BEAUTY 101 | Using Coloured Concealer

Ever looked at coloured concealer (or foundation) and thought what crazy new make-up gimmick are they trying to get me to buy into now?

The idea behind colour concealer and foundation derives from the colour wheel. Colours that sit opposite of each other on the colour wheel are used to contrast one another. For instance, green and red are opposites on the colour wheel so green concealer is used to neutralize and conceal blemishes, rosacea and other areas of redness in the skin. Dig it?

Here's a brief overview of what coloured concealers and foundations can offer you:

• GREEN
  - tone down redness
  - perfect for blemishes, skin that is prone to redness (i.e. rosacea)

• PEACH
  - brighten dark spots (I love to use it under the eyes), lighten areas of the skin damaged by the sun
  - use for medium yellow to olive skintones

• MAUVE
  - brighten and balance sallow medium yellow skintones
  
  
• YELLOW
  - brighten dark spots/undereye circles
  - use for light warm to medium yellow skintones
  

• WHITE (cool)
  - use it to brighten dark spots or to lighten foundation colours
  
  
• CREAM (WHITE - warm)
  - use it to brighten dark spots or to lighten warm, yellow-based foundation.
  

What kind of formula do I look for?
For blemishes and smaller areas, choose a creamy paste-like, stickier formula. For larger areas, use a lighter liquid texture, as creams will be too obvious when covering these larger areas.

Recommended products:
Lise Watier's concealer portfolio (pictured above) comes in both a palette for light and dark skin tones. The palette contains all the colour correctors needed right at your finger tips, which is particularly ideal for make-up artists who don't always have time to fumble around searching their kits for different products!

For under the eyes, I like to layer MAC's Select Cover in Peach to brighten the under eye area. I always make sure I have at least two of these in my kit, as I tend to go through them pretty quickly.

When all else fails...
If all else fails, it is better to just skip the colour concealer and foundation altogether and instead use your skin-tone coloured one. After all, you don't want to look like the Incredible Hulk when all is said and done with the colour correctors!