Am I doing things the wrong way?

 I don't know how many times I have come across with different kind of posts where they show us how we do everyday stuff in a wrong way. Whether that'd be putting your bobby pins, holding the straw in a soda can or pouring milk or juice from a TetraPak container.

"What the hell does this have to do with makeup?" you're probably wondering.

Well. I've been the kind of person that places bobby pins with the wavy side up. The "wrong" way, as some would say. When I found out about the "right" way, I was like, "no sh**, it totally makes sense that they'll have a better grip with the wavy side down towards the scalp". 

I felt enlightened. 

So next opportunity I had I tried them the way they're supposed to go. 

It just didn't work for me. But I gave it another shot because I knew I wasn't use to using them that way, so I must not have done it right. I tried and tried, but bottom line, it just doesn't work for me using them that way.

Getting back to makeup. 

It's become very popular to cover dark circles and highlight the undereye area with the "triangle technique" rather than the "dotting technique". But worse than becoming just a trend, it's become a rule on how you, me and everyone should do their undereye concealer.

Well. Not all of us look like a teen or a girl in her early twenties. Even then, not everyone goes through a Photoshop editing session. 

What they don't tell you, is that the triangle technique isn't very well suited for people with bags under their eyes. And let's be honest, for whatever reason, most of us DO have bags under our eyes. Doesn't matter if it's lack of sleep, weightloss or age, most of us mortals have bags.

So let's just think for a second. 

When highlighthing we're looking to add light to certain features, meaning we're making them stand out. With bags, that puffy area pretty much stands out on its own. If you add a layer of super light concealer on top -like we see in pretty much every beauty tutorial using even 3 shades lighter than the skin- we just accentuate more that trouble area. Not to mention if on top of that we have a pretty textured skin (from the sebaceous glands or dryness) then, we make that texture stand out as well.

It's true, the technique photographs great. But you might want to give it some thought to the look you're going for.

Do we want a full face of caked up makeup that shows amazing on photos or do we want to look fresh in person even if that means appearing washed out on photos.

I think achieving the sweet spot in between, is the struggle of every makeup wearer out there... 

But try it all and see what suits you best, remember, there are No Rules About Makeup.

-Minerva

PS: I personally like concealing dark circles with bags with a color as similar to the skin as possible and slightly highlight with a lighter color (half or 1 shade lighter) under the bag, where the shadow is cast.