We’ve been amazed by the amount of people who have been in touch to empathise with our recent blog post on acne scarring. People are also keen to know more about what can be done at home to help conceal acne scars. Here are some of our top tips, hope you find them useful!
It may seem like a basic step to applying makeup, but there are some tricks that make concealing blemishes easier. No one wants visible blemishes! These easy tips will help you effectively conceal your acne scars.
Take Great Care of Your Skin
Prevention should always be the goal, but pimples and blemishes are often unavoidable. It’s important to have a thorough skin care regimen that you follow every morning and night. At the very minimum, you should cleanse and moisturise your skin twice daily. Make sure to remove your makeup before cleansing at night; otherwise, washing your face with cleanser will only remove the makeup and not actually cleanse the skin. Both are necessary for healthy skin.
Prep the Skin
You should always apply makeup to clean, moisturised skin. To enhance the appearance of your makeup and increase its staying power, apply a makeup primer before putting on your makeup. Primers have a silicone base that helps fill in lines and evens out the surface texture of the skin. It makes your makeup stay on longer and stay true to its actual color.
Choose the Right Color of Concealer
Choosing a concealer that does not properly match your skin tone will only make the acne scar or blemish stand out more. You want to choose a shade of concealer that is the most similar to that of your natural skin color. If you can’t find an exact match, 1 shade lighter than your natural color is the next best choice. Never choose a darker shade for hiding blemishes.
Apply Concealer Sparingly
Applying too much concealer can make acne scars more visible or cause the makeup to look cakey. Apply just enough to spread a light layer over the area you need to conceal. Remember that you can always add more, but it’s more difficult to take away what you’ve already applied.
Apply Concealer with Your Fingertips
My favourite way to apply concealer on myself is to use my fingertips. I like to use creamy concealers, so applying them with your fingertips helps warm the product so that it goes on more easily. Your ring finger applies the perfect amount of pressure for applying concealer — less pressure than that of your pointer finger, but more than your pinky finger. Apply the concealer using light, quick tapping motions to evenly blend out the concealer. Just make sure your hands are clean first!
Apply Foundation First
I have found the most effective way to conceal acne scars is to first apply your foundation and then follow with concealer. When I apply concealer before my foundation, I tend to wipe away a lot of the concealer with my foundation brush or sponge. This causes me to use more product, because I always have to go back and apply more concealer. So save yourself the trouble and start with foundation, then follow with concealer!
Set Concealer with Powder
For ultimate staying powder and concealment, always set your foundation and concealer with a powder. Powder keeps everything in place and allows it to last throughout the day. Make sure you are finished blending your foundation and concealer before you apply the powder. Once powder is on, everything is there to stay.
Green Cancels Red
If you have a blemish that is very red, try applying a green concealer before your regular concealer. Green and red are complementary colors that cancel each other out when they are combined equally. You’ll only need a tiny bit of green concealer…you don’t want to have green spots! Apply your regular colored concealer or a bit of foundation over the green concealer to help combat any greenish tint to the skin. Typically, this is for more extreme cases but can really be helpful!
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