How to Color Correct

Sometimes, foundation and concealer just don’t cut it, and you need a little extra something to hide your dark circles, acne, and sallow complexion. While color correcting is by no means necessary, it’s a great way to create a perfect, flawless canvas when you have a photo shoot or an event to go to. So, what exactly is color correcting?

When it comes to color correcting, it’s important to remember the color wheel (very grade school, I know). Complementary colors like red and green, orange and blue, and purple and yellow not only look great together, they also cancel each other out. This is essentially the idea behind color correcting: concealing discoloration by canceling it out before applying foundation and concealer.

As you can see in the photo above, I’m looking a little bit crazy. I’ve color corrected with orange, peach, green, and purple concealers to cancel out any discoloration before going in with my foundation and concealer. Here’s a breakdown of what these different colors actually do:

• Green – Green corrector cancels out any red discoloration, so it’s great for acne, broken blood vessels, and general redness around the face. I used it to correct redness around my nose, and a pimple right on my forehead.
• Orange, Yellow and Peach – Orange, Yellow and Peach corrector cancel out blue-purple tones, so they’re great for concealing dark undereye circles. Orange corrector works best with darker skin tones, yellow looks great on tan complexions and works best against more purple dark circles, and peach goes best with lighter skin tones. I used the orange and peach correctors under my eyes to conceal my dark circles.
• Purple – Purple corrector cancels out yellow and orange tones, and hyper-pigmentation. If you were a little too generous with your self-tanner, then purple corrector is definitely for you. Purple can add a glow to a dull and sallow complexion. I used purple to color correct around my forehead, cheeks, and chin.

When you’re done color correcting, just apply and blend in foundation and concealer like normal. The result?

A flawless base ready for any other makeup you want to apply. As you can see, my face is pretty much the same color all throughout (and looking extremely flat, I might add). Like I said earlier, color correcting isn’t a necessary step in the makeup process, but it’s nice to do a little extra something for days when you want to look super flawless.