Highlighting Your Flaws = Younger Looks...?

Once your skin has been cleansed, treated, moisturized and primed, the next step is to highlight your flaws: dark circles under the eyes, broken capillaries, hyperpigmentation (sun/age spots) and blemishes.

It's okay, you can pick up your jaw. I heard it hit the floor.

Yes, I meant to write highlight instead of hide.

Most of these imperfections will show through foundations, and then we reach for concealer. This building up of pigment over these areas can lead to a heavy-handed look and can make them appear even darker. The idea is to mute these areas before applying foundation.

Some companies offer face primers in sheer tints... green to counteract red, mauve to counteract green, and yellow to counteract purple. It comes down to basic color theory... complimentary colors, those colors that fall directly across from each other on the color wheel, cancel each other out... create a neutral. For instance, using a green tinted primer over Rosy cheeks can mute the redness and allow for a more even color in the foundation.

If that's too much thinking for you, try using a highlighting pencil... make sure that it has a soft, creamy "lead" that can be easily blended with a concealer brush or fingertip. The brightening effect of a highlighting pencil can usually provide muted coverage for these trouble areas. Once, these discolorations have been highlighted, your foundation application will usually kick these highlighted areas back toward the shade of the foundation.

This is a technique that is very useful and cost-effective. You will hardly ever need concealer, or the tinted primers. If you bought every primer needed to balance all of the tonalities of your skin, you'd go broke!

The highlighting pencil has a lot of uses:

1. Highlighting Imperfections;



2. Lifting the Brows;



3. Making Eyes appear brighter;



4. Making Lips appear fuller;



5. Correcting noses;



6. Counteracting sinking cheeks...

... just to name a few.

So, before you apply foundation and grab the concealer, try highlighting those little imperfections and watch them disappear! It's a nifty trick that is inexpensive and can increase your face value.

Perfecting the Canvas

You may have already taken the steps to change your skin care regiment, thus investing in your face value. It is the essential step to looking younger and feeling better about yourself. The next step is makeup.

Cosmetics and using them wisely can go a long way to hiding the flaws and taking years off of how old you may look, increasing your face value. However, makeup also has the potential, no matter how young and fabulous your skin may look, to put you in a face value deficit! We've all seen the pretty young thing who, with the help of some bad makeup choices, looks like a fifty year old divorcee on a bender.

Once you've invested the time and energy into getting your skin to look amazing, your makeup choices should also reflect that same investment. Makeup alone can not save your face value. Think of it like this... using makeup alone to look younger is like spending your quarters and saving the pennies. It may work for a while, but debt (age) is going to catch up eventually!

The first step in properly using cosmetics to benefit your face value is to use a primer. Primers are designed to perfect the skin, giving you a soft, smooth surface on which you can apply makeup for better coverage, less redness and shallower lines and pores. Without primer, makeup goes on like watercolor on a stone wall. You'll see the color... and everything else!

Some companies use a plant-based silicone called Dimethicone as the base of their primer. This silicone acts as a barrier, a cushion over the skin, filling in fine lines and enlarged pores, giving you a smooth texture on which to apply cosmetics. Some of them contain tints of green, pink/mauve, and yellow to counteract discolorations in the skin. While they work well, these products require a few minutes for the silicone to set before applying a powder or liquid foundation over them.

Certain watchdog groups have alleged that Dimethicone, although plant-based can be toxic. Beyond this, the silicone does tend to break down in the oils produced by the skin, thus blocking pores and leading to irritation from it occlusive nature under makeup. While great for photo shoots, these primers may not be the best for all-day wear.

Other companies use botanical ingredients which act like skin treatments, fortifying the skin from the inside out. Usual ingredients in these products include Aloe Vera, cucumber and melon extracts, chamomile, hemp, and antioxidant vitamins. Due to their lightness, the ingredients are absorbed quickly and save time in the application process. Also, because these ingredients are absorbed by the skin rather than sitting on top of it, these primers tend to hold makeup and keep the skin looking smoother for longer periods of time.

Whichever you choose, a primer is necessary for smoother, younger-looking skin... and will give you the best results in using makeup to increase your face value!