How To Maximize The Use Of Your Cream Concealer

Ever wonder how makeup artists get those perfectly defined brows, perfectly shaped lips and flawlessly applied eye makeup? Are you really getting the most benefit and use of your cream concealer?

Today's makeup tip and trick will answer all of those questions. I will  be sharing with you three awesome ways to maximize the use of your cream concealer. If you have been using your cream concealer just to spot treat your blemishes and skin discoloration, then, you probably  are missing out on some amazing tricks that your concealer can do for you. This trick will change the way you apply your concealer and change your look in the most subtle way.

Let's begin. In this makeup tutorial, you will only need a cream concealer  (the closest color to your skin) and a small brush  with defined edges. In my case, I am using the Mac Studio Finish Concealer in NC30 and a detailer brush from Real Techniques, which comes from their face brush set. 

Perfectly Shaped Lips/Cupid Bows

If you find yourself sloppily putting on your lipsticks- which by the way I am guilty of, then your cream concealer is your friend. A bleeding lipstick (lipstick that goes out of your natural lip line) is not so flattering. It will make you look like you do not know how to use your makeup or that you are a novice teenager, who have just discovered makeup. Either ways it's not good. This trick is especially useful when you are wearing bold vivid lip colors.

1. So, to give you those perfectly shaped cupid bows (see the circled part on the pic above), reach for your brush and cream concealer. Dab your brush to your concealer making sure you cover the tip of the bristles
2. Carefully draw the natural shape of your lips and give more detailed attention on shaping the curves of your cupid bows (the arch  on your upper lips). 
3. Finally, slightly press the concealer with your fingers so that the warmth from your hands melt or blends the concealer to your skin further. 

Perfectly Applied Eye Shadow or Winged Liner

This technique is especially helpful if you want to get a well-defined cat eye look (which I have two ways of doing, I'll share the other one next time). Or if you simply want to clean up the edges of your eye makeup, then this is also a good trick.

1. You might not see anything wrong on picture 1, but if you look closely, the darker shadow goes beyond the line where I drew my winged liner. You can go out with this look it is perfectly normal. However, if you want to put more emphasis on your winged liner, then grab your concealer and brush.
2. Draw a line where you want to get that crisp winged look and blend your brush further down to make sure you erase any smudges from your eyeshadow.
3. Finally, use your finger to blend your concealer to your skin. Tips: Remember to use your ring finger as explained on my previous post on concealing undereye circles.

Perfectly Defined Eyebrows

As I have mentioned on my post on how to define your brows, your brows are the most important part of your makeup. So, never disregard them because they are the ones that can pull off any looks you go for. Did I mention that concealer does not only create those clean and crisp lines below and above your brows, but also help cover up the tiny hair growth you have? In days when I am so lazy to shave or pluck  any regrowth under my brows, this technique comes in  handy.

1. After filling in your brows with brow pencil/powder/pomade, grab your brush and dab it to your cream concealer.
2. Following the natural shape and arch of your brows, draw a line on your top and lower brow line. If you overdraw the part where your brows start, use the excess concealer from your brush to lighten that part out. Tips: For covering hair re-growth, dab more concealer and build up the coverage as you desire.
3. Using your ring finger, blend the concealer to your skin making sure there are no harsh edges or weird patches. 

The picture below, shows a comparison of my defined and undefined look. Can you tell the subtle differences on the eyes and lips?

There you go, dolls. I hope I was clear enough. If you have questions, comments and suggestions for a next tutorial, please comment below.

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P.S.: I am writing for ideafortoday.com. You can also see some amazing blog posts of any random topics from different bloggers out there.

Always remember! Everyday is a day to doll up,

Gelie (Jelai) xoxo

Review: Too Faced Melted Kisses Liquified Longwear Lipsticks

This week's product review is my first review on lip products. My first two posts on this category were drugstore products from L'oreal, so, I decided to go for the high end product this time. It's going to be a set of lippie products from Too Faced; they  are the Melted Kisses Liquified Longwear Lipsticks. This line of lipsticks from Too faced comes in 18 different shades. However, I only own this exclusive set that includes four deluxe-sizes oftheir four best-selling shades in Melted Nude, Melted Peony, Melted Fuchsia and Melted Berry. 

