how to cover serious redness

port wine stain birthmark facial birthmark how to cover a birthmark


I have been a makeup junkie for a long time now. In fact, I can remember exactly when I first got bitten by the makeup bug. After a tomboyish existence, I was drawn in by the stunning array of flavoured lip glosses in the drugstore at about age 12.

Surprisingly, my love of makeup has almost nothing to do with the fact that I have a red facial birthmark atop my lip, which you can see in the picture above. A birthmark like that is something most people would want to cover up—and most of the time, I do just that. But I have always been surrounded by loving people who never made me feel like I needed to conceal it.

I started wearing concealer on the birthmark pretty regularly in middle school, and as a result, I have picked up a lot of tips on how to conceal serious pigmentation. If you’re interested, read on to see how I cover my birthmark.

Covering serious redness in four steps:

Wash first:
Always wash your face before applying makeup. My concealer applies so much more evenly in the morning if I’ve scrubbed all the oil and sweat off my face from the night before. The same holds true for if I am putting on concealer in the evening—if I don’t start with a clean slate, the concealer goes on patchily and doesn’t stay put for as long.

Skincare:
My concealer always stays in place longer if I take the time to apply my full skincare routine first. To have a peek inside my skincare cabinet, have a look here!

I find that if I don’t moisturise, the concealer separates throughout the day, and looks patchier on first application.

Application & Tools:

Grab your concealer of choice (more about my favourite concealer here)

Dab the concealer on with a small brush (this is my favourite one) and feather the edges gently to blend in with the rest of your makeup.

Avoid using your fingers to blend. I find on areas of really concentrated redness, using your fingers to blend results in the product lifting off the skin, and the next thing you know, all your hard work has been for nought.

Powder:

It’s very important to set the area with powder, but there’s a little trick to it. I find that when you apply powder with a powder puff or by sweeping on with a brush, you end up disturbing the concealer you’ve just applied and revealing some of the redness. My little trick is to dip the edges of a large, fluffy brush into the powder and dust off the excess. Then tap the edge of the brush very lightly onto the top of the concealer. Feather the edges of the concealed area with powder, using light, careful touches. I actually used to hate this step until I found the right powder. The one with the best staying power I have ever found is Glossier Wowder. And here is the "after"!

How do you cover redness? What are your favourite tips and tricks? Sound off in the comments below.

port wine stain birthmark facial birthmark how to cover a birthmark

SHOP THIS POST

Comments

back to top