Lately I’ve been getting different kinds of breakouts — from small zits to big cystic acne — and after a lot of trial and error I came up with a system of different ways to conceal different types of breakouts. Here is how I conceal my blemishes with a combination of green concealer, cream concealer, mineral concealer, and mineral foundation.
When I took these pictures I had an active pimple (A), scars (S), and pink bumps (B) on my cheek. The active pimple was bumpy, but the scars were flat.
For active pimples I like to use a green concealer first, since my pimples tend to be very red, and using a cream concealer alone doesn’t cover up the redness. Here I’m using Physicians Formula Gentle Cover Concealer in Cover Green ($6).
I use a concealer brush to apply cream concealer over the scars, only on the discoloration. Using a small concealer brush makes the application very precise, which is important here because we only want to conceal the discoloration and not the skin around it. Here I’m using Laura Mercier Secret Camoulage/Secret Concealer in SC-2 and Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage Brush ($26).
Then we apply the same cream concealer over the green concealer on the active pimple. The green covers the redness, and the cream concealer covers the actual pimple.
The next step is to set the concealer with powder, which ensures that the concealer stays on all day. For this I’m using the Sonia Kashuk Blending Brush ($6) and bareMinerals Multi-Tasking Concealer in Bisque ($18). The bareMinerals Multi-Tasking Concealer is very pigmented, and applying it with a soft blending brush ensures that we don’t apply too much.
Next, we proceed to apply mineral foundation all over the face. The pink bumps don’t need to be concealed first because mineral foundation already has enough coverage. To apply mineral foundation we use the “press and roll” method for heavier coverage over the blemished areas. For other areas on the face, simply buff and swirl the foundation all over.
And that’s it! The bumps are still there, but they’re the same color as the rest of the skin. Now we can proceed to apply our bronzer/blush and eye makeup. 🙂
Oh my god, that is seriously amazing! AMAZING! Can you come to my house each morning and do this for me?
wow. Awesome job. I also need you to come to my house daily and do this LOL
This is great! Love the step by step, thanks 🙂
O_o That’s awesome!
Hey this is awesome! And similar to what I do, but you do it much more intricately!
Love this process and will consider buying a green concealed stick soon 😉
awesome work… :thumbs up:
Will try it out! Thanks for the great tips!=)
she is amazing. i have this same issue, thanks for sharing.
i always pass that green physician’s formula concealer — now im def getting a tube! awesome work!
Same here LOL
That was seriously like magic right there.
Thank you so much for this! At 33 I’ve been battling acne for the first time in my life. I have no idea on how to cover it, usually I just build up a cakey mess around the spot with the delightful red bump poking through. Sigh. Now I’m off to find a green concealer and dust off a few of my smaller brushes to try!
Seriously great tutorial, really informative. Well done, Nancy!
That’s great cover up! I can’t even tell that you had any pimples.
LOL, can you do this for me too?
One thing I have found helpful is to use a foundation with olive/warm undertones. It helps a lot to tone down redness on blemishes. Of course, my skin does already have olive/warm undertones.
Yay, I’m so glad you guys like my post!!! Thank you Karen for this opportunity to share 🙂
Thank you, Nancy! I’ve been reading through some of your other tutorials too. I love your pics. They make them so easy to follow!
thanks so much! I’m suffering from the same acne problems for the first time at 22 and never thought of using green. I’ll be breaking that out next time I do my makeup. Great guest post!
This was a very neat demo…Pretty Helpful!
Wow that was very helpful! Duh- green… why didn’t I figure this out before? Thanks Nancy, hope to get more coverage soon with your help!
What a great post, Nancy. Thank you for all the tips and how-to photos! 🙂
I’ve been looking for a post like this! Thanks for the tutorial; I can’t wait to try this out!
Great how-to! Everytime I cover up my zits/zit scars, you can seriously look at my face and see every blemish I am trying to hide. I for sure am going to follow your advice of only applying on the actual zit and not the surrounding skin. That might be my biggest problem!
This was so helpful! I have searched high and low for an answer to this problem! Thanks 🙂