One thing is certain: make-up tools, such as brushes and beauty blenders, are not the cleanest of things. And at the latest when we're still painting our lips with our fine lid brush at the end of the look, it's high time to thoroughly clean the product. There are also various beauty blender and brush hacks that are intended to improve and facilitate use: blow-dry the brush, wet the beauty blender or even put it in the freezer. Who else is following? We make it extra easy for ourselves and rely on instinct!
The right technique
In order to create a flawless look without a lot of expensive beauty tools, the technique and the necessary sensitivity are particularly important. Global makeup artist Vincent Ford shows us what really matters in a master class from NARS. We have summarized the absolute key hack for you.
Dabbing instead of wiping
When applying products with your finger, one golden rule should always be observed: I never smear or wipe - it is dabbed. We just gently press the foundation or concealer into the skin without smearing or smudging. According to Vincent Ford from NARS, the inside of the thumb is suitable for slightly larger areas. If we want to work more precisely, for example when covering dark circles under the eyes, the fingertips are recommended. However, we don't use just any finger here, but at best the ring or middle finger. These naturally exert less pressure and allow us to work more delicately.Big plus: by applying liquid products with your fingers, nothing can be absorbed. When applying foundation and concealer with beauty blenders and sponges, on the other hand, a lot of liquid is absorbed by the tool and is lost. So not only do we save on beauty tools, we also use less of the product itself.
Eyeshadow look with glitter particles
It's not just the application of foundation and concealer that can be easier and more thorough with your fingers. The eye shadow can also get its final touch with the right sensitivity in the fingers. It's true that a complete eyeshadow look is more difficult to achieve with just your fingers, but our hands can give the look that certain something: glitter highlights as a finish! If we have already applied the base to the lid and already contoured it properly, often only the sparkling end is missing. A problem can be that the glitter crumbles off the brush and ends up on the concealer under the eye. Make-up artist Vincent Ford explains that there are two solutions to this.
Apply glitter highlights with a brush
If you don't want to completely do without the brush for eye shadow, you can simply use the back of your hand as an intermediate station from the palette to the eyelid. By dabbing and massaging the glitter pigments on the brush into your hand, the texture of the glitter is consolidated without becoming less concentrated. The brush with the now firmer glitter pigments can then be applied to the eyelid in a more targeted manner without half of the highlight crumbling onto the concealer.
Apply glitter highlights without a brush
Anyone who dares to apply eyeshadow without a brush can use this method to create a particularly highly pigmented highlight on the eyelid. For this we spray some fixing spray on our ring finger and then go into the chosen glitter color to finish the look. Then we apply the mixture of highly concentrated glitter and fixing spray to the center of the eyelid. With the spray, the color pigments will not crumble and the eyes will be made to shine even more. With this trick, a soft consistency of color is especially good for the no-brush hack.
Finger make-up conclusion
Our conclusion: what the brush can do, our fingers can do for a long time. So why invest a lot of time and money in the supposedly perfect beauty tool when we always carry the best tool with us? If the trend is now burning under your fingers, you should only pay attention to one thing: wash your hands and please wash them thoroughly! Otherwise the finger make-up can lead to unsightly impurities and irritation.
