How To Hide a Hickey
Paul Joannides, Psy.D.
Psychoanalyst, llama farmer, NCAA-approved speaker, author of the Guide To Getting It On: "Finally, a book on sex that you'll actually want to read" (Playboy)
Hiding a hickey with makeup will usually make it look worse unless you begin with a yellow, pink or green concealer, depending on the color of the hickey. Hickeys go through stages, so you will need to change your concealer as the hickey goes from three-alarm to one-alarm.
BLUE BLACK PURPLE: Use a yellow-based concealer.
REDDISH: Try a green concealer.
GREENISH-YELLOW: Use a pink-based concealer.
BLUE-BLACK-PURPLE at the EPICENTER and REDDISH around the PERIMETER: Dab on yellow in the center and green over the reddish part.
Be sure to blend out the edges.
After the concealer is on, dab on your normal foundation. Do not rub. Then use your normal powder. If not being found out is of the utmost importance, try a translucent powder on top to help set it.
If you don’t have green, use an oil-based concealer that is lighter than your natural skin color. The hickey color will cause the lighter concealer to look darker. But focus the lighter concealer only on the hickey area and not on the skin beyond it. Otherwise, the unbruised skin around the hickey perimeter will look like a big smudge, and everyone will know.