Using color correctors

If your face has age spots, overly large freckles, birthmarks, rosacea, scars, acne…and let’s face it, who among us doesn’t have something that stands out in ways we don’t quite love…you’ve got some choices: cope, conceal, or correct. While the beauty market is flooded with products for eyes and lips and cheeks, and of course foundation is readily available, the most readily-available option is cover-up…not correction. This is the age of Photoshop, of quick and easy red-eye correction in digital photos. So why is it not as easy to find corrector options? Many times you can get better results with a color corrector than with any cover-up option.

All skin contains four pigments, combined uniquely in every individual: oxygenated hemoglobin (makes blood red - irritated skin, capillaries close to the surface, birth marks); reduced hemoglobin (blue veins seen through the skin, bruises); melanin, which darkens when exposed to sunlight (dense spot-concentrations of melanin appear as freckles or age spots); and carotene (yellow tones in skin, including gold undertones). If you have a discoloration and want to minimize its appearance, apply correctors in contrasting colors: use orange to neutralize blue, use yellow to combat purple, use green to disguise red. You may need to experiment to find the best shade of color corrector for your own skintone, and for the intensity of whatever you're trying to balance out.

• Red/rose/pink - tones down dark pigmentation on lighter skin tones
• Peach/orange - balances blue tones, adds warmth to medium skintones, warms and brightens grey areas
• Yellow/gold - conceals dark discolorations
• Green - tones down redness on light/fair skin
• Blue - minimizes redness on warm-toned light/medium skin
• Purple/lavendar/lilac - lessens dark pigmentation on medium to medium/deep skin tones

I've got sensitive skin around my nose, acne-prone skin on my chin and jaw, and very mild rosacea on my cheeks. All of these areas are always often just a bit redder than I'd like, and while I don't strive for a camera-ready look with my daily makeup, I do like to minimize the red patches around my nose and mouth. (I can cheat and incorporate the rosacea into my daily blush, since it's so very light.) I started out using concealer that matched my skintone, but found that I wasn't able to get the coverage I really wanted without using a whole lot of the product. I then started experimenting with a matte green mineral powder when I saw a green "corrector pen" at Sephora - the idea of putting something green on my face didn't seem 100% logical, but surprise surprise, it worked far better than using either a liquid concealer or a loose-powder "heal and conceal" from a major brand. I found myself a loose-powder color corrector, and now use that every day. Take a look at how much difference this makes:

I think this is such a valuable thing, and so important, that I put photos of my red ugly un-made-up face on the internet for you all...and not just one photo, but four. See how much I love you guys? *martyred sigh*

Seriously - color correctors. Look into them. Whether you use a loose powder, a liquid you mix from a loose powder and your agent-of-choice, a liquid or cream you purchase from someone else...check them out. (Or maybe you all already have, and I'm the only one who's just now learning this..?)

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