Male: Needing ladies advice

Ok I need a bit of advice from anyone who might have more experience with make up than me e.g every woman in the developed world.

I'm looking to just create and even skin tone and help cover up a bit of redness around my nose region and also cover some small red acne bumps that sometimes occur. Can i just use a mineral foundation with a brush or do I need to put something over/under the foundation afterwards/beforehand? Do I need a primer etc.?

Basically I don't really want it to look like i'm wearing make-up (for obvious reasons /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />) so just want to do the bare minimum required to get an even complexion and not have it clump together or fall off within a few hours.

Is bare minerals the best mineral foundation btw.

Can you help?

Thank you in advance.

Hi confused dude! I'm no make up Goddess, but personally I have had luck with soley powder mineral foundation applied with a brush to hide redness. I have combination skin with most oily spots on my cheeks near my nose, and slight redness there as well. Mineral makeup always covered it with one application and looked very natural. I used the Maybelline Mineral loose powder foundation you can get at the drugstore. This may be your best place to start as they are fairly priced (I think around $8 and come with a small brush). You should first and foremost make sure you find your correct shade in natural and artificial light or else every one will know you're wearing makeup. Be prepared to spend time testing, my dude! I have never tried Bare Minerals, so I can't comment on that, but I have heard very good things aside from being more expensive than most drugstore brands. But you do get what you pay for! Hopefully other ladies (or men) can shed some more light on this for you. I will say beware of black lights while wearing mineral powder foundation. It's funny but you will have little glowey dots all over your face. Good luck!

I don't wear any type of foundation on a regular basis, but I use a light dusting of Clinique's Superbalanced Powder Makeup (pretty much a mineral foundation) on days where I have a few noticeable spots. It's amazing how it takes away the redness immediately while still looking like I've put absolutely no makeup on my skin, and you can't feel it on either.

Hey dude!

I get major redness around my nose too (my psoriasis gets pretty bad in the winter) and since I don't usually wear a lot of makeup I had the same problem. Trying to just cover one area of the face without buffing out the rest can be a pain to hide sometimes. When I DO use makeup it is Bare Minerals because it honestly changed my life. I have noticed significantly less breakouts and the redness that I noticed before has lessened tremendously. I barely ever notice my psoriasis anymore! I even break the ultimate rule and sometimes sleep in my makeup and STILL no breakouts. What works best for me in covering the redness around my nose is starting off by applying a thin layer of the Bare Minerals Prime Time all over my face to even out my skin surface, prevent flakiness, and smooth out fine lines as well as lessen pore size. Then I apply the new Bare Minerals Correcting Concealer (best thing ever!) around my nose and under my eyes using the concealer brush that I got with my starter kit. I dab a little on with the brush, let it set for a second, then blend in the excess with my fingers. Then the trick to using concealer is to "set it" with a powder. I use the Bare Minerals Ready Touch up Veil in translucent. Those 3 steps usually help me to just hide my minor imperfections and redness without having a ton of makeup caked on my face. (The only other steps I use if I AM applying a full face is just buffing out the rest with the Bare Minerals Foundations - I lean towards the Original Foundation in the summer and the Matte Foundation in the winter - as well as using the Bare Minerals All Over Face Color in Warmth to add a little color, and top it off with the Original Mineral Veil.)  If you are worried about choosing the right colors, then I would definitely hit up your local Sephora or Ulta counter and they are usually more than happy to help you find the perfect color for your skin tone and you can even test these products out in store to make sure that they will work for you before you go out and spend a ton of money. And no, I don't work for Bare minerals I just love them that much! So if you try it out, let me know how it works for you.

and KatiebugloveBB is right! I have noticed the little dots on my face under a blacklight too! Does anyone know what causes that or a way to prevent it? I am under a blacklight quite often so I'm thinking I might have to switch up my makeup on those nights and that scares me a little. lol :/

There is also another product that might work but I cant give too much info because I haven't tried it yet. Last time I was in Sephora I was asking about the Smashbox primers (the green one) and if using it would help to cover the redness around my nose. The lady suggested that the green tinted one may cause a little too much of a tint for my complexion so she recommended using the Stila One step Correct. It is a three-in-one serum that contains three color-correcting & moisturizing brighteners to mask imperfections. I finally broke down and ordered it the other day (should be here by Thursday! yay!) so I will let you know how that works out once I get it. They also have a Stila Set and Correct Baked Powder Trio (next on my order list) that you could use to "set" the primer. These two things might even work better in your situation but I cant give a good review on either of these products just yet. I would definitely hit up the girls at the counters to see if you can try those products out first, too.

I am also looking into trying out the Clinique Redness Solutions Instant Relief Mineral Pressed Powder but I don't have any reviews on that yet either. It is currently sitting in my online shopping cart patiently waiting for my next paycheck! lol - We seem to have the same problem so if you find a miracle worker then please let me know! lol

Good luck to ya, dude! /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

Regina

A finishing powder might be all you need, rather than an actual foundation. Find one that posters say they often wear alone when they go out during the day. I won't recommend the one I currently use because I'm changing brands when it's gone. A good finishing powder should have just enough color and coverage to even your skin tone out a bit without being visibly there. Just be careful tha there is no shimmer or 'glow' in the description.

I have several online friends that like Lucy's, Sassy's and Silk Naturals, but haven't really tried any of those. I think the most cost effective way to find one that works for you is to find companies that will sell smaller sample sizes for you to try (says the woman who has a drawer full of full sizes of various things that didn't work). I think all three I mentioned do, but there are a TON of indy mineral sites online to browse through.

I agree that you probably just need a sheer mineral foundation - Lumiere, Aromaleigh, and Meow are all good choices since they sell small and inexpensive samples, plus they have a wide range of colors.

Good luck!