Mastering Cold Sore Coverage: Expert Makeup Tips and Product Recommendations
Stressed before a big event that led to a cold sore? Looking for the best cold sore coverage tips? This post is for you!
My best friend and personal makeup artist, @alwayslatecait807, (seriously, she taught me how to do my makeup years ago!), provided me with her top application tips and product recommendations for covering a cold sore.
1. Do you have an outbreak with open sores? Press pause before reaching for your concealer brush. If the sores are open or oozing, you’ll want to wait to apply makeup to avoid infection.
2. Treat the outbreak. If you have antivirals on hand, take/apply as directed. If you don’t have antivirals, Abreva may help reduce the healing time, but must be applied 5x/day.
3. Coverage. Choose a concealer that is high coverage and not drying. You’ll also want to make sure the shade matches your skin, as lighter shades will place emphasis. Set with a loose powder and a powder puff.
4. Application Tips. Apply concealer with a small brush (art store paint brushes work well here). Dot on the areas of darkest pigment, but use sparingly as excess product will be more noticeable. Blend the edges with a dense concealer brush.
5. Setting. Spray with your favorite setting spray to make the powder meld with your skin. Don’t forget to wash your brushes between uses either! Cait recommends also spritzing the brushes with 70% alcohol, too.
Concealer Recs: @nyxcosmetics Bare with Me Concealer Serum ($11) and @makeupforever Ultra HD Self-Setting Concealer ($30)
Powder Recs: @rcmamakeup No-Color Powder $14 (even translucent powder has some tint)
Brush Cleaner Recs: @cinemasecretspro