Concealer for that awful beard shadow

There are so many tips and tricks for getting rid of the dreaded shadow, I figured why not put down what I do...  I've done this freshly shaved, and also 12 hours later.  Results are pretty much the same - but that's what you get for using a purpose built product as the primary cover!

The first thing is the usual close shave and follow up with the "normal" daily routine.  I don't believe that moisturising and that sort of thing should be put into a makeup routine, since you should be doing it every day whether you're putting on makeup or not.

The next step is to cancel out your beard shadow.  The product I have grown accustomed to is Ben Nye's 5O'Sharp.  It says beard cover on the box, and that's what it's made to do.  It has the consistency of a good concealer, and is a fair bit less expensive than the MAC skin correctors and concealers.  What you're after here is to apply a thin layer of an orange or rust colour to your skin to cancel out the dark blue or brown of the beard shadow.  I use a sponge for this, so it can be well pressed in.  After pressing, I swipe against the grain of the hair so that I know that I have it fully covered.  Make sure that you blend the edge out in a random line, since a sharp edge will be pretty obvious.  You really don't need much!

If, for whatever reason, it's been a while since I've shaved, or if I expect to need some extra coverage, I will then take skin matching concealer (in my case MAC's NW25) and put that on over top of the beard cover.  This will help hide the (too thick) cover and provide some extra masking.

After this has a chance to dry up a little, I will stipple on my foundation with a MAC 187 brush.  I was a user of the MAC 190... but the 187 just beats it hands down.  I use a liquid foundation, and a couple of squirts on a dish is all you need.  Take the 187 and dab it into the foundation and dot it wherever you need it.  After you've applied it, swirl it around with the brush to give a full cover.  You can get a wickedly nice finish this way.  There's a few videos on YouTube that illustrate this - EnKoreMakeup does it well.  Remember that foundation isn't meant to be a coverall, it's meant to even out the shade of your face and provide the basis for everything else.

After this, I finish off with some powders.  I'll use a lighter powder if I've ended up putting too much beard cover on to lighten up my face to re-match everything else, but normally I'll match the foundation, since it almost always matches me.  I have a sparkly powder that I use for highlighting.  MAC's Skinfinish Natural pressed powder is the usual choice for me.

You know you've got it right if you can't see your beard, even after a few hours, and that your neck (without any makeup) and face (with makeup) match pretty good.  There should be no border lines anywhere.

Life and Times Across the Pond - Intro

I've spent most of the last three years away from my Canadian homeland working in the Middle East.  Figured it would be good experience.  As it happened, I skipped that whole recession thing, so that's good too.

It's great with no taxes, no duties.  Private medical is awesome - I'm a total convert to the system, certain to be to the chagrin of many of my fellow countrypersons.  

The pay isn't bad, and you get your kids schooling paid for nicely, in what appears to be decent schools.

Sounds great doesn't it?  Why wouldn't everyone do it??