Concealing Secrets: Tips, Tricks, and What I Have Learned

by - March 12, 2016


Hey guys!

After reading Into the Gloss's article about their favorite concealers, I was inspired to share some of my own concealing secrets. My skin is tricky, and it seems I have tried nearly every trick in the book to conceal blemishes and dark circles.  We all want to look like a porcelain doll; however, very few of us are blessed with that skin, so I am here to share some of the tricks I have been using!


My first tip will be for concealing those dark circles under the eyes.  Many years ago when I first started wearing makeup, and really up until this past year I would ignore the importance of using eye creams prior to concealer.  I never used an eye cream until after college, and even then I really only used them at night.  However, it is important to use an eye cream to provide moisture to your eye area.  This alone will help with any creasing you may have under the eye, and it will also help your concealer apply easily.

The eye creams I have in my collection:



The next thing I want to talk about are the tools I use to apply my concealers.  (Ignore how dirty these brushes are! Wash day is coming soon!) You can use your fingers, brushes, or sponges to apply your concealer.  Anything that makes you happy!  I have used all of these options, and after lots of trial, these are the brushes that I use the most often.  The bottom two I only use to get the product out of jars because I don't like dipping my grubby fingers into those pots.  The top brush is obviously much rounder and I use this one to buff in all my concealers.  Should you have areas that need to be heavily concealed, acne spots, age spots, or really dark circles, you should pat the concealer in with your fingers.  Patting the concealer in with your finger will provide a higher coverage, and the warmth from your finger will help to spread that concealer out.  

Some brushes and tools I suggest: 

Top left: Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Dark Circle Eraser in Brightener, Top Middle: Almay Wake Up Concealer in Light, Top Right: Maybelline Corrector Concealer (green), Bottom: Sonia Kashuk All Covered Up Concealer in Porcelain
My next step for concealing is always correcting.  There are several different tones of concealers in the market, and each of the colors will provide a different type of correction.  As you can see above I have two yellow toned concealers, one green, and a peach.  In the market I have also seen purple correctors.  If you use correctors you need to use these under your foundation.  Typically I will use these and my concealers under my foundation because I find with my light skin tone any slight variations in my concealer and foundation will show up like a spotlight.  However, occasionally if I feel like I need a little more brightness under my eyes after foundation I will use the Maybelline Instant Age Rewind concealer in the brightening shade.

The secret to knowing what your skin needs lies within the color wheel just like the one you used in art class!

  • Green - Use to help correct redness such as acne or rashes.  
  • Yellow - Used as an equalizer and also used to correct purple and blue bruises and dark circles under the eyes. 
  • Peach/ Salmon - Used to correct blue tones in the dark circles under the eyes.  
  • Purple - Will correct any yellow tones in the skin.  
  • Orange - These colors are excellent for deep skin tones and will work like yellow and peach to correct dark circles under the eyes.
  • White - These are used for highlighting the face.
 Some correctors I suggest: 
Milani Secret Cover Concealer Cream in Natural Beige, Hard Candy Glamoflauge Concealer in Ultra Light (left) and Medium Light (right)
The next step is to actually conceal those blemishes.  I only use concealer on the areas that I used the green corrector or any other blemishes around my face.  Generally I use a peach tone under my eyes, and all of the concealers shown in the photo above are too thick to use on my under eye area. Depending on my needs I will pick different concealers.  If I have a really nasty blemish I will use a thick concealer like Hard Candy Glamoflauge.  Anytime I just need to conceal some redness I will reach for a concealer that is less thick like the Maybelline Fit Me concealer, NYX Above and Beyond Full Coverage, or the Milani Secret Cover Concealer.  I always use my concealer under foundation because I find that my concealers don't always match; however, if you still need coverage after your foundation you can always touch up as needed.  

Concealers I recommend: 

After applying my foundation the final step in my routine is to set my concealer and my face.  Depending on my mood I will either reach for loose powders or pressed powders.  Sometimes I use separate powders to set my under eye area and my face, other times I just use my face powder to set everything.  Setting your concealer will help it last longer and prevent creasing.  


First we are going to talk about loose powders.  I almost always set my under eye concealers using loose powders.  If I have enough time I will use the baking method on my concealer.  If you are unfamiliar, the baking method is where you pile on extra powder over the areas you wish to set and leave that extra powder on your face for several minutes.  Typically when I use the baking method I will pile the powder on my under eye concealer and move on to working on my eyeshadow.  This excess powder under the eye will also catch the fall out from your eyeshadow.  

The loose powder I reach for the most in my collection is the one in the top left of the picture.  I mixed the LA Colors Loose Powder in Light with Coty Airspun Powder in Naturally Neutral.  In the above photo the bottom two powders are the Coty Airspun powder (bottom left) and the LA Colors loose powder (bottom right) on their own.  For my skin tone the LA Colors powder is entirely too yellow; however, I wanted to add a little of that yellow tone to my under eye area, so I mixed one entire container of the Coty Airspun powder with approximately half of the container of the LA Colors powder.  If you have a deeper skin tone you should be able to get away with using the LA Colors powder on its own.  

Loose powders I suggest: 


The other option for powders are pressed powders.  I will typically reach for these if I don't have the time to use the baking method.  All of the powders shown above I use on my eye area.  The top two powders are included in the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit.  Each of those powders can be purchased individually, and there are many other shades to choose from for different skin tones.  The other two powders are both from Wet 'n Wild.  The powder on the bottom left is Wet 'n Wild Coloricon Bronzer in Reserve Your Cabana.  This particular powder has a very light amount of sheen which I love for the under eye area.  The powder on the bottom right is the highlighting shade from the Wet 'n Wild Coloricon Contour Palette in Dulce de Leche.  Wet 'n Wild also offers a second contour palette where the highlighting shade is more similar to a banana shade.  If you don't want to use a different powder to set your under eye concealer, you can always use your regular powder to set everything.  Just remember it is important to set everything! 

Pressed powders I recommend:
As you can see my tips and tricks for concealer are fairly straightforward.  My most important tips for the under eye area are to moisturize before you conceal, use a peach or salmon toned concealer to achieve a fresh and awake look, finally set the concealer to make it last all day long.  



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2 comments

  1. Elle SeesMarch 22, 2016 at 10:32 AM

    thanks for these tips! my dark circles and I can use all the help we can get!!

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    Replies
    1. Pam SmithMarch 24, 2016 at 2:00 PM

      Thanks for stopping by! I hope that some of those tips work for you! Let me know what ones you use!

      Pam

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