How To Apply Concealer: Pro Tips

Wondering how to apply concealer to get the most natural-looking effect? Concealing is a critical step in achieving complexion perfection but it’s not always the easiest. From different concealer formulas and finishes to application methods and tools, discover everything you need to know about how to apply concealer for your glowiest, best your-skin-but-better effects with a little help from our makeup artists.

How To Choose a Concealer

 

Most concealers will work well for any skin type, but they still have their specialties. When you’re choosing your concealer, consider your skin type—particularly if you have either oily skin or dry. 

Concealers For Oily Skin

As with skincare products, when it comes to concealers for oily skin, you’ll want an oil-free formulation to minimize any shine and reduce the risk of blocked pores. Oil Free Camouflage is great for this, since it’s a thicker formula that has great staying-power.  

Concealers For Dry Skin

For dry skin, liquid or cream concealers will be your best bet as powders can tend to cling to any dryness and sometimes even accentuate it. Putting the hydration back into your skin will be essential for any complexion product to sit evenly on your skin so look for concealers with added hydrators, or add a few drops of HA-Revive Hyaluronic Drops to boost moisture levels. 

Under Eye Concealer is perfect for drier skin types because of its creamy, hydrating ingredients. Luminous Brightening Concealer is also great for adding luminosity and highlighting with its lighter formulation. 

For combination skin or all other types, you may find that you use multiple concealers in the same routine to get the most even effect.

 

 

How To Use a Concealer

Concealers are actually one of the most multitasking makeup products in your kit. Why? Because they not only conceal, they also color-correct, camouflage, and even highlight and brighten skin. And, not all concealers were created equal. That’s why it’s important to know how to use a concealer to get the most out of it. 

For Camouflage + Maximum Concealer Power

Our bestselling concealer formula, Oil Free Camouflage is the concealer you’ll reach for when you need maximum coverage for heavy-duty spot treatment. Scars, bruising, inflamed acne, tattoos, hyperpigmentation—the list of uses is virtually endless. Oil Free Camouflage is less emollient than our other concealer formulas, which gives it a thicker feel that won’t slide off oily skin. This formula also makes an incredible lid primer, with a natural, skin-like finish. 

For Under-Eye Color-Correction + Concealer Power

Our Under Eye Concealer contains two shades within one product. The deeper shade is for concealing/canceling out unwanted hues and the lighter shade is for brightening and lifting the area. When using Under Eye Concealer, remember to cancel out the issue before you cover it up. This formula is more emollient than Oil Free Camouflage, meaning it spreads and blends easier. The creamier formula and corrective and brightening duo make it the perfect product for your under eye area. Did we mention you can use it to spot treat on drier skin types? It’s a great all-rounder.

For Highlighting, Concealing, and Color-Correction

Our Luminous Brightening Concealer bridges the gap between concealing and highlighting. It’s perfect for color correcting, spot treating, highlighting, and brightening. 

Choosing your shade depends entirely on your complexion and needs.

Butter is perfect for maximum highlighting and spot treating fair complexions.

Banana features yellow undertones to reduce redness on light complexions and highlight light to medium complexions.

Peach eliminates dark brown/purple coloring with its peach undertones—perfect for addressing under eye circles and hyperpigmentation. Peach is also ideal for highlighting medium to deep complexions.

Golden helps even and color correct by neutralizing redness for medium to medium-deep complexions.

Honey targets dark under eyes and shadows, including hyperpigmentation, for medium to deep complexions.

Toffee helps even and color correct hyperpigmentation for medium-deep to deep complexions.

 

 

How To Apply Concealer

 

With traditional concealing formulas, our artists recommend choosing a tool based on the size of the area you wish to conceal. For maximum coverage, try Dual Foundation/Camouflage Brush; for smaller areas, we recommend Full Coverage Camouflage Brush. Regardless, make sure you’re using a dense brush or blender sponge that allows you to press the formula into your skin. 

You can choose to apply Oil Free Camouflage and Under Eye Concealer either under your foundation or on top of your foundation. When using foundation, we recommend concealing on top of your foundation. Our base formulas provide ample coverage and by applying your base first, you’ll find you end up needing less concealer. And, who doesn’t like saving products and looking more natural too?

Because Luminous Brightening Concealer is more of a highlight/brightening tool, we recommend using a soft, fluffy brush, like Dual Fiber Eye Brush to blend. The doe-foot applicator allows you to pinpoint your product placement but the right brush will help you blend out your product in a controlled manner.

With its lightweight formula, we also recommend applying Luminous Brightening Concealer on top of your foundation for best results.

Concealers For Breakouts + Blemishes

It can be so tempting to want to layer product on in hopes of concealing a blemish but by doing so, you’re actually drawing more attention to the spot. Keep it light and natural for the best results. If you really feel like you need additional layers, make sure to give the product ample time to set on the skin before applying more. Try a thicker formulation and pat it gently in with a finger or stippling with a sponge.

Prepping Skin For Concealer

It goes without saying you’ll need a good skincare ritual for your complexion products to then sit evenly on skin. But there are other important steps in ensuring your concealer lasts all day. To prep, use a lightweight eye cream like C-Shield Eye Restore Hydrator to smooth and hydrate. To set, you can always use a traditional setting powder or setting spray but our artists especially love using Pressed Base to set. The semi-matte formula blends seamlessly onto the skin.

Applying Color Products

Once you’ve got your concealer A-game strong, the last thing you’ll want to do is smudge or drag it with your blush or bronzer. Be mindful of concealed areas and avoid aggressively brushing or sweeping product on top of concealer, as it will move the concealer around. Instead, remember to pat and stipple in order to achieve a stunning end result.