Color correcting is a clever makeup technique that involves using concealers in certain hues to cancel out unflattering areas of your face. It smooths and evens your skin tone, which serves as the perfect base for creating a full-on, glam look.
Before You Start Color Correcting
First, you need to invest in color correctors in the right shades for your skin tone and prepare your face accordingly.
Shades Available
To find out what shades you need for color correcting, you can use a color wheel. Essentially, whichever hue that you're trying to cancel, use the opposite color concealer. There are many shades of color corrector available, including the following.
- Pink - This targets blue-toned spots to brighten light skin.
- Peach - This cancels dark circles or shadows on light to medium complexions.
- Yellow - This erases purple or blue tones on medium to dark skin and brightens the skin.
- Green - This reduces redness, sunburn, or acne scars across all skin tones.
- Purple - This neutralizes dull yellow undertones on light or medium complexions.
Prepping the Skin
Before you start color correcting, make sure you wash and dry your face so you have clean skin to work with. Afterward, apply a face primer, BB cream, or tinted moisturizer to hydrate the skin and act as your base.
Brightening Fair Complexions
If you have a fair complexion, you'll likely need to use the palest color correctors when it comes to the pinks, yellows, greens, and purples.
- Use a damp beauty sponge or your fingers to apply a small amount of green color corrector on any red areas and blemishes.
- Apply a pink color corrector under your eyes and around your mouth to counteract dark circles and shadows.
- Use purple color corrector on your cheeks to neutralize any yellow areas.
- Blend each color corrector out with your beauty sponge.
- Apply a full-coverage foundation that will hide the hues, as well as a concealer on any pimples.
Evening Out Medium Skin Tones
If you have medium to olive skin, opt for color-correcting shades that are slightly darker than the pastel versions suited to pale complexions.
- Use a damp beauty sponge or your fingers with a rich green color corrector to reduce redness on your cheeks, around the nose, and on the chin.
- Dot a peach color corrector under your eyes to eliminate any dark circles.
- Conceal any darkness around your mouth with a pale yellow color corrector.
- Apply a purple color corrector to any pale areas on your forehead and jawline to cancel out yellow tones. You can also it across each cheekbone to highlight them.
- Blend each color corrector out with your beauty sponge.
- Apply your foundation and concealer on any pimples as normal.
Balancing Dark Skin
If you have a deep or dark skin tone, choose rich, deep color correctors. For instance, a fair-skinned person would use a pale, yellowy peach hue, whereas a darker-skinned person would use an orangey peach.
- Dampen a beauty sponge with a green color corrector and dab it along the top of your brows, down your nose, and around your mouth. You can use your fingers if you prefer.
- Use a purple color corrector to erase any yellow tones around your nose.
- To erase dark circles, dot a deep peach color corrector under your eyes.
- Blend each color corrector out well with your beauty sponge.
- Apply your foundation and concealer on any pimples as you usually would.
Finding What Works
Using the color-correcting makeup technique to cancel out problems with your skin is simple and easy. The most challenging part is finding the exact shades of color corrector that work best with your skin tone. Shop around and experiment with different options to help you achieve a flawless finish.
