Product vs. Technique (HD makeup and other stuff)

In a world where we're constantly bombed by the media with celebrities it's hard to let pass any of the "latest" trends and brands of makeup.

We see Kim Kardashian getting baked with banana powder and suddenly most women get invested in acquiring it and ¡boom! It becomes a best seller item and practically sold out in any given place.

As consumers and also as professionals, we need to differentiate the product itself, the brand and the technique as this will expand our knowledge and our skills.

Can you bake your makeup with another kind of powder? Of course.

Can you use banana powder just to set your foundation without applying the baking technique? Of course.

That's where creativity, versatility and technique comes in. 

However; I'm mainly going to focus today in the difference between product and technique, so let's start by stating their definition.

PRODUCT.

It is an article or object created as a result of a process that serves a need or satisfies a want of the consumer

TECHNIQUE. 

A way of carrying out a particular task, especially the execution or performance of an artistic work or a scientific procedure.

Tools and technique, although related, are not the same thing (will talk about it in another post)

Personally, I'm the kind of gal who thinks they're equally important. If you learn technique, it is very likely that you can make certain product work. If you learn, or are familiar with the characteristics of a product, it is very likely you'll know which technique works better for that specific item. If anything I'd say I lean a tad more towards technique.

Right now what comes to mind is the over used term of HD -high definition-.

It is the latest marketing label seen all across the beauty products in most high-end and drugstore brands. However, HD makeup was used way before HD makeup was in the market. Does that make sense?

What I mean is HD makeup products were marketed way after the HD technology was first introduced. That's because it was a technique developed and not a product or a line of products with "HD" properties. 

High definition makeup is about ensuring what you are seeing in film or photography, is as natural and undetectable in front of the camera as possible. This means taking the product and applying it so thinly and translucently that does not emphasize skin's texture (pores, dry patches, wrinkles), therefore not being detected by HD cameras. The true ultimate no-makeup makeup look.

It is true that some of the HD labeled products contain certain ingredients that makes them easier to work with under HD conditions. But they do not have any secret HD element that performs miraculous results.

• HD makeup isn't full coverage.
• HD makeup varies whether it is for film or photography.
• HD products aren't HD if they're applied in a thick and cakey manner.

Any product can be HD if they're worked under those characteristics. Thin layers of product that leave a translucent cast of color. This is just one example of a misused term between product and technique, but there are plenty others.

Anyhow, knowing technique and being familiar with it, will allow you for instance, to use a concealer as foundation or a foundation as concealer. It will allow you to choose either the most efficient tool, or to adapt a tool you already have to make it the more efficient.

We've all purchased products that we ended up not liking because they weren't what we expected them to be. But what about if they weren't what we expected because we didn't try them with a different technique? 

DON'T give up on a product that hasn't worked for you once or twice.

Let's say for example, foundation. Before you give up on it for whatever reason, try it with a different primer (or no primer) if you're having longevity issues. 

If you're having coverage issues, try applying it with different tools (fingers, sponge, brushes).

If the finish is too cakey, try either diluting with moisturizer or using less product.

If the finish is too dewy or oily, you can absorb the excess moist or oil with a tissue prior to setting it with a powder.

Those are just a few suggestions or an specific type of product but the list goes on an on.

Doesn't matter the brand, the price tag or the hype, products don't perform magic by themselves. Otherwise there wouldn't be any of the celebrity makeup mishaps that are so well seen all over the internet.

Talk to you soon, Minerva ;)