There have been many significant discoveries over the last 100 years, such as Stem Cells, modern antibiotics and the eradication of Smallpox thanks to vaccinations, but all of these pale in comparison to the significance of the humble colour corrector, a product that you apply to counteract skin issues, such as redness, sallowness and blue tones. Not only that, it allows other coverage products – such as foundation and concealer – to perform more effectively since it’s neutralising the brightness of any blemishes underneath: TAKE THAT, SCIENCE! With that in mind, I thought I’d do a mini-series looking at the joy that can be found in a good colour corrector, starting with the greens.
Green is your best bet if you’re spot-prone, suffer from any kind of inflammation or redness and struggle to cover it, as green will almost completely neutralise the red, giving foundation a more even base to work with. There are many ways to use green correctors depending on what you need, so here’s a look at some of my favourites, starting with the primers. Primers are ideal if you have a bit of redness or ruddiness all over and need to just tone it down a bit. They’re a lot less concentrated than the other products I’ll show you, but they are a great place to start. The Laura Geller Spackle Treatment in ‘Soothing’ is a light, mint green shade that’s a really good one to ease yourself in with if you find the idea of any kind of green make-up, frankly terrifying. It’ll add the mildest green hue that’ll disappear under a light covering of foundation. It’s £25 here – link. I regularly rave about the No7 Airbrush Away Colour Balancing Primer as it’s such a good product if you have a lot of bright and obvious redness. Unlike the Spackle, this one is bright green and will need a slightly heavier base to cover it up, but it is brilliant and I get through it really quickly. It’s £16.50 here – link. The Kiko Skin Tone Corrector Primer is a happy medium between the aforementioned two, as it’s a little brighter than Spackle, but nowhere near the brightness of Airbrush Away. It’s also a lovely, creamy formula that works well as an overall, balancing primer. The one I have is quite old and I can’t find it on the site, but they have something similar called the Skin Tone Face Base for £9.90 here – link – which I’ll try and get my hands on for the sake of comparison.
The next couple are what I’d describe as ‘misc’ as they don’t quite fit into any of the other categories, but they both offer some great colour correcting benefits. The Algenist Reveal Colour Correcting Drops in Green are a brilliant way to adjust your favourite primer or moisturiser to add a little colour correcting without having to change your product choices. This is especially good if you need primers for other things, like mattifying or hydrating, as you can carry on using them, just with a little tweak. It’s £30 here – link – and it will last you for absolutely ages. The Make Up For Ever Redness Correcting Primer is kind of like a really concentrated primer that can be built-up or thinned out, depending on your needs. It’s a versatile product that blends really well. It’s £25.50 here – link.
I’ve only had the Urban Decay Naked Skin Colour Correcting Fluid in Green for a short while, but it’s such a great product that I had to give it a shout-out. I’ve got two of these wand-style products to show you, both of which are perfect for an intense concentration of colour; so for example, if you have a nasty spot or a red mark from where one has recently healed, this is the product for you, especially if you’re a little bit prone to dryness as the creamy texture won’t highlight any problem areas. The UD one is £19 here – link. I think it’s safe to say that NYX have completely cornered the high street market for colour correcting as I don’t think you’ll find better for the price point. I’ve spoken of the NYX HD Photogenic Concealer Wand on previous occasions and for £6, it’s amazing. Find it here – link.
Finally on to the more dense, potted correctors, which are a lot like the concealer wands above, but these are better suited to those who are either more oily, or have more time to prep skin. These are also great for covering patches of redness with a sponge, if you’re like me and have large areas of spot scarring. MUA have some great colour correcting palettes if you fancy experimenting, plus they also have singles if you know exactly what you want. The MUA Pro-Base Prime & Conceal Correcting Cream in Green is a lovely, easy product that conceals/neutralises brilliantly and is a total budget find at £2 here – link. Finally, it’s NYX again! The snappily named Concealer Jar in Green is just a potted, thicker version of the above HD Wand, and it’s really good for serious redness that you’re struggling to cover. I haven’t shown you the inside of the pot as I’ve used it quite a bit and it’s taken a bit of a battering! It’s £6 here – link.
*PR Samples
