SLC-S21W1: Cleansing, face types and implements necessary to do good makeup

It may be surprising to see me participate in this contest. Even I am surprised because all the participants in this contest are women. In my country, when a man does makeup or applies skincare products, they say he's gay or a cross dresser but in other countries, it's a form of personal hygiene and a way of looking good.

Most of these male models do makeup to make their faces look stunning, shining, and smooth. Even most artists do make-up to appear on camera. Application of skincare products is what I'm always intentional about, though I've been learning about makeup and also apply it to my mom's face most times but haven't applied it to my skin or face before. I'm still a beginner. In the practical aspect, but theoretically, I know the basics. In the course of this contest, I'll answer questions that are appealing.

I have normal skin. My skin is neither dry, sensitive, nor oily. I'm always passionate about taking good care of my skin at all costs to avoid achenes, black spots, irritation on the skin, and bleaching. It was before I didn't usually give priority to my skin.

As a form of personal hygiene, your skin must be clean, and this can be possible when you bathe with soap and water. Aside from the cleanliness your skin should attain, it must be taken care of and treated to avoid irritations in the skin.

Most men don't give priority to their skin. They view it as a waste of time to apply skincare products to care for the skin. They feel it's more girlish to do so. Some don't even rub cream because of the nature of their skin. It was once like this bit later changed to taking care of my skin. I'm mindful of the creams I purchase to avoid bleaching my skin, which can cause irritation and disease.

I purchase creams like Dove that are suitable for all skin types, and this is what has helped and prevented outright dark knuckles. The following are ways you should care for your skin like I do.

• Face wash early in the morning with serum or facial cleanser helps remove germs from the surface of your face resulting from where you laid your head and face. Wash and wipe with a clean dry towel. This is what I do every morning.

• Taking your bath with soap and sponge is a way of cleaning the whole body. Armpits wash is very essential when scrubbing your body to avoid irritation and body odour.

• Most people don't wash their feet when they bathe. This is very essential to avoid dry feet and diseases that may arise, if any. Toe nails are part of the skin and should be washed to avoid smelly feet when wearing a shoe.

• Applying serum to the body to hydrate my skin is what I do to prevent it from drying, which can lead to scales on the skin, especially the legs. I also run cream to smoothen my skin and make it comfortable.

• Asides cream and serum application, I make use of gels and cleaners on my body before applying these creams and serums to give my skin a radiant look.

• My lips are an essential part of my skin, and oiling them always keeps it hydrated and prevents dryness or cracked lips.

Skin care products I use

As shown in the picture below, I use lots of skincare products, especially on my face, hands, and body. These skincare products include

• Facial cleansers: This is liquid and is watery-oily applied on the skin to wash off germs early in the morning or before taking your bath. This is what I apply to my skin to give it a brighter look. It makes my face glow in the morning and radiate when I take my bath.

• Serum: This is more like a dropper that's oily and is used to moisturise the skin and make it hydrated. It also adds to the radiance of the skin. I usually apply it on my face with cream to have a radiant and stunning look.

• Face gel: This acts as the facial cleanser, but it's a gel and is used in washing the face and skin. I mostly use it in bathing to enhance my skin's look and texture.

• Medicated soap: Using medicated soap is essential for treatment of your skin. Some soaps cause irritation of the skin and bring about aches.

• Spot removal cream: I use this to clear dark spots on my skin but don't use it often to avoid skin irritations. I purchased a spot removal cream that suits my skin and is not one for fair people. I'm always careful in my selection of skincare products.

The shape of my face is actually funny and was so difficult to determine just looking at it. I thought of broad. It looks broad but not completely broad as there's always an extended face in a broad shape. I thought of the long face, and it looks more like the long face. My face has a round top and a reduced bottom; that's why I see it fitting in an oval that's not completely round.

My face's shape is long, no doubt and I find it fitting to see that I tested the shape using Canva elements. I tried the square shape, and it wasn't. I tried the circle or round shape, and it wasn't. I then tried the oval shape, and it was exactly on point. So instead of assuming, this is the practical I carried out to know the exact shape of my face.

When contouring and highlighting an oval face, one needs to take into consideration several things. I'll start with the contour .

Contour is a technique in the makeup industry used to enhance the face's features by creating definition and structure. It involves applying darker makeup to define and enhance natural beauty. In my country, we call it blushing. It is mostly applied on the nose bone, cheek bone, forehead, and jawline.

Since I have an oval face, this is how I contour my face, though the presence of cream and powdered foundation wasn't there to blend it. It made my face smooth with the foundation first and then used fair foundation on my cheek bones and forehead to enhance the beauty of my face. I used;

• Makeup sponge

• Fingertips to do this contour.

