How to cover a tattoo?
There are a lot of ways on how to cover/hide a tattoo with makeup. Tattoos in any design, are works of art and for many, it can have sentimental meaning. In history, some tribes or clans regard tattoos as symbols of bravery, achievement or status. It can be a reminder of someone you hold dearly, a pet who have passed away, or symbolic art that represents an experience. However, there are situations that you have to cover it up. If you choose to hide your tattoo, you can follow the steps below.
To start, you’ll need the following makeup tools and components.
- Tiny flat makeup brushes – You’ll need at least two.
- Red Lip Base Product or Liptstick – Orange foundation or lipstick will also work. If you don’t have any lipstick, you can also use red or orange matte powdered eyeshadow.
- Concealers– You’ll need at least 2, one warm tone, and the other cool tone.
- Makeup Setting Powder
- Hair Spray
The most important makeup components are the red lipstick and the concealer. You can proceed without the makeup setting powder or hairspray, but these will help the makeup over the tattoo last longer.
Steps on How to Hide a Tattoo with Make-up
Before we start, check if the area where the tattoo that you are going to cover up has any hairs on it. Please shave the body hair because the hair strands will clog up the make-up, and it will be difficult to keep the makeup coat even.
1. Wash skin surface or dirt, sweat and oil. Dry with towel.
2. Apply moisturizer and SPF over your skin.
3. Apply facial primer. This is optional, but if you have an oil-free makeup primer, this would help in concealing the colors better. This is usually colorless when applied, but it will help in absorbing oil and prolong the staying power of your makeup.Apply over in even coat with your fingers.
4. Cover the tattoo with red lipstick or red lip base product, using one of your makeup brushes. Why do we need this and why red? The bright red color will help neutralize dark colors and lines. Without this, black lines will look like in color blue one you apply lighter makeup. It will also prevent the whole makeup from looking like an ink smudge underneath the concealer. If you don’t have bright red lipstick, any red or orange colored lipstick can be used. Let the red lip product dry on skin surface before applying the next makeup product.
Expert tip: Red or orange eye shadow can also be used as a substitute. If you’re going to use this, use an eye shadow sponge tip and dap the makeup little by little to get full coverage. Do not wipe. After the first layer of eye shadow, use hair spray to seal the layer. If the black lines of your tattoo are still visible, dab another layer of eye shadow to cover it up. As you can see, it’s best to use hair spray after each makeup layer.
5. Apply the cold tone concealer over the reddish surface. Use a clean makeup or concealer brush to do this, and not the same one you used with the lipstick (will stain or blend with the concealer). You can also use a makeup sponge to dab the product evenly is you have liquid concealer. If you noticed that the lipstick is still blending with the concealer product, let the lipstick dry a couple more minutes before applying the concealer. Let this layer dry as well.
6. Use the hairspray to seal the concealer layer. Let this dray again.
7. Now apply a layer of the warm tone concealer. The tattoo should now be fully concealed at this layer. Blend the concealer with a makeup brush or sponge so that it doesn’t look too imposing or obvious. This tone should now match your skin color. Remember that your facial skin color might be different from the skin shade of the skin where your tattoo is. Many people have lighter skin on their back, shoulders or arms. If you’re buying separate makeup set for your tattoo coverage, look for matching concealer shade. Let this layer dry.
8. Use a primer to seal the makeup and dust off with translucent powder to make it look matte and blended.
There you go! At this point, your tattoo should now be concealed underneath the makeup. If you’re going to do this often, invest in a good amount of concealer products because as you can see, you’ll need thick coats to fully cover dark tattoos.