I've had this set for over two months now and have worn all of  them in the past couple of weeks. Although, I'd say I've worn one of them more often than the three. Can you guess which one? 

The company claims that these products coat lips in bursts of intense color that lasts for hours. It's innovative, angled velvet tip allows for precise application. 

Did Too Faced live up to its claim? Well, continue reading to see my thoughts.

Packaging

As you can see, these lipsticks come in a tube packaging with an angled velvet/sponge tip applicator. The tube itself is very sleek and eye catching. I especially love the way they colored the tube according to the exact color swatch of the product inside. The colored tube just makes it so easy to distinguish and to fish out especially when you are in a hurry and just need to grab the exact color you want. Thumbs up for this awesome packaging!

Formulation

These lippies are liquid style almost like a lip gloss but more opaque or pigmented and less glossy. In my opinion the finish for most of them is semi-matte, but "melted nude" seems more matte than the others. When you first apply it, it might look a bit glossy but as the product sets into your lips, it turns into a matte velvety finish. Although they're semi-matte, they don't make my lips dry. The color pay off for all of them are really incredible and they all are very opaque. 

Application

As described above, it comes in an angled sponge/velvet applicator promising to make the application easier. I would say that the angled shape of the applicator is pretty smart. It just makes it so easy to carve out the natural lines of your lips especially when shaping your cupid's bow. However, I do feel like the sponge applicator absorbs a lot of the product and it just makes me feel like wasting most of it, but maybe I'm wrong. I do suggest to press the tube carefully so you don't end up dispensing a lot of products. If you end up pressing too much and dispensing a lot, the product could end up bleeding outside the perimeter of your lips.  You only need a pea-size amount to dot it in the middle of your lips and use the sponge applicator to spread the product all over.  The application is pretty easy and the only hard thing about it is having the right control as to how much product to press out. 

Wearability/Longevity

As the company claims, these lippies provide long-lasting wear. Do I agree? YES and NO depending on the shades. Yes, because I found the bolder ones (melted berry and melted fuchsia) to have longer staying power. I think it's because they are brighter and they leave a pigmented bright tint on the lips. However, the more neutral ones (melted nude and melted peony) are not as long-wearing as the other bold ones. They tend to last only for 3 hours in my case, but it could also be because I have a bad habit of licking my lips and unconsciously eating my lipstick in the process. LOL...

Price/Affordability:

My set of four deluxe size (smaller size) is cheaper than the  price of a one full sized melted lipstick.  As I checked it on Too faced website, it costs about $21 for a one full size. I believe the melted kisses set only costs about $24; it's about $6 for each one of them. It was a steal for a high-end lipstick! However, I do think that the melted kisses set is a limited edition and might not be available on their website. You might be able to find them at Amazon or eBay, though. 

My Final Take-aways:

Do I recommend it?

If you have money to splurge on a $21 lipstick then, yeah! go for it. However, I do suggest getting the limited edition set instead of getting a one full-sized. In my opinion, it is more practical that way, so you can test out different colors and see what you want. Then, if you are really in love with one of them, then you can go ahead and splurge on the fuller size. However, for those of you are on the fence about it and don't want to spend that much for a lippie,  I suggest checking on some other drugstore options. Like here in Korea, I saw a pretty similar lippie from a Korean brand name "Code", although I don't own one. So, if you are in Korea, try heading out to  your nearest Olive Young and check out that product. Let me know if you found a drugstore dupe of these products in your country.

Will I buy it again?

As I mentioned above, there is one color that I am obsessed about. It is the "melted nude". I love my nudes. I just feel like it suits my skin tone better than the cooler tone and bolder ones.  So, to answer the question, I'll definitely get another tube of melted nude, once I ran out of the one I have now. I am also interested in trying out their other shades. I will probably wait for their limited edition set and buy the sets instead  of buying them individually.

I hope this review is helpful and insightful enough. Let me know what you think.

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Keep Dolling Up,

Gelie (Jelai) xoxo