Sometime last year, I became aware of the whole makeup technique called 'Baking'. It was becoming more and more of a feature in blog posts, YouTube videos - and just the online world in general to be honest - and though I'd never heard about it before, when I looked more into it, I actually found that it's not that much of a new technique. To 'bake' your makeup is basically taking your standard powdering or 'setting' of your face to the next level. Using your slightly-dampened sponge to pack on a load of loose translucent powder, letting it be a little while and then sweeping away the excess - leaving things fully locked down for the rest of the day, with a supposedly flawless finish. It took a while but eventually, I decided to give it a go myself a couple of weeks back - so here's how I got on...
As I said, for this all you really need is some translucent loose powder and a Beauty Blender/cheaper alternative. I had a good feeling this whole process was gonna be pretty hefty from the start, so I purposely picked a night out to test the whole 'baking' thang out for the first time - when I usually want my makeup to look more dramatic and full-on anyway (and also properly last too). After concealing my face in all the regular places, instead of dusting a light layer of pressed powder over the top to mattify and generally seal things into place - I went in, armed with my two products, to 'bake' instead. While this technique is mainly used for thonly under-eye's, I have seen many a tutorial where it's utilised in other areas too, almost as a highlighting step aswell as a setting one. So, alongside the peepers, I went in on my chin, bridge of the nose and centre of my forehead and generally just hoped for the best.
A good amount of time later, I came back to the areas I'd 'baked' once again, this time ready to wipe things away and see just what was underneath. The excess came away easy-peasy with no dragging or pulling - a good start - and when I opened my eyes to see the finished result - for the most part, I was feeling it. My under-eye's looked brighter, fully set down and from afar, pretty flawless too. Looking closer up, I could certainly tell I was wearing a lot more makeup and while it didn't look at all cakey or heavy, it certainly was noticeable and not at all natural-looking. Then again, who'd expect it to, eh? Of all the areas I 'baked', I definitely liked the finish and overall effect of my under-eye's the most and I feel it did the most for that area too in terms of longevity and just generally keeping things where they should be (I'm talking about you, lower lash mascara). In terms of everywhere else, I feel like it perhaps didn't sit so well and I definitely didn't like the way it felt on my skin in those places as much. So all in all - a mixed bag.
Another time, I wanted to give the other main 'use' of baking a go to see how that one fared too. Aswell as setting things into place, you can apparently 'bake' areas before or after applying a product to give it more definition and erase any unwanted product too. Your under-eye bake can handily double up as a shadow shield - providing a barrier for the possibility of any fall-out which you can simply sweep away and also use to create a certain shape with your eyeshadow too. Another way I saw was to use it after applying your contour, underneath your cheekbones, to clean things up and make give more structure. So, I gave them both a go and while honestly, it worked really well and did exactly as I'd hoped/expected it to. Any fall-down from my eye makeup was gone in an instant and I managed to create exactly the shape and style I wanted by using the powder almost as a 'eraser' to clean up any unwanted product from around the eyes or under those cheekbones. Much like the whole concept of baking in general, I definitely see it as more of a thing when I'm going proper 'full-on' with my makeup for a special occasion, a night out - or simply for the day-time (cause sometimes you just wanna go glam in the day, yanno?) - but it worked and I liked it nevertheless and can see the appeal, time and place and all that kinda jazz. I guess the whole 'message' of this post is that I finally gave into the hype, tried out the 'baking' craze and you know what? For the most part, I actually rather liked it. I can definitely see it becoming a staple in my 'Glam' Makeup Routine from now on...
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