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HOW TO

A beginner’s guide to colour correcting

If you (like most sensible people) are a bit perturbed by all these vibrant pots of pigment, allow us (and Kerry Cole, {BECCA's) Style Director) to talk you through the weird but wonderful world of colour correcting... Trust us, the impact can be magical so set aside your scepticism and embrace the unifying powers of these little secret weapons...

Typically coming in four or five shades - 'Pistachio' (pale mint green), 'Violet' (pastel purple), 'Peach' (creamy coral), 'Papaya' (orange red) and 'Banana' (pastel yellow), colour correctors harness colour theory to help neutralise discolouration.

If you envisage a colour wheel, red and green are opposite, which is why applying green on top of angry breakouts, broken capillaries or areas susceptible to redness (around the nose or on the apples of your cheeks) will help to combat your high colour and create an even base for your foundation.

The same principle applies across the board - lavender 'lifts' yellow-toned or sallow colouring, while peach and yellow are both brilliant for neutralising blues and purples - think under-eye shadows or unsightly bruises (excellent during bare leg-season).

If your skin has too much green - those with warmer skin tones often find their veins have a slight green-ish tinge - deeper, orangey-reds help to counteract dark circles and help camouflage tattoos if you have one you need to hide. It's also brilliant for darker skin tones - doing what peach does for pale complexions.

Infused with ultra-subtle light-reflective pigments, BECCA's {Backlight Targeted Colour Correctors} create an enviable, even-toned base for your make up - brightening to leave you looking luminous.

Or try NYX Professional Makeup's creamy, full-coverage {Concealer Wand}, which comes in an array of real-skin colours, as well as a trio of alien-esque hues to combat signs of too-late nights (it's great for disguising those tell-tale circles of darkness)...

And if you take this colour theory seriously, you might want to invest in a correcting palette. Uniting an array of shades to address all the common beauty bugbears - from redness to dark spots - these wardrobes of concealer will become your best friend if you're plagued by an uneven complexion.

Stila's brilliant {Correct and Perfect All-in-One Correcting Palette} has both cream and powder finishes to 'map' your face and 'fix' your handiwork in place. Chic and slimline, it's perfectly clutch bag-compatible.

Still a little bit bewildered? Watch the video (above) in which BECCA's director demonstrates the 'colour theory' basics, and let's you witness the rebalancing effects of these pigments in action... we'll take one of each please!

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Verity Douglas
Verity Douglas Writer and expert

Cult Beauty’s Content Editor and a Cult Beauty OG, Verity loves nothing more than the marriage of language and lip balm. A quintessential Libran, she’s a self-professed magpie for luxury ‘must-haves' and always pursuing the new and the niche — from the boujee-est skin care to cutting-edge tech. Balancing an urge to stop the clock with her desire to embrace the ageing process (and set a positive example for her daughter), Verity's a retinol obsessive and will gladly share her thoughts about the time-defying gadgets, masks and treatments worth the splurge...

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