“I AM NOT A CLOWN” MONDAY
I spend a lot of time thinking and contemplating make-up concealers. (note: I know this makes me sound like a huge asshole) But it’s because the art of applying good concealer is actually similar to an artistic technique that has always fascinated me: “Tromp L’oeil” otherwise known without the sassy French accent as Trick of the Eye.
“Trompe-l’œil is an art technique that uses realistic imagery to create the optical illusion that depicted objects exist in three dimensions. Forced perspective is a comparable illusion in architecture.” (Just FYI I am citing Wikipedia here UNLIKE someone we know…I’m looking at you Rand Paul)
Below is a terrifying example of Tromp L’Oeil. Why is his face like that????
You see, the entire idea of concealing and contouring your face with make up has its basis in Tromp L’oeil. Contouring creates shadows where you want to see indentations (the cheekbones) and highlights where you want the light to bounce off (under the eyes).
But as some of you know–I’m a terrible artist. So my previous attempts at Tromp L’oeil contouring came off looking like I was oddly bruised and simultaneously shiny in various areas of my face.
That is until I learned about the The Bermuda Triangle of Concealer. I coined the name of the trick but this trick has floated around on Pintrest for years.
Instead of covering up just your under eye circles with concealer in a half-moon shape–create two hypotenuse triangles (not sure if I’m using the word “hypotenuse” even remotely correctly) of concealer under your eyes using the side of your nose as the long side of the triangle. Fill in diagonally from the tip of your nose to the tip of your outer eye. Since this all sounds like gobbodllygook-I’ve attached the following Pintrest picture so you can understand.
The triangle gives you a much more realistic highlighting shape to work with than the half moon. Now you are tricking the eye and not scaring little children.
Remember to BLEND well and to check out next Monday’s “I AM NOT A CLOWN” post for easy and cheap beauty tips!