HOW TO PICK A CONCEALER SHADE. The rule of thumb for picking your concealer shade is based on your foundation shade. Beauty experts advise that everyone should have two shades of concealer in their arsenal, one lighter and one darker since daily sun exposure means your skin tone shifts slightly all the time.
The general rule of thumb is that you should always opt for a shade lighter than foundation when choosing your concealer colour. Doing so helps to mask darker discolouration, but be careful not to over-correct! Knowing how to pick the right concealer is essential to ensuring that your look does not appear ghostly.
MYTH: You should always use a concealer one shade lighter than your foundation. Truth: If your goal is to brighten dark circles, then yes, choose a lighter concealer. But for blemishes or scars, you need a yellow-based shade as close as possible to that of your foundation.
In natural light, look at the appearance of your veins beneath the skin. Green or greenish-blue veins suggest a warm undertone, whereas blue or purple veins suggest a cool undertone. If you can't tell whether your veins are green or blue, you likely have a neutral undertone.
"Always go a shade lighter than your foundation." The lighter tone will cancel out dark discoloration, but be careful not to go too fair. Concealers that are more than one shade lighter than your skin tone can leave you with a ghostly shadow.
If you're specifically looking to cover dark circles, you should instead choose color correctors in shades of red, pink, orange, or yellow, as these will help balance out the blue hue of under-eye circles.
Applying foundation first creates an even base to reduce overall redness, discoloration and minor blemishes. If you apply your concealer first, you may end up wiping some off when you apply foundation or using a lot more product than necessary, which can create a heavy, cakey look.
If you're looking for a lighter-weight alternative to foundation but don't want to rely on a tinted moisturizer or CC cream, we recommend using concealer alone. It's true, with the right long-wearing or hydrating concealer formula, you'll be able to cover imperfections, even out and keep your complexion looking fresh.
Flip over your arm and take a look at the inside of your wrist. If your veins appear to have a blue or deep purple tint, you likely have cool skin undertones. If they look more greenish, you likely have warm or olive undertones. If you can't tell one way or the other, you may have neutral undertones.
Select the right shade.
“You can't have a concealer that's too light,” she said, adding that women should choose concealer that's one to two shades lighter than the color of their foundation. “One to two shades … the right color blends itself.
Concealer is extremely versatile, and can be used to spot treat, to conceal dark circles, as foundation, as contour, and even as a tinted moisturizer.
Concealer is typically thicker in consistency and meant to provide additional coverage to specific areas versus being applied to the entire face. For example, you can use concealer to brighten dark circles under your eyes, spot-conceal pimples or camouflage dark spots or redness from hyperpigmentation.
While concealer for the general areas of your face should match your skin tone, under-eye concealer should be one or two shades lighter than your natural coloring. Using a lighter concealer for your eye area helps cover up under-eye circles and creates a brightening effect.
If your foundations are too yellow on you, you need to add pink to make it cooler. Add a small amount of your foundation on the back of your hand.
WHERE TO APPLY CONCEALER PLACEMENT #1: ALL OVER FACE. Take a concealer shade that matches your skin tone and draw vertical lines down your face as you would a normal foundation. Blend it all out with a sponge, then layer on more concealer in any areas that need more coverage.
Don't rub the concealer into your skin; doing so could cause smearing or produce a cakey effect. Hack: Wait 5 minutes for your concealer to set before blending it with the rest of your makeup. This helps achieve smooth, even coverage.
To avoid drawing unwanted attention to the area, many makeup artists would recommend not applying too much, if any, foundation around the eye. Instead, they suggest using a hydrating, lightweight concealer that has been designed specifically for the under eye area.
Concealer is generally used before liquid foundation, which can cover dark circles and various facial blemishes. So BB cream can simply be considered as a primer, while concealer has a concealing effect, which can make your facial blemishes "invisible". And the concealer's coverage BB cream is stronger.
Yellow color correcting concealer can be used to cover up any blemish that's purple in tone. Bruises, veins, and under eye circles can be hidden with a yellow spot concealer.