spot just as obvious.
To get the right balance, we recommend using a high-coverage liquid product, such as our Perfect Skin High Coverage Concealer. This product is enriched with 100% olive-sourced squalane and phytosterols to keep your skin hydrated and dewy even while completely minimizing any imperfections.
Rather than applying the product directly to your face, dab it onto the back of your hand or onto your wrist. Then use your finger to transfer the concealer from your hand to your face. (You might be tempted to touch the concealer to your fingertip and skip that middle step, but we advise against it in order to avoid introducing bacteria to the concealer wand.)
Start with a minimal amount of product, and keep patting that blemish until it has nearly vanished into your skin.
Using Concealer To Brighten
Using concealer to brighten and highlight rather than just cover up imperfections is one of the easiest ways to instantly step up your makeup game. Think of it as a sort of inverse contour/bronzer stick — rather than emphasize the hollows of your face, you’re going to draw attention to the high points, without the flashiness of highlighter.
The “high points” you should focus on include under your eyes, under the bottom corners of your nose, the center of your forehead right above your eyebrows, and the center of your chin.
For brightening, we recommend using a tackier formula, such as our Multi-Fix Concealer and Color Corrector palette. (A tackier formula will brighten and highlight without creating too much shininess, which is more risky with liquid formulas.)
This palette contains six shades, making it easy to find your perfect color match. Plus, it’s alcohol, paraben, fragrance, and talc-free, aka less irritating for your skin. (Although you should still always patch test when using a new product, especially on your face.)
There’s no hard-and-fast rule for exactly how to apply brightening concealer – every makeup artist does it slightly differently. But if you’re new to this and need a starting point, we recommend applying accordingly:
- Under your eyes: Apply a large stroke of product and blend it out into a triangle with one point under the outer corner of your eye, one under the inner corner of your eye, and one about an inch below that, along the side of your nose.
- Under your nose: Apply just a dot of product under the outside corner of each nostril, then blend out the product.
- On your chin: Apply a dab of product at the highest part of your chin, directly below your Cupid’s bow.
- On your forehead: Apply a dab of product in the middle of your forehead, about half an inch above your eyebrows. Blend it out.
What Is the Proper Concealer Technique?
Maximizing the power of your concealer begins with proper concealer technique. You could be using the most expensive, top-notch concealer in the world, but if you don’t know what you’re doing, chances are it won’t look right without good form.
If you’re using a liquid concealer, such as our best-selling Like Magic 12HR Full Coverage Concealer, we recommend dabbing the product onto your wrist or the back of your hand first rather than applying it directly from the wand. This will warm up the product, making it easier to blend out and resulting in a much more subtle final effect. Then, transfer the product from the back of your hand to your skin.
If you’re using a concealer stick or a palette with a slightly tackier product, you can apply it directly to your skin, or use a densely-bristled brush (such as the narrow brush from our Pro Core Brush Kit). As with the liquid concealer, let it sit on your skin for a minute or two to allow the product to warm up.
Which Tools Should You Use?
The right tool depends on which part of your face you’re applying concealer to (and how comfortable you are with the tool in question).
For instance, a narrow bristle brush makes it super easy to apply concealer beneath the corners of your nose, while using the pad of your finger can help evenly blend concealer beneath the eyes.
The best way to figure out what works for you is to experiment with different tools. We recommend our Sponge Party Pack to try a wide range of sponge shapes and angles without spending a lot of money on individually priced sponges.
And remember: If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. If you love using and are super comfortable with a beauty blender, for instance, don’t suddenly start using a bristle brush just because we say so. The best tool is the one that works for you!
What To Know About Color Matching
One of the trickiest parts of applying face makeup is color matching to your skin tone. When shopping for products in person, you can ask a sales associate for advice, but online it’s a bit more complicated.
To start, it’s a good idea to identify whether you have cool, warm, or neutral undertones. You might already have an idea of this, but if you’re starting from scratch, take a look at the veins on your wrist. Blue or purple veins indicate a cool skin tone, while green veins indicate a warmer skin tone.
It’s also helpful to buy products that come in palettes, such as our All About That Face Multifunctional Face Palette. Not only does this palette contain multiple different types of contouring products, but it also contains multiple different shades of warm and cool-toned products, so you can test different shades and determine what looks most natural on your skin.
Our Stereo Face Six-Nude palette is another example of a great product to try if you’re still trying to figure out your skin tone. The super-pigmented shades provide a ton of coverage without becoming too cakey (and it’s Leaping Bunny Certified, which is always a plus).
What Is Contouring?
We’ve been talking a lot about contouring and brightening with concealer, but what the heck does that actually mean?
Using makeup to contour is one of those things that sounds a lot more intimidating than it actually is.
The idea is simple: Apply products a few shades lighter than your natural skin tone to the high points of your face, and apply products a few shades darker than your natural skin tone to the low points of your face (i.e., your cheekbones and temples). The goal is to create the appearance of a more symmetrical and flattering bone structure.
It may take some experimenting to figure out which techniques look best on your unique face shape, but in general, contouring is one of the things we find most fun about applying makeup. And at the end of the day, that’s what doing your makeup is all about — having fun!
Elevate Your Look
Some days, a swipe of mascara and some lip gloss is all you need to walk out the door and feel good. Other days call for a more elevated look, which is exactly where these concealer tips and tricks come in. Far from just a tool to cover up blemishes, concealer is a great way to contour and brighten up your face without being quite so obvious as highlighter.
With these tips in your back pocket, you’re well on your way to becoming a certified makeup pro.