CREDIT: JOSHUA R. WALLER

At every point in one’s life, people face some sort of struggle with pigmentation in their complexion. Whether it be dark circles under the eyes, redness on the cheeks or an overall sallowness to the skin, people try to over compensate by using an extremely heavy foundation. While full coverage foundations can look beautiful, they are not necessary to fix pigmentation concerns. There are now tons of lightweight makeup correctors that can be worn alone or underneath foundations.

Makeup correctors go right back to colour theory, where certain colours cancel out others. Green cancels redness, lavender cancels out yellow (sallowness) and orange cancels out purple (dark circles). These correctors come in many textures like creams, liquids and even powders, all of which have different levels of intensity, creams being the most pigmented.

Brands like Lise Watier, Smashbox and NYX all make excellent colour correcting “sticks” that have beautiful pigments and are super easy to blend.

For those with dark circles, start by applying a hydrating eye cream and then apply an orange cream corrector directly under the eye. Taking a fluffy brush, start to blend out the corrector in a circular motion (this will create an airbrush finish) and then set with a loose powder.

Once it is set, you will notice the darkness will have diminished substantially. Finish everything off by applying your favourite concealer and your dark circles will have disappeared.

For any sort of redness, you would follow pretty much the same steps except you would use the green or yellow corrector. If you have a fairer skin tone, a green corrector may be too intense and could leave a hue of green, even after you blend on a foundation. If this is the case, substitute the green corrector with a yellow corrector as it will have the same effect but will be easier to camouflage.

Sallowness in the skin doesn’t have an exact method to how you apply the corrector, as everyone’s skin will vary with this pigmentation issue. Anywhere on your face where you feel your skin looks dull or lacks luster, apply a small amount of lavender coloured corrector and blend with a fluffy brush. When using this corrector, you must apply some sort of foundation, powder or tinted moisturizer on top to blend out the purple hue.

If you have any issues with pigmentation in your complexion, don’t try to conceal it with extremely heavy foundations as they can be uncomfortable and not look the most natural. Try neutralizing these concerns with lightweight colour correctors. By doing so, you can achieve a flawless, clean complexion.