the pretty year

Years ago when I was a fledgling graphic designer, one of my first jobs was doing airbrush work. We’d take perfectly gorgeous women and “enhance” them. My mom who is basically 10 seconds away from questions like, “Where exactly is the internet?”, would ask me if pictures in her favorite magazines had been airbrushed. Of course lady!

She really wanted the kind of flawless skin that she saw in magazines and on random boxes of Dax hair grease where the skin is blemish-free despite the fact that there are 40 ounce’s of petroleum near the model’s face. Here’s a mental image for you: Grimace at the thought of Tisha Campbell licking Giancarlo Esposito’s hair in School Daze.

My mom has oily skin, is very active and has incredibly visible pores. She wanted to reduce her pores (sorry mom, there’s no way to shrink them permanently without laser treatment). The solution was pretty simple in my eyes. She needed three things to get started:

• A new technique for washing her face
• Facial primer
• Make up For Ever’s HD Invisible Foundation.

First, let’s look at where visible pores come from.

• Genetics (We can temporarily close em up.)
• Clogged pores. (We can clean and exfoliate).
• Aging (Check out number 1)

You can go about finding your perfect skin-care regimen on your own. What matters here is that we wash our faces with warm water to open the pores and apply our cleansers to get the gunk out and then splash on a little cold water. The cold water will help temporarily tighten your pores.

A cheap alternative to spending hella grip on something you hate and will eventually blame me for recommending is Queen Helene’s Mint Julep Masque. It has a pretty good reputation with the bargain savvy crowd. The taste of mint juleps is so disgusting, I’m glad it could lend itself to something useful.

After you’re properly moisturized, cover your face with your favorite primer. In general you only need a pea-sized amount. You can double that if you’d like, but don’t slather it on. Some primers have a tendency to look flaky on darker skin once they’re dried.

I suggest Prime Time by Bare Essentials (It’s one that I’ve used pretty often). I know what you’re thinking, but primers are not gimmicky. When you’ve properly cleaned the oil from your face and you work on balancing your sebum production, primers help your makeup stay put. Most primers contain light weight silicone. The silicone fills in cracks and crevices with a fine buffer layer helping make up go on smoothly. So, your paint job will look like a million bucks if you just prep it like the pros.

Not all primers are created equal. I suggest reading a few reviews on Makeup Alley and to find a skin-twin (someone who’s skin resembles yours) so you can best gauge what will work best for you.

After you’ve applied your primer, you can smooth on your foundation. I recommend Make Up Forever’s HD Invisible Foundation with a synthetic brush. I’m repping the one my mom bought which is Shu Umuera #14.

Brushes like the one pictured above are for suitable for covering blemishes. The density of the bristles makes it perfect for concentrated coverage under eye. To cover blemishes on the cheek and elsewhere simply dab and do small spot application, if you don’t want to do a full face makeup application. Finish it off with a kabuki brush for a really well-blended look.

Make sure that if you are using a liquid foundation you get a synthetic brush. If you’re still rolling old school sponges will also work. But one of the reasons to use a brush is to conserve your makeup, sponges will absorb it. You may find that you’re saving a few weeks worth of applications once you toss the sponge.

Just to recap: The images you see in magazines are artful, but they wouldn’t be half as amazing without Photoshop or post production work. And at The Pretty Year we’re all about loving the skin you’re in. Just remember that you’re a seasoned artist, so you gotta prep your canvas first.

Related posts:

1. Bored online and you need to waste time!
2. Beauty Review: Bare Minerals
3. Beauty Review: MAC Prep + Prime Transparent Finishing Powder
4. Red Red Whine!