How to Hide a Pimple with Makeup (Without Making It Worse)

This scenario may be familiar to all of us. You check yourself in the mirror before an important job interview, the first date or a big family celebration and there it is, staring back at you is a red angry pimple.

The immediate reaction is to take the thickest and most opaque concealer from your make-up box and smudge it on your face until the blemish disappears.

However, if you have ever attempted to apply a thick layer of foundation to cover your fresh blemish, you may know how vicious the chain of events that unfolds afterwards. The makeup will become cakey, clings to the dry bits In just a few hours and starts sliding down the pimple which makes it appear much more visible than it was before. 

Therefore, in this exhaustive blog, you will be able to understand how to hide pimple marks without hurting your skin.

Key takeaways:

1. You should first clean your face with an anti-acne Cleanser having salicylic acid for removing oil plugs, evening out small bumps, and avoiding the clogging of bacteria underneath the makeup.
2. A color corrector in green shade is used to counteract the angry redness of the pimple and then applying matte concealer which exactly matches your skin color. Products must be pressed or tapped on the face.
3. In order to avoid exacerbating the acne, it is important not to use any make-up products on an open or just popped pimple, double-dip the wands of products, wash the brushes at least once a week and always double cleanse before sleep.

How Does Cleansing Act as a Game Changer for Your Makeup?

Using any heavily-scented soap or harsh scrubs will affect the condition of the protective layer of your skin, making your sebaceous glands produce more oil to replace the lost layer. This extra oil will make your concealer disappear within an hour. On the other hand, the cleanser you need should clean the pore from impurities, minimize redness, as well as provide a perfect base for cosmetics.

Here are three of the most efficient anti-acne face washes which can help in perfectly prepare your skin for makeup are:

1. Alite Anti-Acne Foaming Face Wash: Key Ingredients: 

• 1% Salicylic Acid
• 4% Glycolic Acid
• Aloe Vera

The Salicylic Acid helps in  maintaining exit of your pore openings in order to ensure that the sebum will not come again in the form of some new pimple.

2. Alite Oil Control Face Wash: 

Key Ingredients:

• 1% Salicylic Acid 
• Glutathione

This face wash is amazing to be used on the skin when suffering from excessive sebum secretion in the body. It targets the sebaceous glands to slow down their production rate to keep the face matte and help in making your liquid primer or matte concealer cling onto the face all day.

3. Alite Anti-Acne Charcoal Face Wash: 

Key Activities:

• Encapsulated Activated Charcoal 
• Sebum Control Enzyme™ 
• Ceramide (barrier protection)
• Spiraea Ulmaria Flower Extract (natural salicylates, antibacterial, and gentle exfoliation)
• Aloe Vera Leaf Juice (soothing, hydrating, and anti-inflammatory)
• Glycerin (act as humectant as well as  moisture retention)

It is a formula that helps in removing environmental dust, sweat, and pollution stuck inside the pores using magnetic force. With the removal of dead skin cells from the pores and restoration of skin barrier with the help of Ceramides, it makes bumps flatten.

What Is the Step by Step Guidance to Properly Conceal Your Acne?

Once your skin has been washed properly, dried with a clean towel, and moisturized with an oil-free as well as non-comedogenic lotion, you are prepared to undertake the craft of camouflaging. Use this exact technique followed by the professionals to disguise your acne perfectly.

Step 1: Prime for a Flat Surface

While an acne mark may be considered as a color issue, it is also a textural issue as well. While makeup has no trouble changing color, it will have difficulty concealing any raised shadow. To soften the raised shadow, apply a dab of a silicone-based matte primer on top of the acne spot.

The silicone functions as a safe and temporary filler to fill up any valleys or rough edges near a healing scab so that your makeup does not get caught in those textural areas.

Step 2: Neutralization with Green Colour Corrector

Carefully examine your breakout. The reason for its instant eye-catching feature is its fiery red color. When you apply your skin-colored concealer right over it, it bleeds through your makeup and forms an ugly, unnatural looking greyish shadow.

• To fix this problem, have a look at the color wheel. You will find that green is the exact opposite of red. When applied on top of each other, both colors cancel out each other entirely.
• Take a dab of your creamy green color corrector.
• Apply it precisely on the red spot of your pimple with the help of a clean cotton swab or concealer brush.

Important Point: You should never rub or spread your color corrector on your skin. Tap or pat the edges of the green dot so that it gets blended into your skin properly. The center part of your pimple must appear slightly muted or pastel green.

Step 3: Conceal acne with High Coverage & Matte Foundation

The red color is now neutralized and it’s time to make the area blend into the rest of your skin by coloring it with your skin tone. Avoid your fluid, light, and dewy foundations because such formulas contain light-reflecting particles that would be like shining a spotlight on the raised bump of a pimple. You need high coverage, thick cream or liquid foundation with a matte finish.

