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NAVIGATION
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| You want a perfect canvas, but you dont want mask! You want YOU, only better. But the choices out there are staggering. Before we even get to the question of foundation color, there is the question of formulation. Pan, cream, liquid, powder, sheer, moisturizing, oil control, luminizing, the list goes on. It doesnt help that every company has their own gimick, their own "theories", trying to convince you how different and special they are. How to pick the right foundation formula for your needs? How to take care of the skin underneath so you need to rely less on covering it up? This section will try to answer some of those questions as well as provide tips on how to integrate what you have learned as a whole. |
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There are several things you need to understand about skin. My approach is holistic, which means the body is a whole organism. You need to treat it as such, and it will be reflected in your overall health, including the health of your skin. The better you understand this, the easier it will be for you to find what works for you in both your skincare regimen and your base makeup.
Skin is a living organ. Like your other organs, it reflects how you treat it. Drinking too much alcohol, smoking and dehydration all show up in your skin, as do many internal diseases. Although the skin is very adaptable, its important to realize that damage to it is cumulative, and the older you get, the harder it is to heal. Many substances like nicotine and alcohol inhibit the growth and maintenance of capillaries, which are tiny blood vessels that bring oxygen and food to your skin. Too much and your skin is literally starving. All those companies that tell you their nutrients "feed" the cells are being less than honest. The upper layers of cells are DEAD, they dont feed. The lower layers get fed through your blood stream. Thats the way nature made it. If you exercise, your skin gets better-looking as your system pumps in nutrients and pumps out waste products faster. That is after all, the purpose of your circulatory system. Anyone who says their creams and treatment "penetrate" into the deeper layers creep me out. The skin is a defensive organ, keeping you, a big bag of cells, safe from the outside. If it was so easy to "penetrate", wed all be dead from bacteria and viruses.
What you can do for your skin is 1) feed it, from the inside out, 2) protect it, with sunscreen and only moderate sun exposure, 3) keep it balanced. I will be brief about sunscreen, but excessive UV exposure causes mutations which leads to failure to heal, failure to repair, and also cancer. If you are pregnant or planning to be, too much sun cuts down folate (vitamin B) levels, which can increase your chances of birth defects. If you are allergic to sunscreens, please wear a hat and cover up your arms and legs. Also remember that your skin uses the sun to make Vitamin D, so taking a brisk walk outside in the morning to get a little sun is good for you. Wear sunscreen.
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Balance and skin problems
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Your skin surface is 1) dead skin flakes 2) sebum 3) bacteria. Yes, its awful to think about, but its true. The dead skin is to protect us, the sebum is to hold the layers together and protect the underneath living layers. The bacteria is just there, as it is everywhere. When the three mix due to an imbalance, it clogs pores and you get pimples and acne. When there is an imbalance, you have flakes and oil slicks. What to do?
Remember again that the skin is an organ that protects us. It takes defensive action. The swelling from a pimple is not bacteria, though it stems from bacterial presence, it is your immune system sending in the troops to fight and do cleanup! When you try to dry your skin out to battle it, it never gets better. Why? Because the oil layer is doing its job to PROTECT. Sometimes, noticing the oil is being stripped away, your skin panics and produces EVEN MORE OIL to defend itself. Dont be mean to your skin, its only trying to help.
So what can you do? First off, dont be mean to it. When your skin is acting up, its being attacked by bacteria or it cant get rid of the outer layer fast enough to prevent system clogging. The solution is 1)gentle exfoliation, 2)using the proper moisturizer, and 3)using antibiotics sometimes when necessary. Gentle exfoliation helps take off the oldest layer. Retin A and all alpha and beta hydroxy acids do this for you, as do products containing salicylic acid, or a gentle manual exfoliator does this too. Sebum is sticky. If you use a gentle moisturizer and the skin senses it doesnt need to produce so much oil to maintain moisture, you in fact can shift the balance so that less of the sticky stuff is produced. Stripping it harshly can in fact do the opposite. The final recourse is antibiotics. Some people have skin conditions very favorable to bacterial growth, thats just the way it is. Some people are more prone to tartar too, which is also caused by bacteria. You cant help that, so just try to keep things clean and kill those buggers with thorough cleansing, followed by light moisture. If your skin senses that you are helping it and protecting it, it CAN be re-trained to be more balanced.
Unless you live in a temperature and moisture controlled atmospheric bubble, be prepared to vary regimens and products according to the season and the environment. Dont go with the narrow thought that one regimen is all you need. Pay attention to your skin, how tight it feels, how dry, how oily. Sometimes you need to shift up or down to maintain balance. It is a dynamic system responding to your inside AND your outside.
