How to apply foundation

Now that you know how to choose a foundation, let's see how to apply it so that you get a really nice finnish.

Before you apply your foundation, you need to make sure that your skin is properly prepared. This will ensure  that your makeup stays in place longer and looks pretty, too. 
First you must clean your face, get off any dirt, excess oil, dead skin cells, sweat, etc. When I say you must do this, I mean you absolutely must do this, otherwise your foundation won't stay, your pores will get clogged and the end result can look cakey.
Next you apply your moisturizer. Once that is on, you have to wait a little while (5 to 10 mins) to let it be absorbed into your skin. If you were to apply makeup without waiting, it would just slide off the cream. After the moisturizer has had time to absorb, get a tissue (hankerchief, whatever you prefer to call it), peel a layer off and use it to blot any excess moisturizer from your face. You do this by pressing the tissue on your skin. Do not swipe or rub please.
Now you can choose to use a primer. This is optional, but what it does is it makes your foundation stay on longer, evens out your skintone a little, and some of them even stretches the skin a bit, improving the appearence of wrinkles.

An important thing to know is that you need to make sure both of your scincare and foundation products have the same base ingredient, that is they are either both water or both oil based. Check the ingredients list: ingredients are listed in the order of how much the product contains of them in descending order. They contain most of the ingredient listed first and less of each listed later. If your skincare and foundation are different based products, they will not adhere to each other, that is your foundation will slide off your face.

Now that you have your canvas sorted, let's put some makeup on. There are three ways to apply your foundation (apart from using airbrush foundation in which case you just simply spray it on), with your fingers, with a brush or with a sponge.

Whichever way you prefer to do it, it's best to cover your face in sections. Put small amounts of foundation on the middle of your forehead, your cheecks, your chin and your nose, then blend them together. This way you get a more even coat. If your foundation dries very quickly, you may want to do the blending in sections too: put a little amount of product on your forehead then spread it out before moving on to your cheecks and the rest of your face. Pay special attention to blending the foundation into your heariline, onto your ears a little, and down your neck to avoid a mask-like effect. If you are going to wear your hair in a pony tail or an updo, put some foundation behind your ears as well. If you have wrinkles, stretch your skin a little bit when applying your foundation to ensure it gets into the lines as well. Remember, small details can make all the difference.

Foundation brush

Applying your foundation with your fingers is probably the easiest and quickest way.Your fingers will warm the foundation a little so it will be easier to work it into your skin. Use circular and dabbing motions instead of swiping which will only move the foundation around. Do not use this method if you have oily skin, as your fingers will always transfer some excess oil onto your face, which you want to avoid. Downside of this method is that it's quite messy and it's difficult to achive a nicely blended look with it, especially around the hairline.

Stippling brush

Using a brush needs a bit more practice but this is the best to get into the hairline. Put some foundation onto the back of your hand to warm it slightly, then dab the brush into it and apply it to your face. Do not pick up too much product with the brush, as it will then be difficult to spread it out evenly, best to go little by little. Again, use circular motions to make sure you cover every little bump, and the pores from all sides, this will give a more even, natural finnish. Do not press the brush onto your skin too heavily, you are not trying to exfoliate. Just place it lightly onto your skin and move it around. There are different kinds of brushes you can use, the most common are the simple foundation brush as in the first picture, the other is called a stippling brush and also works very well, especially when blending liquid or cream foundations.

Beauty Blender

And last but not least, there is the good old sponge. You can get disposable little sponge wedges quite cheap or you can choose to invest in a more professional one, like the Beauty Blender, which is the new favourite on the market. When using a sponge, make sure you dampen it first. It doesn't need to be soaking in water, it just needs to be a bit wet. This will stop the sponge from absorbing a lot of product, instead it will just get the right amount, which then you can easily dab onto your face. Dab, not swipe.

Powder brush

Fan brush

Once you have your foundation on, you will want to set it with powder. The easiest way of doing this is to use a powder puff. I can't say it enough: no swiping, ladies, it just moves around whatever you have on your face instead of setting it in place. Instead, just get a small amount of powder onto the puff, scrape off the excess, then press the puff to your skin. You can use a rolling kind of motion to cover bigger areas. It's the same principle when using a powder brush (or a stippling brush works well, too), press the powder into your skin. Leave it for a few minutes then take a powder brush or a fan brush and very lightly brush off any excess powder. And you're done :)