Wearing foundation should not feel like Spackle

I recently chatted with a friend of mine discussing all the steps we women go through to make up our faces to go out at night. Honestly, when she referred to it as feeling like she was wearing Spackle, I was put off. Since when did the process of looking beautiful turn into a construction project?

As an independent beauty consultant part of my job is to educate women in healthy skin care and makeup application techniques. As it is, most women skip steps in caring for their skin: cleanse, tone, exfoliate, moisturize and protect. As a biologist, I could go on and on about the layers of skin and how it cycles. (But I won't bore you.) Feel fee to ask me more, and I'll chat with you privately on an individual basis.

To be honest, I knew these steps long before I was selling Mary Kay. I worked retail in the local mall like most kids during my college years. Fortunately, it was in one of those cute health & beauty shops. So I got to try everything! It also was great because with that discount I could buy lots of stuff cheap and play around with it at home.

I felt like an artist with a palate of beautiful colors. (The analogy works because I had just discovered makeup brushes too -- good bye foam tip applicators!) However, one friend told me years ago, you can't paint a masterpiece if you have a lousy canvas. So during the age of the "electric beach" but just before "spray tan" I started using SPF in my moisturizer and even in my foundation. I also used bronzer. (No, not the orange stuff.)

Yes, I was not a glamor gal at all. I never wore foundation, just lip gloss, one shade of eyeshadow, a little mascara and blush. That all changed when I started to really look at my face -- my pores were gross. Besides treating myself to facials occasionally -- I considered it "maintinance" -- I started a regular routine that became faster and easier with practice.

Then I learned there's a layering process: prep your skin, next use primer, concealer and then foundation. Once you have the basic face down, makeup goes on so much easier (and washes off later easier too.) The trick is keep the layers thin. Then you don't get "Spackle face." If I wanted to walk around with a windshield on my face, I'd be a car.