Fake It: How to Cover Up Blemishes and Pimples

Yes, flawless skin can be faked in a few minutes. We are not walking Neutrogena billboards and we will have days where an occasional zit (or zits, depending on your skin type and genetic disposition) decides to show up and ruin our day. And what if this unwelcome visitor also shows up at a very unfortunate time, like say, the day before your prom or an important event? Obviously, treating the thing won't help that much because it might take anywhere from 2-5 days for it to completely disappear. So we go for the next best option- cover it up with make up.

This is my friend V, who is having a bad skin day. Stress from work is what triggered her break out episode. There are raised red bumps on both sides of her cheeks, and we will work on covering it up (note- this camouflage technique will only mask the color and not the texture. The raised surface will still be there but the red color will disappear)

What to use:

1. green corrective concealer- to correct the redness in the skin
2. a creamy concealer that matches skin tone
3. small concealer brush
3. small wedge sponge
4. loose powder
5. water-based foundation (optional)

How To:

This is how V's skin looked like before

1. Start by prepping skin with moisturizer

2. I used a small concealer brush to pat on the green concealer (Elf's Corrective Concealer pallette) on the red spots, then blended out excess product with my fingers.

3. Next, I picked out a creamy concealer (Coastal Scents) in a shade that's similar to V's skin, and using the same concealer brush, covered the red bumps. The same shade was also used to cover up other skin tone irregularities on the face. 

4. With the small wedge sponge, blend out hard edges and make sure that the concealer melts into the skin.

5. Set the concealer with loose powder.

6. Optional: If you need medium to heavy coverage, use foundation after. For V, I used Maybelline's aqua gel foundation, mixing two shades because their shade selection is so limited that it's difficult to find an exact match for a lot of skin tones. I applied it with a foundation brush for a nice, clean finish.

7. Set entire face with transluscent loose powder.

Voila! Zit-free skin, at least for a day :)