Newsflash: These beauty hacks really, really work. Follow ‘em religiously – and bam, a budge-proof face that will have even the most jaded of beauty buffs doing a double-take. (I should know, given the number of compliments I get for my cough, flawless complexion.)
Click through for three spot-on camouflage techniques – kindly furnished by maquillage master Han Chew, assistant makeup training manager of Dior’s International Pro Team – that will take care of all of your cover-up jobs:
It’s all about the base, baby. Get your fundamentals right by prepping your skin with a luminising lotion, and you’re well on the way to long-lasting foundation. “I love Dior’s Capture Totale Multi-Perfection Refining Base SPF 25 PA++, $86, which boasts polymers that lock in pigments for up to 16 hours, in my experience,” raves Han.
Oh, and Han’s ace advice to preventing “pilling”, or the phenomenon for when your cosmetics clump up into small little spheres on your skin? Give your face some time after each step to fully absorb each layer before adding the next: “If your fingertips feel damp when you press them into your face, give the product another minute, then test again.” Duly noted!
In any case, I’ve had the fab fortune of test-driving Han’s personal pick and can vouch for its versatility. Capture Totale Multi-Perfection Refining Base’s cushion-ey consistency, for one, makes for supremely comfortable wear in sweltering Singapore, and the universally flattering flush is fantastic on bare skin as a as a brightening base – on no-makeup makeup days, this primer alone should suffice. Suss it out, pronto.
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered from the heatwave blighting sunny Singapore? Han suggests cooling off by sheering out your facepaint for a slinky, lingerie-like finish: “Prep your skin with a protective emulsion like Dior’s One Essential City Defense SPF 50, $95, before patting in the thinnest layer of foundation ‘watered’ down with your go-to serum.”
Mixing different textures together for a tailored flesh-toned fit is a favourite trick of backstage pros like Han, and it isn’t all that complicated. Try your hand at being a makeup mixologist with Han’s embarrassingly easy recipe: A dollop each of a skin-quenching serum and a fluid formula foundation, mixed on the back of your hand into a lightly tinted tincture. Doing this should give you that elusive Goldilocks balance between natural-looking coverage and dewiness that won’t cake or settle into fine lines to boot. Bonus step: To keep your mien looking matte, not flat, tap tiny dots of Dior’s Glow Maximizer Primer, $65, onto the high planes of your cheekbones for a scintillating suggestion of shimmer.
Quick note on application: Fingers are fine, but blending with a brush works best. Han recommends pumping your product onto the back of your non-dominant hand, then taking the brush and using stippling motions to buff outwards – “stippling” being fancy vernacular for “dotting”.
Take it from the pro himself: “Dab your makeup on bit by bit and you should be able to get away with using as little product as possible, and this in turn will prevent the excess foundation from flaking off on the surface of the skin.” Allowing a sexy glimpse of your real skin to glimmer through will lend you that softly diffused, is-she-or-isn’t-she look the Koreans are so enamoured with. This gentle graduation also blurs out any discernible demarcation between your face and decolletage, which is always a good thing.
And we’re done. Beauty class dismissed! Congrats on successfully laying the “foundation” of any makeup routine, and good luck keeping your game-face on!