Expert Beauty Tips

Concealing looks like it can be a tricky business, however with a bit of knowledge you can conceal and correct like a pro.

1. What are you concealing or correcting?

Sometimes we might try to conceal all blemishes, under-eye darkness, redness and pigmentation with one product and one technique. If you haven’t examined your skin closely enough, you tend to choose a shade that matches your foundation or skin tone, and end up having to apply too much and simply not covering what you were intending to.

• Any facial redness requires a yellow-toned concealer to correct the red colour. Our first product is new ReCover Correct & Conceal Red and is specifically designed to tone down redness.
  
  
• Under-eye darkness needs a peachy tone to counteract the purply- blue tones found in the thin skin in the eye area. Choose products that are easy to apply and not too thick so won’t settle into fine, lines but equally ones that have enough pigment content to get the job done. Watch this space for our ReCover under-eye concealer products launching next year.
  
  
• Blemishes and spots are often little blighters to cover, so the best thing to do is to firstly correct the skin tone if it is reddened with a creamy concealer then ‘fix’ the concealer in place, as a blemish is often raised, with a fine dusting of powder.  Spots have a ‘lifecycle’ and a different approach may needed depending on what stage the spot is at, so if you need more information on this head over to our blog on concealing spots.
  
  
• Scars, depending on their colour and how raised they are, can be tackled with yellow-toned creamy concealer products. You may need to work with more than one colour though as often a scar can have a purple tinge to it in areas.
  
  
• Tattoos, depending on their colour can also be covered but require much more work.  

2. Have you prepped your skin?

Think of your skin like a canvas. A gentle exfoliator and a hydrating moisturiser will help to create a smooth base for your makeup. However, be careful with moisturiser with silicones in the formulation, as this can cause makeup to repel away from your skincare. If you find small balls of makeup are rubbing off throughout the day then you are using products in your routine that are not compatible.

3. What is your ideal end result?

Makeup artists can sometimes spend most of their makeup time creating perfect skin for their client, only adding colour at the last third of this session.  Making skin look flawless requires a good combination of corrective work and clever product use.

If you would like a ‘no make up’ look, try looking at your face in natural daylight and see if there are any areas of redness, discolouration or blemishes that you would like to correct and conceal. Then choose a concealer with super fine layer technology to create a flawless finish.

4. Do you prefer to use your fingers or a makeup brush?

You can use your fingers to apply makeup to your own face, however if you prefer a brush then we recommend a tapered or pointed flat concealer brush, with soft, dense hairs.  Alternatively a buffer brush (a tightly packed short haired full brush - sometimes also called a kabuki brush) can give a wonderful finish too.  Buffing foundations and concealment products is very on trend, and we have used it with our launch product ReCover Correct & Conceal Red with great effect as it helps to work the product seamlessly into the skin over a larger area, such as cheeks.

If using brushes, wash them regularly in gentle shampoo. This is important to keep the look sheer and true, and for hygiene reasons.  We specially chose to use gold-plated applicator tips for our range of concealment products because in our opinion they are the most hygienic and convenient solution currently available on the market. They do not let any oxygen or bacteria inside the pump and therefore prevent any contamination.  Watch our video to see how to apply our launch product.

Plus, as a last tip, apply your concealer in direct daylight using a good sized mirror that you can see your whole face in!