Concealing Acne: My Favourite Concealers and Setting Powders

So acne. A total eyesore, and sometimes it takes ages for a spot to go away. After the acne spot comes the acne scarring or pigmentation, even though you didn't do anything to aggravate the spot before it went away. Everyone hates it, and I have a couple of products to show you that may help you conceal them so that you never have to be caught in in daylight with those ugly suckers ever again.

Disclaimer: This post only shows you how to conceal the redness and discolouration that you get with acne and post-acne scars. There isn't much you can do to conceal the bumps on your face except ice them a little before you head out, so you will have to be patient and treat the area until the bump reduces in size.

First up are (obviously!) the concealers. 

When you conceal acne, you want to keep the coverage on your entire face moderate, and only spot-conceal where you need it. Spot concealing is when you use a small concealing brush to dot concealer on top of the pimple, and blend it out. This technique disguises blemishes without you having to cake a large amount of foundation onto your face. The end result is a much more natural-looking finish, whilst still being able to cover the spots you need covered.

You need a concealer with good coverage and staying power to cover a spot. Anything that is too sheer will only end up dulling down the colour of the spot, which still leaves you with a weird purplish spot on your face.

The above concealers are some of the best I concealers I have come across in terms of acne concealing. The Vicy Dermablend Ultra-Corrective Cream Stick and the Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer have the highest coverage, but if you have spots that are aggravated (where the skin around the spot is dry and shrivelled), then you want to use something that is very moisturising - the MAC Select Moisturecover is perfect for that.

The most important thing when it comes to concealing acne is that your concealer should match your skin shade exactly. When you are concealing acne, you want to be able to spot conceal with a thick layer of concealer, and the only way you can do that is if piling on the concealer doesn't make you end up with a white dot on your face where the spot used to be. I find the Bourjois and NVEY Eco concealers both great matches for my skin, and they are easy to blend and stay put, which is always important when you are concealing!

There are also great foundations that offer moderate coverage for more severe cases of acne. When you are looking for a foundation with good coverage, the important thing is to make sure that these products don't look cakey on the skin.

The Clinique Anti-Blemish foundation is great for oily skins, as its velvety texture keeps the oil at bay whilst still keeping the skin looking healthy and not dried-out.

The Luview Crystal Cover BB Cream is gorgeous, has very good coverage, and keeps the skin looking plump and healthy. If you are using m skincare products that cause your skin to dry out and peel, this is a great option. Just top it off with some mattifying powder where needed to keep the oiliness away.

Clinique Even Better also offers amazing coverage, and has a gorgeous semi-matte finish. This foundation gives you a gorgeous glow, and doesn't look at all cakey on the skin. This is my favourite foundation to use on my sister, who has a lot of redness. She looks amazing, and the product doesn't irritate her skin.

It is also extremely important to set the concealer with a powder so that the product stays on the skin and doesn't smudge or melt off easily.

I prefer finely-milled compact powders over loose powders, because compact powders are much easier to use and are much more purse-friendly.

My personal favourite is the Tom Ford Illuminating Powder, because it is very finely milled (which means that it will do a superb job at setting your concealer and won't look cakey or flash back on camera) and has a very subtle illuminating shimmer running through it, which brightens the face.

If you are looking for a cheaper option, the Sleek Luminous Pressed Powder is also great. It comes in a number of different colours as well, so the range caters to almost all skin tones.

Your makeup tools are also very important when it comes to concealing acne! Here are my favourite brushes to use:

For spot concealing, I love using the Real Techniques Accent Brush, or the Hakuhodo Eyeliner Brush. Both these brushes were made to serve other functions, but I find them perfect for spot concealing. I just pick up some concealer with either brush, and dot the concealer onto my spot, then blend it out with my finger. I like the Hakuhodo brush for the more creamy concealers like the Kevyn Aucoin and the Bourjois, and the Real Techniques I use for the more solid concealers, like the Vichy Dermablend and the NVEY Eco. 

For setting the concealer, I look for brushes that are extremely soft, so that they don't disturb or move around the concealer. The Real Techniques blush brush is the most plush, soft-as-a-baby's-bottom brush I have ever tried, and it doesn't brush away all the work I did with the concealer.

That's about it for my favourite concealing products! I hope you found this useful, and if you have any tips for concealing, please let me know!