MidoriLei

If I only had five seconds till I had to run out the door and was done with putting on my concealer, I’d put on blush! Blush increases the pretty factor instantly. It also makes women look more awake and more “glowy” and healthy, kinda like the flush you get after a good, rejuvenating run.

Cheeks stains are the best kinds of blush/rouge. They last all day (unlike all the powder blushes I’ve tried) and instead of looking unnatural and “powdery” they make your face dewy and iridescent. A cheek stain always looks more natural. As I’ve mentioned many times before, my favorite is from Tarte.

Here’s how to apply it:

1. Smile and apply cheek stain heavily on the apples of your cheeks (it’s the part that lifts up when you smile, the “bubbly,” round part of your cheek).

Apply it in the shape of a circle. (if you use Tarte’s cheek stain it’s already the shape of a circle!)

2. Starting at the bottom, blend upwards toward your hairline by your temple.

3. Blend until the whole area is covered evenly.

4. Repeat on the other side.

Important Notes:

• Make sure the cheek stain never goes below the apples of the cheeks.
• Make sure to especially blend the edges to make sure there are no lines.
• The area that has cheek stain and your bare skin should flow seemlessly into each other without a trace of where one ends and the other begins.

What you end up with is a natural, healthy, radiant glow:)

Every time I see my friend Josephina, she always compliments me on my lips. She’s such a sweetheart. She says, “How are your lips always so pink and soft looking?” I never even thought about my lips until she mentioned them to me. But now, come to think of it, I hardly ever, ever need to use Chapstick, and I seriously think it’s because for as long as I can remember, I’ve always exfoliated my lips.

Just like your skin needs regular exfoliating to remove dead skin cells, (I use this once every week or two) so does the skin on your lips.

Every week, with your toothbrush or Sonicare, it’s important to get rid of dead skin cells on your lips. All you do is brush your lips when you brush your teeth. Don’t worry about over exfoliating. Brush even the very edges of your lips, even if you end up brushing part of your skin. Give it a good brush. Don’t miss any parts.

If you have extremely dry lips, also make sure to put some olive oil after to seal in the moisture and wear a lip balm during the day that contains an SPF to protect your lips from the drying out effects of sun exposure.

Before:

After:

Yesterday was lovely. I am finally over my cold, and I was able to see two girlfriends for an early dinner at Claim Jumpers. Our waiter’s name was “Tree!” Isn’t that cool?! He was a tall guy, very fitting. I ended the evening with my adult hip hop class (I missed it last week) and was so winded! Eh!!! It’s amazing how 9 days without exercising can make a huge difference!

Anyways, as promised, here is how to put on concealer.

I will outline some key points:)

1. The most important thing to remember is to choose a concealer that is on a stick or in a pot.

You will have a harder time covering up dark scars if you go with a concealer that is more liquid. You don’t want a concealer that has the consistency of foundation. This is because to use concealer properly, you’re not going to “smear” concealer over the blemish. Instead, you’re going to apply, let dry, and smudge the edges.

I use Revlon Photoready Concealer

I have found this to be the best drugstore concealer in terms of the consistency that I’m looking for (It’s a stick) and the shade that matches my skin tone (I need a yellow-based concealer because I’m Asian). Which leads me to point 2…

2. The second most important thing to remember is to find a concealer that is closest to your natural skin tone.

Again this is important because you’re not “smearing” the concealer. If you’re just applying it, letting it dry and then smudging the edges, you want the edges to match the rest of your skin that doesn’t have concealer on it. Also, I want to be specific. Most women don’t realize that their skin tone varies on their face. As you can see on my picture below, my forehead and my chin are darker than my cheeks. (Notice how the concealer is more obvious on my forehead but blends in my cheek area)

For many women, this is the case. So when I suggest to match your natural skin tone with concealer,

it’s best to match the skin tone on your neck so you don’t have to put makeup on your neck! (otherwise you will have the makeup line of death, the most obvious indication that you are wearing makeup.)

Usually because the skin on your neck also doesn’t get as much sun, your cheeks and neck will be paler than your forehead and chin. That’s why I matched my shade closest to my cheeks. It’s usually a safe bet to match your cheeks or your neck.

NEVER match your chin or your forehead.

Here I've covered all my blemishes, leaving out my under eye circles

3. You must apply the concealer on thick enough so that it actually covers the blemish.

Notice how thick the concealer is under my eyes

Seems pretty common sense, but I think that many women are afraid to look “cakey” so they just smear smear smear! And it’s just frustrating because they have to add more and more concealer/foundation, but the scar/blemish/dark circle is still showing.

Layer upon layer of makeup is what makes makeup look “cakey,” not one layer of concealer done correctly.

When done right, you have the majority of your skin exposed and natural looking. If you smear, you have the majority of your face plastered in makeup. One heavy layer of concealer looks natural and blends with a touch of translucent powder at the end.

4. The secret to perfect concealer application and truly camouflaging a blemish is to allow the concealer to “dry” before smudging the edges.

Sometimes, when I don’t have time to spare allowing it to dry naturally and  want to be out the door in 5 minutes, I’ll use a blow dryer! I’ll use the “cool” setting and just allow the air to dry out my concealer. If I have time, I’ll do my eye makeup, mascara, and eyebrows  first before I blend my concealer to give it a chance to dry up.

5. After allowing the concealer to “dry,” use your fingers or a makeup sponge and blend the concealer AT JUST THE EDGES.

Again if you smear it, it will just come off, exposing the blemish. After you smudge the edges, you can pat the concealer to release a layer of it if it looks too thick. But DO NOT SMEAR.

6.  Once you have smudged and blended all the edges and patted down the areas that look too thick, the most important thing is that you have to set it with TRANSLUCENT POWDER.

I don’t like keeping translucent powder in my makeup bag because it tends to spill, so I use pressed powder and and then use a big fluffy brush to break up the powder. This works just as well as translucent powder because the brush allows it to be applied lightly, just like translucent powder.

I use Maybelline New York Instant Age Rewind Protector Finishing Powder

Nothing magical about this pressed powder. It’s not anything special. It does the job, but it’s nice that it has an spf of 25.

7. Whatever you do, DON’T use one of these pads to apply your powder: (it will smear the concealer instead of allowing the powder to just set it)

Always use a fluffy brush, NEVER the flat powder applicator

I absolutely love my powder brush. It is retractable, so I use it completely opened for powder, and if I use a powder blush, I bring it in a little to make the puff smaller. I use
Sonia Kashuk Travel Blusher Brush.

Always tap the fluffy brush before applying to remove excess powder.

Make sure to really get that translucent powder under the eyes to avoid creasing. Finishing with translucent powder allows the concealer to “set” which means it creates staying power for coverage that lasts all day. It also has the added benefit of making your entire face look flawless and all one shade.

Remember: With powder, it’s always best to err on the side of it being a shade darker than your natural shade. With concealer, it is better to err on the side of it being a shade lighter than your natural shade. With this, you will end up with the PERFECT shade in the end, the happy medium!

In the end, you will have flawless coverage!

Again, I went from this:

BEFORE absolutely no makeup

To this:

See how all my blemishes are covered without looking cakey!

Of course there are still eyebrows to define, face contouring, blush application, mascara application, and eyeliner application to complete this look, but more on that next week! Don’t be discouraged! My makeup routine doesn’t take longer than 15 minutes:)

What are you doing this weekend? Tomorrow I am meeting a friend for Indian food. Yum:) Hopefully the weather will be nice so we can also go on a bike ride. Have a great weekend!