The purpose of this contour is to blend and allow these facial features to be visible. Rubbing the foundation is what I didn't do. I dotted it and then tapped on it slowly so as not to create irritation as a result of tough handling. Most women use this to show their nose beauty or to show their diminished cheekbone shades. It always looks good, especially with a darker toner if you're fair.

The hands of a beginner 🤣🤣

Highlight

This is almost the same with contour but differs slightly. Highlighting is more like bringing out the contour. It brightens the face while the contour depends on it but still defines it. Lighter shades or toner are used in highlighting the face, and I made use of concealer to bring out the radiance. It's applied to the facial features the way contours are applied.

The difference in facial feature is that while contour tackles the side of the nose, highlight blends the nose bridge, or should I call it bone? It's used in highlighting the eyelids and Cupid's bow. I used concealer since it's much lighter and brighter.

It didn't have powder to blend, which would have made sense a lot. As much as I'm not a woman, men do contour a lot to define their skin, especially whenever they go out on occasions. It always creates this definition in faces that have visible cheekbones, etc.

If you look at the pictures, you'll see or notice that I did apply contours more than I did highlight. I don't really know why some people find the nose to be the most capturing and blushing part of the face other than the cheeks.

Ohkay. I'm not a person who uses makeup. I only use skincare products to take care of my face and skin. The integration of makeup because of this contest has exposed me to a lot of things. The makeup products or implements I knew before now were eye liner, foundation, both liquids and piercings, concealer for both fair and dark skins, powder, and toner.

These were the implements I knew before now. I can remember saying that I have more versatile knowledge theoretically than practically. The implement I use to tone my face frequently is Powder. I'm a man, and though other implements are used by most men, I prefer using powder as my highlight.

The implements that are essential when doing makeup include;

• Makeup Sponge: Using the hand to apply liquid makeup is not ideal. The use of a bouncing sponge to retain the colour on your face is what is essential. Using this sponge is good when applying liquid makeup, while powdered makeup works best with brushes.

• Foundation: As the name implies, you must give yourself a perfect foundation before the application of other implements like concealer to blend and the likes. Concealers that fit your skin colour are what is advisable to use to avoid looking too shouting or repulsive. Some people use lighter foundation on black skin, and they end up looking weird, kind of. .

• After the application of foundation to basic the face and bring out the shape, concealers are used to hide black spots completely and also enhance the face's looks even though foundation has done major..

• After applying concealer, the use of powdered foundation and dark shades of foundation for contour is necessary to define the face and also highlight it with concealer and powder as a finishing touch to create a great look. You can add a red colour foundation using your makeup brush to scale the structure of the face and make your dimples, if you have any, stand out.

This contest has made me see what women pass through in the process of looking good using makeup. It's not easy. My first trial was bad, as I didn't consider my skin type and amount of makeup before application. This was the first trial on self-makeover. At least I've improved in the second application, considering skin colours and types. Also putting blending and quantity into consideration.

	my first trial
	Second Trial ✅

As explained in the previous module, if you will need to apply concealer (a liquid or cream product) to correct an imperfection, which of the implements do you think you could use for its application and which for its blending? Explain your answer

If I'm applying a liquid concealer, the implement I usually consider for application is a concealer brush if available and makeup sponge. This concealer brush helps in applying on precise spots, and it can be applied in small areas, something the sponge can't do. The sponge is also essential, as it's used to ensure smooth application when rubbed on the face.

This sponge makes it possible for the concealer to stick on the face instead of making it wear in some parts and fit in some parts. The sponge is very soft and does have holes in it, which creates wear sometimes.If you noticed, I used the circle foam for the application of foundation that blends with my skin, but when it comes to using concealer to lighten and conceal black spots, I make use of the makeup sponge for dips and balances when applied.

For blending, sometimes I used my fingertips or the makeup sponge to blend the concealer in some areas on my face. Whenever I apply concealer after foundation, I do rub it gently to merge edges, and this is always perfect with the sponge. Sometimes the sponge overlooks small spaces in which the fingertips and not the hand can come in.

Some people use a beauty blender, but in the absence of this, my makeup sponge still serves a huge purpose when trying to blend the concealer with my skin.

That's all for this assignment. It literally took me two days to create this, but it was worth the effort because the knowledge was acquired full-time and a physical self-application was done for the first time. I'm used to applying to people with fair skin or faces and not mine. Though I'm not always perfect, I help blend concealers and foundation.

That's what I usually do while the ladies continue with blushing, contouring, and highlighting. So this is how I look in makeup. The absence of powdered foundation and brush didn't make the makeup look polished and still. Thanks to the mentor for bringing up this course. I'll be so eager to learn the basics practically.

I invite @okere-blessing, @patjewell and @bela90

Cc,
@almacaridad