Colour correcting concealers — a cheat sheet for flawless skin

When it comes to making skin look flawless, concealers are a powerful weapon in your beauty arsenal. Skin concerns like dark circles, discolouration and redness can all be diminished in a matter of seconds with the right concealer. It’s not as difficult as it seems to master how to use this makeup staple. Here’s how to navigate between the different formulas and tones.

Type

Concealers come in a wide variety of formulas but don’t worry! There’s no right or wrong formula — simply pick the type that you’re most comfortable with and that makes covering and blending the easiest.

Liquid
Liquid concealers are arguably the easiest to apply to the skin and work well under the eyes. Coverage tends to be buildable and easy to blend too. Draw a triangle shape directly under the eyes to conceal darkness and bags, work into the skin and set immediately after with powder to prevent creasing.

Stick
Stick concealers tend to be thicker and are great for larger blemishes and pimples. Dab a little directly onto the blemish and slightly around it before blending carefully and setting with powder. You can also use stick concealers in darker or lighter shades than your skintone for easy contouring. Just draw on and blend well with a buffing brush or makeup sponge.

Pencil
Pencil concealers are perfect for spider veins or small blemishes as you can apply them more precisely to the area you want to cover. Often these work best when applied after foundation to provide extra coverage to areas your foundation missed.

Cream
Cream concealers are much thicker than liquid so they tend to have better staying power and give more coverage. They can be applied to a range of marks and discoloration. Apply them with a small brush or your ring finger and pat gently into the skin for a seamless effect.

Colour

It may seem counterproductive applying a green or purple concealer on your face but colour-corrective concealers can actually help reduce the appearance of any discolouration or unwanted tones on the skin.

When using corrective concealers it helps to think about the colour wheel. Use the opposite or ‘complementary’ tones to neutralise the colours you want to diminish.

Dab a little coloured concealer only over the area you want to cover. Less is more with corrective concealers so start with a light hand and then build up layers afterwards if needed.

Once patted in apply a flesh-coloured concealer over the top before foundation for full coverage.

Green

A green concealer helps counteract redness from blemishes, broken capillaries or rosacea.

Yellow
Do you have dark purple-toned circles under your eyes? A yellow concealer will brighten your dark circles and help you look fresh-faced and awake.

Lavender

This helps cool and even out sallow-looking lighter skintones or any yellow patches or bruises.

Light Pink / Salmon
For lighter skintones, pink is ideal for brightening and neutralising unwanted tones under the eyes. Medium or darker skintones might find salmon or peach concealers work more effectively. Both colours add warmth and brighten bluish and purplish tones and dark spots.

Orange
If you have darker skin an orange concealer is great at brightening dark spots and pigmentation. This colour can be very rich on the skin however so some may need to mix this with a yellow concealer (which creates peach) to tone it down.

Flesh coloured
Unless you’re using them for highlighting or contouring, flesh-toned concealer should match your skin almost seamlessly. Anything too light or too dark will draw attention to the areas you’re trying to conceal in the first place. You can apply flesh-toned concealer either before or after foundation - it really depends on your preference. You can also try mixing a little concealer with primer to use as foundation for a fresh-faced look.

Related: How to cover scars with concealer and make up

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