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The Basics of Foundations and Primers
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Now you are throwing more into the mix. Stuff on top of your skin. No matter what treatments and fancy things they claim are in your foundation, it is a heavy layer of colors and chemicals. The most dangerous are the ones that bind your skin (i.e. long-lasting) and the ones that have base elements that increase the stickiness of your outer skin flakes. Breakout city. You want to wear as little foundation as possible and as infrequently as possible. Not going out? Give your skin a break by not wearing any! Its extra important to cleanse your skin before going to bed at night.
OK, but your want to look good, cover up the discoloration, make skin look even and smooth. What kind of foundation is right for you? Should you use primer? What is a primer?
Primers are a product that go under your foundation. Sometimes they contain silica derivatives, sometimes they contain mattifiers. The basic purpose is to create a more even surface and to make your foundation last by forming a layer between your skin and the makeup. Skin oils break down foundations. I dont recommend the daily use of primers, but they can be very useful for special occasions to achieve a flawless finish. It is more important to spend your effort evening out skin texture and getting it to be balanced on its own, rather than relying on something to mask the problem. Primers should be applied in a thin layer all over the face using a sponge wedge. It should be a very thin and even layer, applied in downward strokes. Some primers also contain color, sometimes yellow, sometimes green. These should be very well-blended and can be used as a color neutralizer on areas that have redness or dark circles. The color becomes invisible under the foundation when well-blended.
What are you actually buying when you buy foundation? Pigments held together with binding agents. Pigments are pigments. They are made from minerals, metals and dyes from a few major manufacturers, then, its all in the mix. The main difference between foundations is in the carriers. The slip, the spreadability, the wear. I cant tell you which one is best for you, it takes trial and error every brand and every formulation is so different. Some people with sensitivities prefer to go straight to mineral foundations, which contain as little filler as possible to avoid chemical sensitivities. It is still possible to be allergic to mineral foundations, just as people can be allergic to nickel and other metals. More expensive does not mean better quality or better for your skin. It is just as likely you will break out from expensive brands as drugstore brands. Many high-end manufacturers spend their money on packaging, not materials. Petroleum derivatives which play a major role in many types of cosmetics is the major place companies cut costs by using base products that are less than pure and stable. You dont know till you try. Also remember that sometimes the foundation can react with your moisturizer or with your skin oils and will pill up and roll off due to incompatibility.
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How to Choose Colors and Formulations
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All I can say is, choose a color that matches your jawline. Do NOT buy until you can see the color on your face in the outdoor sunlight. Half your face should be uncovered, the other half covered and looking like you, only better. Dont put it over your entire face when you go look. It makes it difficult to see whether it matches you well. Do not give in to pressure when the SA tells you it matches. There are many cosmetics lines I cannot use at all because they have too much red base pigment throughout all their foundations, so I my color ends up being somewhere between pink and orange. Of course the SA will try to find me the best match from that brand, but the fact is, there does not exist a color in that brand that actually matches. Be prepared to realize that it sometimes happens.
My other piece of advice is that unless you are a pale person, stay away from foundations with titanium dioxide. It is a white pigment that has sunscreen properties. However, it reflects light in a very white ashy way at certain angles, even if you cant see it head-on in the mirror. In any picture, you will have a strange ghostly color just on your face. It looks WEIRD. Dont say I didnt warn you.
As to what formulation you choose, part of that is determined by the coverage you need. The more coverage you need, the more pigment-dense your foundation should be. This does not mean it should be thicker. Sometimes if you need a lot of coverage, be aware that you must move onto professional quality makeup, as few drugstore and few department store brands will fit that bill. Some products are billed as moisturizing, or oil control. Should you use that as a determination for what kind of foundation to get? My opinion is that you should control that with your skincare regimen all the way up to the moisturizer you choose. Choose your foundation for texture, blendability, color, and wear.
Be aware that the moisturizing usually corresponds to dewier finishes, oil-control refers to matte finishes, luminizing refers to the presence of reflective particles. Choose what you prefer, but remember that once it is on your skin, it can wear quite differently from what is advertised. One expensive brand of oil-control foundation makes me look like I put baby oil all over my face within the hour. Why? Because my skin reacted to whatever harsh chemical was in it by producing tons of protective oils. Oil-free does not mean it will not make you oily, in fact if your skin reacts to it by producing more sticky oils, you are worse off than if you had gone for a moisturizing version. Once again, don't be afraid to test-drive to find what is right for you. |
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Rule number 1, Keep it clean. Dont touch foundation with anything less than freshly washed hands or clean sponges and brushes. This goes especially for liquid foundation, which should ideally come out of a pump dispenser. Remember that bacteria would just love a chance to go live on your tender face, so dont give them a home to multiply in.
