Aha, you see, I tricked you. This is not about how to get a perfect base in Winter. This is how to give Winter skin a perfect base.
My fellow Winter complexions, we have such trouble with makeup, don't we? Finding a blush that isn't too orange, finding a foundation that isn't too yellow, finding a powder that doesn't make us look, ever so subliminally, as if we have gone "off", like milk left too long out of the 'fridge. Here in Australia, it seems it's a warm-toned skinned girl's world; all the makeup shades seem made for them, and a poor little Winter can get left out in the cold. It's hard to even get a BB Cream that doesn't turn us peaches and cream, when our natural colours are more roses and snow.
But, with as little as we're given, we can look great; luminous, radiant, even, and also our pasty selves - proudly! We can rock a pop of pink in our cheeks and lips while toning down blotchiness everywhere else, and hiding those bluish shadows under our eyes that we translucent of complexion are especially prone to.
You don't believe me? Well, just follow along.
Firstly, you're going to want to grab your one ride-or-die foundation shade that doesn't turn you yellow. For me, it's Maybelline Fit Me Shine Free + Balance stick makeup in shade 110 (Porcelain). Mind you, I got lucky, finally finding a grocery store brand shade that actually worked for me; for years, I just used Stargazer white foundation, because it was the only makeup I could find that genuinely disappeared into my skin.
Obviously, prep your skin. If you've found a primer that works for you, then all well and good; if, like many of us, you are still struggling with that particular quest, then just moisturise it, pat it dry, and wait five minutes.
Then, take your foundation, and apply it as per normal, focusing on really layering up over any problem areas; unless you've found one that really suits you, forget concealer - for most of it, the yellow/orangey pigments make it impossible to blend successfully into our skin.
Blend until you reckon you've got the beginnings of a smooth canvas. Then seize a stick of green corrective concealer - The Body Shop make a nice one that isn't too exxy - and seek-and-destroy for the places where you normally blotch, judiciously dot and religiously blend. A stripe down the centre of the nose, carefully blended outwards, never did any fair, redness-prone lass any harm, and going very lightly around the edge of the bottom lip and blending outward will make any lipstick, or even lack thereof, look all the crisper.
Then, here's where the magic starts.
Put down the pressed powder. What you want is Physician's Formula Multi-Coloured Face Enhancer Highlighter, or, if at close to $30 a pop that's a little dear for you, Nyx does a similar one for about $8. Take the brush that's in the compact, in the case of the former, or a big, soft bronzer brush, if the latter (larger than a blush brush, but smaller than a kabuki brush), swirl it through the colours until you've built up a decent head of powder, give it a gentle puff to blow off the excess, and go to town. Go all over your face with that bad boy. Softly build it into the corner and the underneath of the eye socket, blending down over the cheek, to bring light to the usually-dark under-eye area.
This right here is the big trade secret; this stuff is pretty much fool-proof for Winter skins - sit back, take a breather, and admire at the soft, candle-lit complexion you've created. Take it with you, and use throughout the day like a normal pressed powder, whenever you start to get a little shiny. The pigments are invisible on, but the light-up effect they'll bring to your face is unmistakable.
Now drop your usual, slightly-too-peachy blush, and grab a stick of Maybelline Candy Wow lip crayon in Cherry (it smells delightful). Dot once on the apple of your cheek, once on your cheekbone and once at the very top of your cheekbone, level with the outer corner of your eye. Now blend, starting at your cheek and sweeping upwards, rubbing gently outwards with your fingers as you go. After a few seconds, you should have a lovely, natural-looking glow that runs along where you actually flush, as opposed to that vaguely-sunburned effect normal blush application tends to give us. For those who really do prefer a powder formulation, Colour Theory blush in Dollhouse, swept on with a very light hand, will give a similarly pure, petal-pink glow; too much, and you will, indeed, look like a painted doll.
And you can absolutely leave it there, if you like, but what I like to do - what I think of as "the final flourish" - to keep my face looking dewy and fresh, rather than over-matte (I don't care if it's on-trend, it looks too "done") - is to take a pure silver/white highlighter and stroke it in a single broad sweep from just above the apple of my cheek, along the cheekbone, to level with the outside of my browbone, and blend. I use Essence cream blush stick in Universe (it comes in a little pack with a matching powder shadow), but any pearly white eyeshadow, swept up with a fluffy blush brush, will do the trick. Paint you two stripes, curling like slightly-hooked tentacles up along your cheeks and almost to the temple, as well as just a smidgeon laid atop the Cupid's bow of your upper lip, and then blend softly with your fingertips until rather than looking glittery, you can just see your features catch the light when you turn your head. If you've got good cheekbones, this will make them look cut from marble, and if you don't, then this will give them to you. Combined with the pretty flush underneath, what you're looking at is perfect Winter skin.
Then you can go on to do whatever you want with the rest of your look! I'm lazy as Hell, so I generally keep it to super-polished, really dark brows, a little liner to define the bottom rim of my eye, nothing up top save for one good coat of (black as sin, black as death, black as the blackest niiiiiiiight!) mascara, and whatever bright or dark shade I fancy on my lips, that day. I'm a lipstick girl; I rarely have the patience to do eyes, so I make up for it by painting my mouth distractingly deep colours. But whatever you want goes - you've got the skin to pull off anything, now. ;-)
