Simply Glamorous: Correct and conceal

Hi, welcome back, this is Ashley and today I am focusing on the correcting and concealing part of ones make-up routine. Concealer for me has always been my go-to product. Most of the time I just put it all over my face how ever I feel like it with no structure, but after reading Gary Cockerills book Simply Glamorous, I now feel better about the kind of concealer I am applying and where I am applying that concealer. My skin also has a lot of discoloration and redness to it, so I find these correcting tips that I will discuss throughout this blog post, along with the concealer tips, very helpful:) I read in Cockerills book a question he is often asked, and that is "if theirs a difference between color correctors and concealers, and whether color correctors are really necessary," (Cockerill 30), his answer was "theirs a big difference and, yes, by incorporating color correctors into your make-up routine, you can not only cover up an area but neutralize it too, and ensure your make-up holds its color and disguises any flaws" (Cockerill 30). Although I like to incorporate these things into my make-up routine, I have always wondered those questions, and its very nice to know exactly why adding these two things, and applying them correctly is so important and useful.

Correct

There are various colors that you can apply to your face, all with different purposes. My personal favorite is green because it conceals redness, and is good for covering pimples according to Cockerill, and those two things are very present on my face which brings me to like the green color corrector very much. Along with green there is also lilac, " a pick-me up that brightens the skin and counteracts dull, sallow tones" (Cockerill 30). Something I like to use and i feel it does better then the lilac color especially for my skin is using a highlight (bright shimmery color) right above my cheek bone, and on the tip of my nose. Another color used for correcting is a peachy pink color, which brightens the area under your eyes (Cockerill 30). This will help with those bags we all get from stress or lack of sleep, so I find this color very useful.

Here you can see I chose to just apply the green corrector. I applied it to the parts that Cockerill suggested in the book (Cockerill 30), see the picture below that shows where Cockerill applies these color correctors. These are the main parts that my skin naturally has redness. 

(Cockerill 30) Here is the image that Cockerill included in his book. Here you can see where the green, lilac, and peachy pink colors were added to the face.

After I applied this color, I blended it together will a make-up brush then used my fingers to help soften down the edges so the green color wasn't so obvious.
Then you will want to go in and add concealer, like talked about below.

Conceal

The concealers I have are, stick concealers and liquid ones. Although I always do my make-up I have never really known which concealer should be used where. Reading this book has really given me insight to that, and I hope you take these tips to be useful, and I hope that my experience with them is beneficial. Cockerill states that stick concealers has a thicker consistency, and is good for blemishes and easy to apply directly on the area that needs it (Cockerill 31). This is very useful to know because I used to apply stick concealers under my eye, but now I know I shouldn't do that. Cockerill also states that liquid concealers is a multipurpose concealer and is easy to blend and apply, and gives a nice light coverage (Cockerill 31). I love liquid concealer because of how light and easy it is to apply.

Here is all the places I added concealer. I decided to go with the liquid concealer under neath my eyes, and then the stick concealer on all my blemishes.

After you add the concealer you will want to blend. I decided to not use any foundation in this look, so I just finished blending everything together, and finished the look off my adding a loose powder and mascara. 

Color correcting and applying concealer are very useful tricks to know how to apply properly when applying make-up, and I hope you can use my opinions I talked about, and Cockerill's professional opinion to create your best look possible. 

Have you ever experimented with color correcting? What kind of concealer out of the two I talked about (stick or liquid) do you prefer?


Cockerill, Gary, et al. Simply Glamorous: Make-up Transformations to Make You Look & Feel Fabolous. Jacqui Small, 2015.

Makeup Manual: Eyebrow Shape & Definition

Hello, welcome back! Today i am going to be focusing on how to create the perfect brow and how to make your eyebrows the best for your hair color and shape of face. I have never known the correct way on how to fill and shape your eyebrows because i usually leave the house with my natural brows. I naturally have thick, medium/light brown eyebrows so i have never really focused on the eyebrow aspect of my makeup routine, until recently when i read Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual by Bobbi Brown herself. She taught me that eyebrows frame your eyes and there is a huge different a nice "frame" can make to your "painting". She means that the canvas is your face and you can create a painting on your face of whatever you desire using makeup. And the eyebrows are what seal the deal and frame the look. I never thought that your eyebrows had such a huge impact on your makeup look, but after reading her book i finally can understand why.

So, today i am going to be teaching you all how i achieved the perfect brow shape for my face and how i defined them to be perfect and precise. 

The first step is to make sure you find the perfect shade for your brows. 

The chart above is from the Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual book. The chart shows you how to match your brow hair color to the perfect color of brow pencil, shadow and shape tones.

Personally, i have light brown eyebrows so the color of pencil i would want to use to fill them in is the color "Sable" which is a tiny bit darker than my natural brow color. The shade i would want to use to "clean my brow up" would be a light concealer shade.

The second step would be figuring out what type of brows you have. According to Bobbi Brown, there are four special cases, "Nonexistent brows, bare spots, brows to far apart, and tadpole brows" (Brown 90). I would classify my brows as "bare spots." According to Brown, "Bare spots can be filled in with light strokes of pencil or with powder shadow. If neither works, try layering both" (Brown 90). 

Above i inserted a picture from the Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual that explains how to fill in each type of brow since everyone's brows are different!

So, now that we know what kind of eyebrows we have and what shade to fill them in with, we can finally jump into filling them in! Since i only have a few bare spots throughout my natural brows i am only going to be using an eyebrow pencil, a spoolie brush, and a clear gel to set my brows into place. 

Pictured below are the products i used to create my brow. I used the Maybelline Eye studio Brow Define + Fill duo, the elf spoolie brush, and the Maybelline Great Lash Clear Gel which is perfect for setting your eyebrows into place so they do not move around.

I am going to start by outlining my brow very lightly to create the shape for my brow. I already have a decent shape naturally so i used a "light hand" while applying this product. According to Bobbi Brown "The start of the brow should follow an imaginary line drawn from the outside of the nose to the inside corner of the eye" (Brown 90).

There are two sides to the eyebrow pencil, one side to Define and one side to Fill.

The left side of the picture is the "define side" and the right side of the picture is the "fill side"

With the Define side i am going to start at the front of my brow and make sure i fill in all the gaps in my brow hair. Then i am going to bring the brush to the center, creating an arch and then turning the brush and going down making sure my brow is the enough. I am going to do this to both the top and bottom outline of both brows.

Once i have my desired shape i am going to take the define side and create small "fake hairs" and the front of my brow super lightly so it doesn't look to harsh. Then as i get towards the middle, arch, and tail of my brow i am going to take the fill side and lightly fill in the bare spots of my brow.

Once i have completed filling in my brow i am going to "clean it up" to make sure it is precise. I am going to use the Maybelline Master Concealer in the shade fair/light and the Morphe Y21 brush.

Once i have cleaned up my brow i am going to highlight my brow bone, this will create the appearance of a more arched brow and it will rise your brow which will be more flattering. I am going to use my Becca highlight in Champagne Pop and my Morphe Y22.

In the end my brow is more defined but still natural looking. I filled in the bare spots and outlined my brow to better frame my face.

The picture on the left is my natural brow and the two on the right is my filled in brow. As you can tell they look very similar however the two on the right are more defined which is the whole point.

Do you fill in your eyebrows? If so, What are your techniques? If not, Will you ever consider filling them in after reading my post?

Brown, Bobbi, et al. Bobbi Brown Makeup Manual: for Everyone from Beginner to Pro. Springboard Press, 2011.