Note to readers: Welcome to "Nancy's Beauty Blogger," a blog about makeup and beauty by Gargoyle reporter Nancy Tang. Throughout the semester, Nancy will guide beginners through the very basics, share tips and tricks, and provide extensive reviews for you makeup veterans.

A BLOG BY NANCY TANG
Posted Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Gargoyle graphic by Greta Goldbart
(click to enlarge image)

AHH, CONCEALER: THE creamy substance that girls love to load onto their faces like there's no tomorrow. It's not supposed to cake your face, ladies.

In fact, it’s supposed to do quite the opposite.

Concealer when applied correctly should be barely visible and provide natural coverage.

Finding the perfect shade

I have had lots of misses when it comes to finding the perfect shade, so I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not going to come ready made.

Experts recommend mixing a lighter shade concealer with a darker shade one (in respect to your skin tone), with the lighter tone used to cover dark circles and the darker shade used to smooth out wrinkles.

But let’s face it, lots of us are lazy and we don't have wrinkles, so we don't bother to do this. Instead, I recommend finding a lightweight under-eye concealer for dark circles and using color concealers for blemishes.

Covering dark circles and blemishes

For covering dark circles or evening out small blemishes, I suggest looking for a concealer that is half a shade lighter than your foundation color.

For example, I'm generally light/medium in foundation, so I would pick a concealer in light. An excellent concealer to serve this purpose is the Almay Smart Shade Concealer.

I love color concealers because they are excellent neutralizers. They can look strange in the pan and people are disinclined to reach for them, but they do not actually come out as green, lavender, or yellow on your skin.

To neutralize some of the most common skin problems, here are a few quick tips:

• Acne, redness, rosacea — use green concealers
• Dark circles — use yellow-based/peachy concealers; the yellow will counteract the blue tones
• Sallow complexion, yellow bruises — use lavender concealers

I don't have pimples very often (if you do, then you can look for a more high-coverage concealer), so I just use light concealers. However, when I do get blemishes, I actually don't put concealer on it right away because I find that it's better to just not touch it at all.

If you have really bad acne scarring all over, it might just be more efficient to use a foundation or tinted moisturizer.

Of course, giving your skin a break from makeup might actually be a better solution for blemishes than a concealer. Some makeup artists are now suggesting putting on concealer after foundation simply because people have a tendency to go overboard with it.

However, at our age, we really don’t need to wear foundation every single day. I mean, who’s paying attention at school?

That’s why concealer can be your best friend when you don’t want to load on the face products. Just remember, less is more.

Disclaimer: All products were purchased by me unless specifically mentioned. I am not affiliated with or sponsored by any of the companies, and this is my honest opinion.