Mass Confusion Part II: Conceal/Highlight/Illuminate

Welcome back, and thanks for sticking with me. Last time, we talked about contouring and bronzing.  Now, we’re moving on to concealing, highlighting, and illuminating.  Here we go…

What does a concealer do?

It conceals. Under eye darkness, redness around the nose, blemishes, redness in the skin…my favorites are liquid and cream products, and it’s best to have two separate concealers in different colors – one a little lighter than the skin to conceal dark under eye circles, and one that matches the skin to cover redness and blemishes.  It goes on after foundation (in most cases...we'll get into that later).  Depending on your skin and the concealer’s formula, you could just use the under eye concealer as a highlighter.  If you don’t need concealer, don’t use it!  It’s one of those products that’s tricky and can look cakey, dry, exaggerate fine lines, and can actually make the area look darker.

What does highlighter do?

Highlighter tricks the eye into thinking there is light on the face even when there isn’t.  Another way to think of it: all the special lighting they use in photography and film?  This is a cheat for that when you don’t have special lighting.  Typically, areas to highlight are in the center of the forehead, down the center of the nose, under the eyes, around the nose and mouth, and the center of the chin.  If you don’t have dark circles, you can just use highlighter to brighten that area without any extra concealer.  Highlighter also goes under the name of brightener, and comes in liquid, cream, and powder forms.

What about illuminator?

Illuminator, also known as luminizer, and sometimes referred to as highlighter, has light-reflecting particles that brighten up an area when the light hits it. I usually only place this product just on the tops of the cheek bones; even if using a powder version (though I typically use liquid or cream), it could make other areas look oily.

I made this video to demonstrate. Remember, this is just the general idea – contouring, highlighting, and everything else, is incredibly individualized and, like basically everything concerning makeup, should be customized for occasion, longevity, and so on.  We’ll get more into the details in time but for now, have fun experimenting.  If you want another take, check out this how-to from Byrdie.

Mass Confusion Part I: Contour vs. Bronzer

Get comfy, grab a cup of hot cocoa, and let me apologize for this long, rambling, multi-part post. Highlighting and contouring has become such a fad, and it is the number one thing I am asked to teach. Countless YouTube videos and products are dedicated to this technique, but I have yet to find one of either that expresses my take on it.  In this two-part blog, I’ll explain my version, starting with contour, in very broad terms.  I’ll break it down further in future posts and videos.

What is contouring?

Contouring is the process of defining or creating receding areas of the face to give it definition. That’s it.  Areas typically contoured are the hollows of the cheeks and eyes, down the sides of the nose, around the perimeter of the face, and down the center of the neck.  I do some form of contouring every day because I like it, but I promise that you can live a very long and happy life without it.

Where things start to get confusing is when we try to figure out the difference between bronzing and contouring. Bronzer is meant to bronze the skin as if you had been lying out all day and were bronzed (slightly reddened) by the sun, which as you probably know, happens on the high points – not the hollows – of the face.  This is why I like to keep my bronzer and contour separate.

So can you use your bronzer to contour?

Absolutely.  But I have a different bronzer for contour and one for bronzing.

What the heck is the difference?!?!

(Precisely why this is a post entitled “Mass Confusion”). It comes down to the undertones in the product. A product with more grey for contouring will create shadows, while a product with more red for bronzing will mimic what the sun does to your skin after a day at the beach.

So can I use the same product as contour and bronzer??

Yes and no (insert hair-pulling): yes you can, but not at the same time. I mean, you can do whatever you want – it’s makeup – but have you ever seen people with what looks like giant brown rectangles on the sides of their faces? That’s what happens when contour and bronzer collide.  I’ll contour with my red-ish bronzer and forgo the contouring product depending on the look I want to achieve and how tan I am.  I’ll rarely use a contouring product to bronze, though, because that’s where it’s really easy to get into muddy- or dirty-looking territory.

Another option is to contour with one product and bronze with another, using the bronzer in place of blush (remember we still have to highlight, and there’s only so much room on the cheek, so while you can contour, highlight, bronze, and use blush, but that can be a bit much).

A third option, especially if you want to use blush, is something I do commonly for special occasions: contour for definition, add blush and highlight, then set the highlight with highlighting powder (more on that in the next post), and lightly set the perimeter of the face with bronzer instead of powder.  Here’s a video of this process.

TO RECAP:

• Contouring defines features and just about any product can be used
• Bronzing is meant to make you look like you’ve been in the sun; use a bronzer for this
• You can contour with bronzer but cannot bronze with contour (this is my “rule” and is probably disputed by far greater minds than mine!)
• You can just contour, just bronze, or do both (or neither)
• Replace an overall setting powder by setting with highlighting powder on the inside of the face and a bronzer around the perimeter

That’s enough for now. Take a deep breath, re-group, and I’ll meet you for Part II.  May the force be with you.

Try

Electra Lane is a makeup business, and this is a makeup blog, but please please please know that makeup isn’t essential to being or feeling beautiful. Makeup is fun and therapeutic for me, but I don’t need it. I know this because I don’t feel bad or self-conscious if I go out without makeup…which, trust me, wasn’t always the case. We all have things we want to change about ourselves. My face is so very asymmetrical, I have an oddly long forehead, and don’t even get me started on my nose. Loving makeup or taking pride in your appearance doesn’t make you vain – obsessing over it does.  Anyway, whenever you don’t feel like you don’t measure up, just remember this:

“Take your makeup off. Let your hair down.  Take a breath.  Look into the mirror at yourself.  Don’t you like you?  ‘Cause I like you.”

Try ~Colbie Caillat

Photo courtesy of www.galleryhip.com

So Fresh and So Clean

There’s a misconception that your everyday makeup brushes need to be washed all the time. While I keep a brush cleaner  on hand for daily (think gel eyeliner brushes) or weekly (bronzer brush) cleansing, I only do the whole shampoo-and-water scenario once a month. I start by dividing my brushes into groups, from biggest to smallest, then fill a sink with a little warm water.

Although I’ve tried many different detergents, my favorite is Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap because it gets the brushes very clean, it disinfects, and leaves them soft and smelling amazing. I add a little of the soap to the sink and swirl around until there’s a little foam.

Next, I dip each brush into the soapy water, gently massaging the bristles until the water runs clear. After I finish with that group of brushes, the dirty water is drained and each brush is rinsed under cool running water.

I do this for each group of brushes then reshape the bristles and lay the brushes out flat on a towel to dry overnight.

The Big Secret

When I crossed over from doing the occasional makeover to studying to be a makeup artist, I was so excited because I thought I would finally get the definitive answers to how to execute a perfect smokey eye or flawless concealer. I was severely disappointed.

Not only did I find out that there wasn’t an exact science to makeup, I learned that literally every makeup application – even on the same person – will be different.  This means that the big secret makeup artists are keeping from every-day makeup wearers is this:

THERE IS NO BIG SECRET.

When friends ask me makeup questions, like recommendations for a good red lipstick, my answer is always, “it depends…” because there are so many variables involved.

If you want an in-depth, beyond-the-typical-video-tutorial lesson, know that you’ll probably have to pay for it.  Start by checking around your area for master classes, and there are great options on Skillshare.  Of course *winkwink*, you can always receive a lesson from me through a password-protected Vimeo video that you can review any time you want.  For the ultimate immersion in makeup, the best advice is to work at a makeup counter; you will get thrown into the deep end, but you can’t not receive an unbelievable education in that environment.