Grab your favorite liquid foundation. Now, I almost always choose a full coverage one, as this method will sheer it down a bit, making it suitable for most skin types and needs. Pour or pump an amount about the size of a nickel or quarter (this will vary depending on the condition of your skin) onto the back of your hand or a palette.
Take a dense, flat top brush , and dip it into the foundation. Dot this onto your nose, the cheeks, around the borders of your face, and your chin (one “dip” should pick up enough product to lightly dot around all of these areas).
Starting at the nose, stipple in small, tight areas, moving to the cheeks and the borders of the face, stippling product inward towards the center. Repeat this process for your chin.
With what is left on the brush, stipple over the area above your lips and below your mouth. Avoid the area where you get smile lines for now (this will look weird, but we’ll correct this malfeasance later.
Take the remainder of the product on your brush, and dot it under your jawline. Stipple this upwards to “connect” with the product on your face, and downwards slightly to fade it into your neck. Stipple lightly where your ears connect to your face.
Stipple all over your face, using any excess product to deal with problem areas. This distributes the foundation evenly. You may now go over your smile line area, which will only be covered with a small amount of product, greatly reducing the chance of creasing.
After you have stippled all over your entire face once, lightly buff in small circular motions using the same brush. This blurs imperfections and removes any excess product, and melds the product with your skin, giving it a natural skin-like texture. Make sure to buff under your eyes, over your eyelids, and around your hairline to blend the product into the tight borders surrounding these areas. Keep buffing until the foundation starts to feel a bit tacky.
Apply any cream face products (blush, highlighter, contour, etc.)
This step is crucial. Let the foundation set for 3-5 minutes. Take a tissue, and blot all over your face, avoiding the nose if you have large pores. Pay special attention to the eyelids, lines under the eyes, and the corners of the eyes (where excess product will definitely have creased and collected). If your foundation tends to set into your smile lines, you may wish to buff very lightly over this area once more using the same brush as before.
Apply loose powder with a puff, rolling and pushing it into the skin.
Apply any other powder products (blush, bronzer, contour, etc.), and blend well.
This may seem a tad complicated, but ignoring the setting times, this whole thing takes 5-7 minutes at most, and results in smooth, even, porcelain skin.
If you wish to sheer down this application even further, dampen your brush slightly before application to prevent excess product from being absorbed by the bristles. Make sure to always use a (relatively) clean brush for application (I tend to wash mine every 3-4 days) to avoid caking. And never forget to set and blot!
With this quick tutorial under your belt, you’ll always be able to put your best face forward.
