Watch it Wednesday! Lisa Eldridge Foundation Course

As you most probably know, I love to watch YouTube beauty 'gurus'. Well, when I was doing my daily catch-up, I saw that the makeup artist Lisa Eldridge had posted a new video that will begin a new series of videos that will cover everything you need to know about foundation. I just wanted to let you know about this, as it is a great series for all you beauty beginners, and also for all you beauty lovers, as she goes through how to choose your right shade, choosing the right type of foundation for your skin type, how to apply it and a lot more. I really recommend this series, as she really goes into detail, and gives you some great tips. Some of the videos are listed below, along with links to the rest of the videos.

How To Shop For The Right Foundation (the first in the series)

Choosing The Right Shade of Foundation (second in series)

The third in the series - How To Apply Foundation

The fourth - Choosing The Right Type of Foundation

The fifth - Foundations for Combination to Oily Skin

The sixth - Foundations for Dry and Very Dry Skin

The seventh - Quick Tips for Perfect Foundation

If any more videos show up, I will link them below.

*edit*
The eight - Favourite 'Pro-Kit' Foundations

I hope this helps some of you.

Beauty Beginner Series: The Face

This post will be slightly different to the usual, but please bare with me, there is a point to this post.

It occurred to me the other day, that I've been posting all of these posts about face makeup etc, and saying where to apply certain things, but I haven't actually included a labelled picture of the face, explaining where everything is (e.g. apples of cheeks, hollows of cheeks etc).

This image will be something that should help you with the past posts, and will also help you with future posts, for example, when I go onto explaining how to apply eyeshadow, contouring and highlighting etc.

Oh, I just wanted to say, now that it's the run up to Christmas, things are going to be hectic for me, especially at uni, as we have an important assessment two weeks after Christmas, so I wanted to say that I am going to post a new Beauty Beginner Series post every two weeks, instead of every week. I'm sorry to do this, but I hope you understand.

Beauty Beginner Series: What is Blusher?

First off, let me please apologise for missing last week's post of this series. Things have been a bit hectic at uni, so I didn't have time to write up a detailed post.

Secondly, I thought this week, to continue on from the previous two posts in this series, as they were both about face products, I would try to answer the question 'What is Blusher?' So, let's get into it.

For a lot of people, blush is one of those love or hate products. When used correctly, it can give your face a healthy, natural colour and glow, but when used wrongly, the phrase 'clown face' comes to mind!

Like, foundation and concealer, blusher comes in many forms. Powder blush are probably the most well known and most used type of blush, but there are many more.

• Powder Blush is good any type of skin, but is slightly better for oily and combination skin, as it helps to absorb some of the oil.
• Cream Blush gives more intense colour than powder, so only a little is needed. It also needs to be blended thoroughly, to avoid any harsh, obvious lines. Fingers are the best way to apply cream blushers, working from the apples of the cheeks outwards. As cream blush contains more moisturising ingredients, it is usually considered best for dry skin.
• Gel or Liquid (or Tint) Blush is good for adding a slight glow to the cheeks. They are not usually as pigmented as powder and cream blushers. They can work well for anyone who has oily to normal skin, as they last long, and tend to be oil-free. These are very fast-drying though, so you have to really blend them quickly. 

Whichever type of blush you choose, make sure you choose one that matches your natural skin tone and colour. You can tell what colour blush you should get when your cheeks have their natural rosy glow to them, after you have been out in the cold, or have just been doing exercise. The easiest way of choosing your perfect shade, is to give yourselves a good smack on the cheeks (sounds cruel, but it's true!). Don't go smacking yourselves so hard that your cheeks will just go red though! That won't work. Lightly pinch your cheeks, and this should give you the colour blush that you should be buying. It may be best to do this bit at home, though, just avoid any strange looks off other shoppers!

Blush should be applied after foundation and concealer, and then blended out with a brush and a little of the powder you have used to set your face with. If you can, it would be better if you apply blush with a proper brush, rather than the poxy thing that comes with it, but if you can't, then just use the brush that came with it. (E.L.F. do some reasonable quality blush brushes for £1.50 that you beginners can't go wrong with, plus Christmas is coming up!)

To apply blush:

• Dap your brush into the blush, and tap off any excess; it's always best to start lightly, then build it up if needed
• Look in the mirror and SMILE! This will help you to determine where the apples of your cheeks are
• Apply the blush onto the apples of your cheeks, blending well.
• If you've put too much on, then go over it with a bit of translucent powder, and this should sort it out
• This video will show what I mean more.

I hope this helped you, and if you have any questions, please let me know, and I will try my best to answer them!

Beauty Beginner series: What is Concealer?

This week, I thought I'd look at the question 'what is concealer?' We touched on this slightly in the 'what is foundation?' post, but I thought I would go into a bit more detail.

Concealer is more concentrated form of foundation. It has a lot more coverage than your typical foundation, and is used to cover any blemishes, dark circles, hyperpigmentation or any else you may want covering (although, if you have serious skin problems, such as birthmarks, scars and vitiligo, a heavy camouflage makeup may be required). The difference between foundation and concealer is, foundation is mainly used all over the face and neck, to create a even skin tone, whereas concealer is used only on small areas where extra coverage is needed (e.g acne and dark circles).

Although a lot of people do use it with foundation, concealer can be worn by itself if that is all that is needed.

Generally, concealers do not come in as great a colour range as foundation, usually having only 3-4 shades (light to darkest). It is best that you choose the shade that is 1-2 shades lighter than your skin tone, but don't go too light, as you'll look like a raccoon! The general rule for choosing colours, is to pick a yellow based concealer, as this will counteract any dark marks, and redness.

Just like foundations, concealers come in 3 main forms. The most well known is the liquid concealer and the stick concealer.

• A stick concealer looks very similar to a lipstick. This type of concealer is good for covering scars and blemishes, but they tend not to blend very well. This is not recommended for under the eye and sensitive skin, due to the blending restrictions.
• A liquid foundation is good for covering large areas of the skin. It works well for covering acne, dark circles and blemishes. They cover well, but not as well as a stick concealer, but blend a lot easier.
• The last form of concealer is a powder concealer. This is probably the easiest to blend, using a brush, but offers the least amount of coverage. This is best used for small blemishes and under eye circles.

Another way of using concealer is using colour corrective concealer. This takes the idea of a colour wheel, using opposite colours to counteract any skin problems. For example, if have any redness in your skin, you would use a green colour corrector, to neutralise the redness, making it less noticeable.

A basic guideline to follow is:

• Beige - this will conceal flaws and shadows, while also brightening the under eye area
• Green - neutralises any redness caused by acne, rosacea, or just red skin tones. If you have a significant problem with this, it may be worth investing in a green based primer, that is designed to go all over the face, rather than pinpoint application
• Yellow - conceals bluish bruises, under eye circles and dark spots
• Purple - neutralises yellow coloured imperfections such as sallow complexions and yellow bruises. It can also help to conceal very dark under eye circles on darker skin tones.

When applying colour corrector, you should first apply the colour corrector that you need where you need it, and then apply a concealer the same shade as your skin over the top of it. You should then apply your foundation as normal.

I hope that this helps, and has answered some questions you might have had. Feel free to leave me a question you have that you want me to answer at beautybeginner13@gmail.com