Colour correcting is a popular form of camouflaging your blemishes. It is a type of correctional makeup which aids towards counteracting unwanted pigmentation in the skin such as; redness in the skin, (whether it be rosacea or blemishes), discolouration around the mouth and under the eyes, and much more! There are many brands that sell products for colour correcting which people are often drawn to; however, I find that majority of the people who purchase these products struggle with either where to place the specific colours, and whether or not it is going to benefit their needs. It is all over social media, these snippets and photos of people drawing crazy colours all over their faces, and it can be very overwhelming to those of us who are new to colour correcting and don’t quite understand its purpose. So, if you are interested in learning about the various tones of colour correcting, please keep reading!
By referencing a colour wheel, this will help you when deciding what tones you need to counteract the areas of the face you are struggling to cover. Oftentimes, when applying our foundations and concealers, although they may initially appear that everything is flawless, throughout the day as our makeup begins to fade, the problem areas tend to become more exposed. By colour correcting under the layers of our makeup, this will ensure that those problematic tones won’t appear through the makeup, despite how much it has faded. I am going to target some of the most common areas that we want to disguise, and which colours of correctional makeup are needed to do so.
Redness: whether the redness in your skin is a result of a sunburn, a pimple or hormonal redness around the nose (something many females are prone to), this is something that is very common in fair to medium skin tones. I myself suffer from redness in my skin. If you refer back to the colour wheel posted above, you can see that directly across from the colour red, is the colour green. Since these colours are of opposite tones, that is how you know that green will counteract any redness in the skin. When correcting any redness, I like to take a green concealer, and apply a light layer to the area. I gently blend this out; however; one of the most important steps (that is often forgotten), is to not blend the product out completely. When the product is blended too much, it can sometimes take off too much product, which will defeat the purpose (to avoid this, always make sure that you can still see the colour of the concealer you have applied).
Darkness: dark pigmentations are often found in all skin tones- generally in the under eye region and occasionally around the mouth and chin (commonly in medium to deep skin tones). Whether your dark under eye circles are hereditary or from staying up all night cramming for your midterms, they are something we don’t want peeking through our foundation. Dark under eye circles are often a cause of veins, which blue and purple tones can appear very dark on the skin. So, if you refer back to our lovely colour wheel, you will see that the colour blue is directly across from the colour orange. Since these colours are opposite, again, we now know that orange toned concealers will counteract any dark circles and pigmentation in the skin. Although orange is the generic colour, I would recommend that those who are fair to light skin toned use a light peach coloured concealer (as the orange may be too intense), light to medium skin tones use a salmon coloured concealer (refer back to photo of myself) and dark to deep skin tones use a true orange or red-coloured concealer.
Dullness: dullness in the skin is often a result of yellow/beige pigmentation in the skin which can cause almost an overcast of dullness. It is common that you will find yellow tones in the skin around the mouth area (commonly in fair to medium skin tones). Referring back to the wheel, you can see that the colour yellow is directly across from the colour purple. This is why I have applied a lilac coloured concealer around the corners of my mouth, to camouflage those tones.
Lifting: when highlighting the face, we use concealers and products that are a few shades lighter than our actual skin tone in order to lift these areas, and emphasize them (bringing them forward whereas contouring creates more depth). Often in contour kits and highlighting powders, there will be a yellow- toned “banana” powder, which acts as a brightening agent. Yellow is often used under the eyes to counteract any purple veins; however, yellow also has a brightening effect. As you can see, the colour purple is directly across from the colour yellow, which is why it is often used under the eyes. This is why it is a good trick to mix a little bit of yellow concealer in with your regular concealer to to brighten and lift the areas of the face you are highlighting.