Beauty Tip: Ditch the Dirty Look

Have you tried to get the perfect, contoured, flawless look only to have it end up looking dirty or caked on?  I definitely have.
My intentions are good and the goal is usually something like this:

And instead ends up looking like this:

I mean, let's be honest.  No one wants to get caught in makeup like this!  I will be the first to admit that I have and it's not fun.

In the past I have assumed it was because I was using the wrong products.  But I have good products and they should be able to produce the correct look so then I assumed it was because I was needing too much product to fake a more tan look on the cheeks.  So the solution for that is a more tan face right?  But a tan still left me wanting because it's the contrast that is the goal, not the overall color.

I began to try other things in my quest to figure out how others could achieve this look when I struggled so.  In digging around my makeup box, I pulled out my tried and true Beauty Blender Original Blender Sponge - 0.15 oz.  I know, I know, I have already done a post on this tool and how much I love it.  For some reason, I had stopped using it and gone back to using mostly brushes.  I gave it a whirl and instantly remembered why I love it so much.  The flawlessness it gives your face is incomparable to other tools.

The best part?  When it comes to blending a contoured look, you can definitely achieve the first picture without it looking caked on or dirty.  I found that this formula of brushes plus the beauty blender seems to produce the best look:

-Begin with a clean, moisturized face and applied primer

-Apply your foundation with a moist beauty blender (go light on coverage)
-Apply powder to your eyes and eyebrows with a quick sweep of a brush so that you can apply your eye makeup while letting your foundation set.
-Apply eyebrow and eye makeup
-Using a brush, apply your contour color to your cheeks and follow up by blending with the moist beauty blender
-Give cheeks a minute to dry (you want to make sure there is no moistness left) and then do a quick sweep of bronzer over them again followed by blending with the beauty blender.
-Apply your concealer and blend with beauty blender
-Finish the whole look with a light sweep of powder to set everything (you can also add a touch of blush if you prefer).  You can also do a once over with the beauty blender just to make sure it's all even and the excess is gone.

This seems to be the perfect formula (that I've found) for achieving the best contoured look.  The beauty blender will remove any excess while giving the best overall blended look.  I really can't praise it enough.  I promise you won't be disappointed!

Happy Contouring!

-Joy