Rule number 2, Blend well.You can apply foundation with anything you want, including your clean fingers. The key is to blend well.
This process is helped by the following tools:
- non-latex dense wedge sponge
- Taklon foundation brush
Powder foundations should be applied with powder brushes, most popularly the Kabuki brush for an even deposit of color. More details to follow.
The process for cream or liquid foundations go like this,
- Prime your clean face with a layer of moisturizer. Let that settle in for a few minutes. If your face feels dry, add more moisturizer, if your face feels too oily, tissue off the excess and wait a few more minutes.
- Pick up some foundation with a clean sponge, a small amount about the size of a nickel or near the narrow point of the wedge. Use this to apply to your face starting on the parts that need the most coverage. The application should be in brisk even strokes in a pat and pull motion spanning approximately 2 inches in length, working downwards and outwards. Don't forget around your eyes and nose. Reload the sponge if necessary, use all angles of the sponge to blend. This process will prevent you from using more than you need and avoid a mask look.
- If you have a foundation brush, work it in the same manner as your sponge wedge. I prefer to use it after the sponge to blend around tricky areas like the eyes and nose and mouth. You can use it for application and skip the sponge, but it takes longer.
- Go over all of it with longer strokes to blend well.
I want to mention here not to scrimp on sponges. Non-latex ones hold up better, last longer, and good quality sponges give the right pressure to provide even coverage. If you don't want to spend the money on good sponges, you might as well be using your fingers.
If you are using a powder foundation, you want a brush head that is large, very dense, and well-cut. This means it should be tapered and the bristles should form a bit of a dome. Pick up foundation with the brush a little layer at a time, apply also in small downward strokes over freshly moisturized face. Too heavy an application makes it look cakey, just like liquids and creams will. Do not use a sponge to apply. The pigmentation of powder foundation is more concentrated, it is meant to be applied diffusely and in layers, with a brush. At the end of application, use small circular motions all over the face to buff the foundation to a natural finish. This is why it's important that your powder brush be dense and fluffy, otherwise it is not capable of this last function. |
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ConcealersConcealers come in many types. Heavy duty, neutralizing, and lumizing are a few choices. Again, use one that suits your needs. Since it is meant to cover heavier discolorations in concentrated spots, it is very important that is do so flawlessly, not drawing MORE attention to those areas, which it will do if you are not careful about blending. Small tapered Taklon brushes are the brush of choice. It works much better than your fingers to smooth over the thick concealer to be less obvious. Do not skimp on a good concealer brush if you are planning to use concealer. apply in small areas, a little layer at a time, working to belnd each layer.
Apply concealer after moisturizer, before foundation if concealer is heavy duty or neutralizing. Apply concealer after foundation, before powder, if concealer is luminizing, like the types that are best for under the eyes, for maximum luminizing effect. Luminizing concealers also tend to be thinner in texture than the other kinds, making it easier to blend into your foundation.
Powders
Powders "set" your foundation by absorbing remaining liquid and also remain to soak up skin oils that break through. Very useful if your skin gets oily. If not, you can skip it. Natural looking skin is the look of the moment, heavy powdering is out. Pressed or loose? Remember that pressed is held together with binding agents. If you are prone to breakout at all, use loose, not pressed. However, stay away from talc powders. A very famous very expensive brand of face powder uses talc. Inhaled talc is a lung carcinogen. This means it causes cancer in the lung, so dont be breathing that stuff while you dust it all over your face.
First, choose a finely-milled powder. You want as fine a layer as possible. You also want to choose a powder that will blend seamlessly with your skin color. Sometimes translucent is not transparent, expecially if your skin is not pale. The point is that you should not be able to see it once it is on. Price points vary greatly, but it is all the same stuff, so just pick one that feels fine and is invisible on your skin. No company has proprietary technology on the fine-milling process, so no expensive company has "finer" powder than a less expensive company using the same machinery to mill. Pretty much you can pay $8 or you can pay $75 for the same product, different packaging.
Although many people apply powders with a powder brush, this is not the best way to maximize the function of a powder. The powder should be picked up and applied in patting motions with a fluffy powder puff, then all the excess should be dusted off with the powder brush. This securely binds the powder to your foundation to do what it was meant to, which is set the color and absorb oils. If you are not using this technique, your powder is functioning sub-optimally.
You can also just dust the powder all over with the brush to tone down the dewiness of a foundation, or use it instead of foundation to even out skin tone.
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