A White Makeup Base May Be The Key To A Flawless Skin Finish

Every so often in the makeup world, a new trend pops up that ends up either being a complete and total game-changer or one that gets left behind and forgotten before it even reaches the mainstream. Now, everyone seems to be into painting their faces white as a base before adding foundation and it's throwing some of us off. If foundation is literally the base product of makeup, then why do we need to add something before it?

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The goal of a good makeup base is to create a smooth canvas for contour, blush, and other products. Ideally, foundation does this by evening out your complexion to be one shade, compensating for discoloration and covering blemishes. However, because our skin isn't always uniform when it comes to color and depth, foundation doesn't always sit right on it or reflect evenly. That's where creating a white makeup base comes in. The layer of white product creates a blank canvas for your other make up to lay on top. You can think of it like painting on piece of blank paper vs another painting with colors already on it. The former is going to reflect the actual colors of the makeup much better. 

A white base gives you a beauty filter glow

Beauty vlogger Smitha Deepak demonstrates how to effectively apply a white base. She starts off by priming her face and letting it absorb in the skin. Next, she gently pats the white make up onto her skin. After making sure the white base covers her entire face evenly, she waits for it to dry completely before applying foundation to prevent the foundation from mixing with the whiteness. The end result is an glam look face could rival some of TikTok's most popular filters.

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When using the white makeup base method, you have to use a foundation that's about one to two shades darker than your skin tone. While this method definitely gives you a flawless finish and makes the rest of your makeup pop, it is not for people looking for a barely-there foundation finish, and the whole process is far from being peachy keen.

It may not work for everyone

Although the white makeup base method does provide you with a filtered glow, not everyone is feeling the painstaking process it takes to get there. Professional makeup artist and TikTok creator @scortezzbeauty pointed out that the technique consumes more products than the usual ones. "The amount of product that is used to make the foundation match the skin is far too much," he explained.

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According to Smitha Deepak, this is only one of a number of reasons why professional makeup artists opt out of using the white base method. Not only does it not work on every skin tone, but you'll also likely have to apply double layers of white makeup to get the fullest amount of coverage which will ultimately contribute to a cakey appearance. You'll also probably have to wear too much foundation to fully cover up the whiteness and that's not even counting the next layers of concealer and powder. Ouch.

Deepak also pointed out that it's best to use a sponge to apply your foundation and a soft brush in gentle, dabbing motions to apply your makeup afterward because using a heavy brush and hard blending will disrupt the layers of makeup underneath. The white base method is mostly best suited for people with fairer skin who wouldn't require too much product to do all the covering up. If you want to try this look for an event, you best sit near the air conditioner.

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