19 genius concealer hacks every girl needs to know
Life-changing ways to cover pimples, under-eye circles, blemishes, and more.
1. If you use foundation, apply it first, and then apply your concealer. If you apply your foundation first, you’ll find that you don’t need to use as much concealer. If you apply concealer first, however, you’ll remove most of it while applying your foundation.
2. The most flattering way to apply concealer is to draw a triangle with the base under your eye and the point toward your cheek. This shape not only conceals dark circles, but it also instantly creates the illusion that your face is lifted. Think of it as holding a flashlight against your cheek, shining the light right underneath your eye, and drawing the focus upward.
3. To prevent your eye shadow from falling off your lid and settling in the creases, prime your eyelids first with a dab of concealer. If you can’t justify spending extra on eye shadow primer, a dab of concealer works just as well.
4. When concealing a pimple, first use a green concealer, then cover the area with a concealer that matches your skin tone perfectly. Cancel out a pimple’s redness by applying green concealer with a clean brush to only the pimple (not the skin around it) to avoid spreading the bacteria. Then, use a cotton swab to dab on a high-coverage liquid concealer that matches your skin tone to camouflage the pimple. Blend it into the surrounding skin and finish with setting powder.
5. If you have a pimple on your chest or back that you need to conceal, cover the trouble spots with a concealer that matches your skin tone exactly, and then top it with a translucent powder. Continue to alternate concealer and setting powder until the blemish is undetectable. The concealer will hide the blemish and the setting powder will prevent it from wearing off.
6. If you find yourself without concealer, place a small dot of liquid foundation on the area, wait a few minutes for the formula to set, and then lightly blend it out.The trick is to wait until the foundation dries and thickens a bit (it will eventually reach the consistency of concealer) before trying to blend it. If you blend it too soon, the foundation will be sheer and rub off, leaving you with very little coverage.
7. Use a concealer that’s slightly lighter than your skin tone to line three tiny sections of your eyes: the inner “V,” the middle section of your eyelid, and just below your brow bone. Lightly blend for instantly well-rested eyes and a highlight that looks natural. Great for days when you didn’t get enough sleep.
8. Dab an orange—or peach—colored concealer over dark under-eye circles with your ring finger. Your ring finger, which is your weakest, will apply just the right amount of pressure to blend in the concealer without pulling at your delicate eye skin, and the orange or peach tones will cancel out the blue shadows that your under-eye circles give off. Top the orange or peach formula with a cover-up that matches your skin.
9. Know what issues different colors of concealer fix. Peach shades cancel out blue circles or bruising, green hide red blemishes, and yellow-toned concealers correct almost all uneven skin tones.
10. Hide puffy eyes with a bit of eye cream, highlighter, and concealer. Mix products on the back of your hand. Then apply the mixture under your eyes, on the outside by your temples, and over your brow bone to brighten the area and hide puffiness.
11. After applying concealer, blot the area with a thin tissue to prevent the product from settling in the creases around your eyes. If your concealer tends too look cakey in the fine lines around your eyes midday, split a tissue into two layers, and use one of the sheets to remove excess oil.
12. Sharpen your cat-eye and cover any eyeliner mistakes with an angled brush dipped in concealer. This is much easier than removing it altogether and starting over completely.
13. Make your lipstick pop and prevent the color from bleeding by lining the outside of your lips with a fine-tip brush and a bit of concealer. You’ll be amazed at how sharp your lips will look afterward.
14. Create the illusion of plumper lips by filling in the middle section with a light concealer, blending it out with the warmth from your fingertip, and finishing with a nude lip gloss.
15. Reshape your lips by first covering them with concealer and then tracing just slightly outside your natural lip line with a lip liner pencil. Continue to fill in your lips with the pencil for a matte look or finish with a gloss. See Jessie James Decker demonstrate this trick.
16. Make your brows pop by lining them above and below with a concealer that’s one shade lighter than your skin tone. Then, blend in the cover-up with your fingertip, since the warmth of your finger will soften the formula and diffuse it more easily than a brush would.
17. Intensify your collarbone for a sexy nighttime look by shrugging your shoulders up, tracing the natural contours with a concealer two shades darker than your skin tone, and then highlighting them with concealer two shades lighter. Draw the lighter shade on the areas that protrude outward. Then, use the darker shade to fill in the sections that fall in the shadows. Use a damp blending sponge or a stippling brush to blend the shades together, eliminating any harsh lines.
18. Create a tinted moisturizer by mixing your daily face lotion with a bit of your go-to concealer.
This will help hydrate your skin while adding a subtle, tinted finish.
19. Keep more than just one kind of concealer in your makeup bag.
Unless you were born with flawless skin (aka you’re Beyoncè), you’ll need to use different kinds of concealer for different areas of your face, depending on how much coverage you need.
(ORIGINAL INFORMATION ABOVE PROVIDED BY SEVENTEEN.COM)