8 Concealer Tips & Tricks You Must Know For A Flawless Finish

Occasionally, we all need to fake a good 10-hour sleep or cover up horrible zits to look presentable and put together. This is why concealer is our best friend. However, using concealer can be a little tricky and it can emphasize your imperfections instead of camouflaging them if not applied correctly. Don’t fret, though! We’re going to help you master concealer application with these eight tips and tricks:

1. Use different shades for different functions – To hide darkness under the eyes, use a concealer that is only one or two shades lighter than your skin tone. Many ladies make the mistake of using a concealer that is way too light and in pictures, noticeable white areas can be seen under their eyes, which is never a pretty look. This same concealer shade can be used to highlight your cupid’s bow, brow bone, nose bridge, chin and forehead. On the other hand, the concealer that is used to cover up zits and spots should always be the same shade as your skin tone.

2. Always prep the skin well – Before you apply any foundation or concealer, always make sure that your skin is nicely moisturised and prepared for makeup. This means using a good moisturiser and/or a makeup primer all over your face. For the eye area, we recommend using a good eye cream. Concealer is great at grabbing onto dry areas and fine lines, so it’s important to make sure that the skin is as smooth as possible before application.

3. Apply foundation and then concealer – Most foundations are buildable and they provide a decent amount of coverage to hide your imperfections, so you should always apply foundation first and then use your concealer to cover up anything your foundation wasn’t able to. Aside from that, applying foundation after concealer will move the product around and in the end, you’ll have to go back to fix it once again.

4. You can mix it – Just like foundation, concealer can always be mixed with other products such as colour correcting primer, moisturiser, eye cream, BB cream and even highlighter. It all depends on what you want your concealer to do for you. On lazy days, we like mixing a little bit of concealer with our BB cream for more coverage. When the skin is looking a little dry, we’d mix in some moisturiser to thin out the concealer before application. To make the skin glow even more, we sometimes add liquid highlighter to our concealer.

Photo: Kathleen Kamphausen via Cosmopolitan

5. Always apply to a bigger area – If you’ve got darkness under your eyes, apply your concealer in a triangular shape to make it look more natural and to bring back the brightness underneath your eyes. If you have a zit that needs to be covered up, make sure to blend the concealer around that particular spot as well. You don’t want any harsh lines and you certainly do not want to look like you’ve got white spots all over your face.

6. Thin layers blend better – When using concealer, make sure to dot the product in a thin layer over a specific area before blending it in. Concealer is highly pigmented and the thicker the layer you apply, the harder it will be to blend it in smoothly. There is no need to pack on a lot of product per application as you can always build it up if it isn’t sufficient for you.

7. Tap or pat the concealer in – Never, ever, rub on your concealer to blend it into your skin. Rubbing on the concealer will move the product around and you’re never going to get the coverage that you need from the product. Instead, use your clean ring finger to tap on and around the area gently to seamlessly blend the concealer in. Don’t like using your fingers? We love using a BeautyBlender sponge or a small brush to tap the product in place.

8. Set it with powder – To prevent the concealer from moving, always set it with powder to keep it in place. If you don’t want to mattify your entire face, only apply powder to the areas where you have your concealer on. This way, your natural glow will still shine through.

Here are six concealers we’ve tried and absolutely love: