Baking/Cooking with Powder or Concealer

Going hand in hand with "strobing" that I have another post on, "baking" or "cooking" is trending like crazy in makeup right now. This isn't a new technique, it's actually a drag technique, which when you look at makeup these days, there seems to be a lot of drag tricks we're using day to day (*cough cough contouring). Just like contouring though it's an extremely effective method as far as highlighting, setting makeup, and making makeup last longer. I'm showing two ways to bake/cook in this post. One with powder and one with just your concealer. This is a highlighting technique but it doesn't mean that you can't put an actual highlighter on after you're done if you want. This just lightens up those areas that naturally are higher on the face, where light tends to hit. It's not using shimmery products to catch light and reflect back, it's just actually lightening up that area so that it helps you look more sculpted with very little effort and not a bunch of different products.

Ok so first I'm going to show you how to bake/cook with concealer. This is my preferred way of baking. I feel like it does a better job than packing powder on your face. What you're seeing a lot right now in the makeup world is just using powder but that's not the only way. So, moving on, I hit the areas I normally would hit when I highlight. The most important area I feel is the V, under your eye, down the side of your nose, and diagonally to the outer corner of the eye. You don't have to bring it down as far as I did or you can actually go heavier if you want.

Another good area to bake, is underneath the cheek bone. Underneath the area that you would put your contour put some concealer there to bake and it actually makes a big difference as far as a sculpted look. The reason I like this way of baking is because my under eye area stays smooth. It just looks better when I actually take the time to do this, I look more awake, I have less creasing, and less noticeable fine lines. 

I let mine sit for around 10 minutes. I used Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless concealer. I really feel like any creamy or liquid concealer will do good. If it's thicker it might look more cakey posssibly so that's why I chose Urban Decay which is full coverage but thin. I wouldn't use LA Girl Pro Concealers though because, they dry too fast and are hard to blend out once they've set up. So to blend this I use my ring finger that way I'm heating that product up again to blend, but also so that it's not taking any product away. A damp beauty blender would probably be fine as well, it may sheer it out some though. 

Each concealer is going to be different for how long it should probably "bake". Mine was kinda thin consistency so it could sit for a while. NARS Radient Concealers are thicker so I may not let those sit as long as I would say MAC Pro Longwear concealer because NARS is much thicker and MAC is liquid. You'll have to play with it a little and I feel the longer it sits the more full coverage it's going to be so keep that in mind. I set it with a really light thin powder. It's so easy to look "cakey" when your using these techniques. So I used Ambient powder in Diffused Light which is a really sheer wash of yellow face powder from Hourglass.

I go ahead and do the rest of my makeup once everything is blended. I added highlighter to it and just a little contour because doing this you really don't have to do much contouring. So I used Becca Opal highlighter I believe, and just a bronzer on my LAB 2 Beauty Multi Purpose brush (flat top kabuki buffing brush). You don't have highlight if you don't want but if you like that "sheen" from highlighters then go for it. 

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Alright so in this set I'm baking with powder. I'm using RCMA No Color loose powder for this. I use this one because it does not oxidize at all and almost all translucent powders oxidize (change color or get darker) on me. This technique is great for keeping makeup in place especially. I don't feel that its as highlighted a look as baking with a concealer but to each his own. So just using a wedge sponge (or a makeup pouf) you just pat powder on heavily, after you've done your concealer and foundation. So the same areas as before just pack on the powder. Now another great thing about this is you can do your eye shadow with all this powder baking and if you have any fall out from the eyeshadow it's no big deal because you're gonna dust it off. 

I left mine on for 12 minutes before dusting it off. You can leave it on for 30 minutes if you want because the majority of the product is just going to be dusted off. This is a more subtle look than the first one. It's not going to be as heavy but, especially under the eyes, if you have any fine lines I find that this much powder tends to settle into them no matter how hard you try. Which can actually make you look older. That's just me though.

I'm using a Serenity and Scott  (love these brushes) tapered brush to dust off the excess. I feel like when it's all dusted off, the areas aren't that highlighted, and under the eyes it looks a little cakey to me. So using a highlighter is a must when I do this if I want to draw attention to the higher planes of the face. Makeup doesn't budge once you've done this and you could literally let it sit for 30 minutes if you want. Some people recommend doing that anyway but I'm inpatient and I don't like white dust getting everywhere. So this has it's pros and cons it's definitely not my favorite way to bake but it's ideal for stage makeup or any event that you're gonna have a worry that your makeup may break down or move on you. Even if it didn't highlight your face it would be worth doing so that your makeup stayed in place. Just maybe go easy around areas of any fine lines.

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Like everything else in makeup, these tips are not set in stone nor are they "rules". Play around, see what works best with the products you have or want to use. I wanted to talk about it because everyone totally did a 180 from contouring and now it's focusing on highlighting more. So I hope this was helpful at least or gave you an idea of what people are talking about.

**disclaimer: I'm not trying to look so sad or pissed in these photos lol I just didn't want to disrupt the products or cause any creasing and what not by smiling in them.