Are you making your concealer work for you?

Applying concealer shouldn’t be rocket science, but with constant talk of contouring and highlighting, it's easy to feel a little overwhelmed by the whole thing. By the end of this article, you’ll not only be able to apply concealer in your sleep (providing you get sleep, in which case you're not going to need half the tips here) but you'll have picked up some handy hacks as well. Not bad!

Here, girls, is a very simple guide for getting your concealer to work for you.

1) Know what each colour does! You need to know that peach shades hide dark shadows, while green toned concealer disguises red blemishes and the yellow-toned variety corrects an uneven skin tone! Getting your head around this is half the battle.

2) Apply your foundation FIRST. It seems logical to tend to your blemish first and then blend out the rest of your face, but applying your concealer first means you’ll end up removing it when you apply your foundation!

3) Always use your ring finger when applying concealer under your eyes. This finger is the weakest one on your hand and won’t drag at the delicate skin beneath your eye. Good to know!

4) Don’t forget to set your concealer with loose powder. Otherwise the job is only half done!

5) We all know that concealer can sometimes look ‘cakey’ around our eyes and draw more attention to the issue we’re trying to hide, so don’t forget to blot the area with a thin tissue to prevent the concealer from crusting and making you look even more shattered!

HACK! Correct any winged eyeliner errors by dipping an angled brush in some concealer. Much less stressful than doing it all over again, right?

HACK! Concealer is the perfect primer for your eye shadow. Not only will it stop the shadow from dusting down your cheeks, but it’ll also make your chosen shade of shadow pop because the concealer has neutralised the tone of your lid.

HACK! A combination of eye cream, highlighter and concealer will work wonders if you’re trying to hide puffy eyes. The morning after a night out, mix the three products and apply under and outside the eye and over the brow bone. People will think you got your full twelve hours!