• Select a perfect match to your skin color. Don’t use brightening shades (such as under-eye concealers). The lighter color would highlight the pimple, visually making it bigger.
• Apply a small amount of concealer right on top of the spot that has been made green.
• Wait for one minute without touching it. It’s the classic makeup artist technique. When you allow the liquid formula to slightly dry on the skin, it will become more opaque.
• Gently blend the edges of the spot using a wet makeup sponge or ring finger while leaving it undisturbed on the pimple itself.

Step 4: Lock It in Place with Translucent Powder

In the hot and humid weather of India, the cream product is bound to move around. But to make sure that all your efforts remain intact in spite of sweat and pollution, you should fix the area.

• Use either a small fluffy brush or a powder puff and apply a finely ground oil absorbing translucent powder to it.
• Remove any extra powder from it.
• Apply the powder directly to the concealed pimple by pressing it, not swiping it.

What Are the Major Makeup Mistakes Which Can Only Worsen Your Acne?

Even with the best quality products, some practices can cause a small breakout to spiral into a severe case of acne. Make sure to avoid the following five mistakes at all costs:

1. Application with Unwashed Brush and Sponge:  

These tools are a perfect breeding place for yeast, bacteria, and oils from old skin. But if you use a dirty brush to apply a concealer on an active pimple, you will be forcing the bacteria to infect a new and fresh wound. Be sure to wash your blending tools once a week using a mild antibacterial soap.

2. Application Using Double-Dip Technique:

If you open your tube of the product and use a wand to apply it on a fresh white head, then put the wand back into the tube, you contaminate your entire product stock. It’s better to use a clean hand or a mixing palette to get a little product before application.

3. Sticking to Flaking Skin Pieces: 

Products for treating acne such as salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide, and retinol are known to dry out the area surrounding the pimple, causing peeling skin. Using concealer on such peeling skin results in a crust-like effect that is highly visible.

Do not scrape these pieces of dry skin with any force. Just rinse them using your acne treatment facial wash and add a few drops of hyaluronic acid to the dry areas before applying moisturizer.

4. Pimple popping Before Applying the Makeup: 

When you squeeze your pimple, it will open up an open, bleeding, raw hole through which bacteria can enter and infect your skin. Makeup isn’t sterile, and it is almost sure to cause serious infection if applied to an area from which you have squeezed out pus. You should always allow your popped pimple to heal before hiding the pimple with makeup.

5. Missing the Step of Doubling the Cleansing at Night: 

The more intense the coverage of your cosmetic application, the harder it is to get rid of the makeup. A regular face wash would be unable to remove the water-resistant primers as well as high coverage matte concealers.

Waking up with acne on your face would be guaranteed in case you go to bed with makeup left in your pores. Start with applying an oil or micellar water-based cleanser to dissolve the cosmetics, then move on to the anti-acne face wash.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

Q1. Can I use my fingers to blend out the concealer on a breakout?

Yes, but only if your hands have been washed with antibacterial soap just prior to doing so. Your ring finger, due to its natural heat, makes for an ideal tool when working cream concealer into the skin. But never use your finger to apply makeup when you are out and about and haven’t washed your hands yet.

Q2. How can I stop my makeup from sliding off an oily pimple during a hot day?

Everything is hinged on the application of the matt primer before starting your make-up and the use of the highly effective oil control setting spray at the very end of the entire process. This is because the setting spray has polymers which form a thin sweat-proof film around the makeup layers.

Q3. My pimple is scabbing over. How do I cover pimple without it looking crusty?

Pimples that are scabbed are very dry. Before you put on your makeup, squeeze one drop of a pure aloe vera gel or hyaluronic acid serum onto the scab and leave it to absorb for five minutes. This makes the tough and hard skin of the scab soften. After it softens, apply your silicone primer and then cream concealer.

Q4. Is liquid or cream concealer better for hiding severe breakouts?

Concealers in pot or cream form are more effective in dealing with acne because they have a higher concentration of color pigments with lower levels of water content than those in fluid form. This implies that they cover pimple, effectively with the smallest possible amount while remaining where they are applied, giving an appearance close to that of real skin.

Conclusion

Suffering from acne is one of the most annoying things to do, particularly during life situations that require one to look their absolute best. While creating a skincare regimen to treat your skin effectively, there is absolutely no shame in applying make-up as a temporary solution for boosting your self-confidence.

By maintaining skin hygiene, applying an anti-acne face wash to start your day and using the strategic color theory, you will have a flawless appearance as you leave your home with knowledge that your make-up is serving as a mask rather than causing breakouts.