So many of the new makeup trends look great in flash photography, but the layers of products look clownish when seen face-to-face. Fortunately, the new focused concealing technique allows you to highlight and perfect your complexion while maintaining a natural look.

The trick to this technique is to apply tiny amounts of concealer to precise areas of the face to highlight, conceal, define and brighten.

Here are 4 ways to benefit from focused concealing:

Spot Conceal

Whether you want to cover redness, blemishes or discolouration the concept is to keep the overall coverage as sheer as possible, then layer an opaque concealer only where needed. This is ideal for covering redness around the nose and mouth, where makeup comes off faster.

• Start with a lightweight foundation that suits your skin tone and apply over your face with a damp miracle complexion sponge. Lay down a light layer of concealer (that matches your skin tone) over the blemish with your 102 triangle concealer brush, then use your deluxe concealer brush to feather out the edges. Repeat until the area is thoroughly covered. Next, use your deluxe concealer brush to sweep a loose powder to blend and set for a seamless finish.
  
  

Define

Define brows, lips and winged eyeliner with a crisp line of concealer along the perimeter.

• Choose a concealer pencil a little lighter than your foundation shade and trace along the top of brows, the perimeter of lips or under winged liner. Use your accent brush to subtly blend into surrounding skin.

Highlight 

Instead of using an illuminating product, choose a liquid concealer a 1-2 shades lighter than your skin tone.

• Sweep a thin line over any area that you’d like to highlight–cupid’s bow, center of the nose, top of cheekbone–and use your essential crease brush to feather out the edges.
• #ProTip: To create the illusion of wider set eyes, apply concealer along the outer edge of brow tail.

Touch-up 

Lighten and lift where shadows naturally occur on your face throughout the day.

• For on-the-go usage, grab a concealer pen and brighten up your complexion throughout the day with a sweep or two of concealer to the inner eye area, the outside corners of the mouth, under the bottom lip, and around your nostrils. Use your essential crease brush to set and blend with sheer powder.