Rosacea sucks. These are my makeup tips for dealing with rosacea flare-ups.
I’ve had rosacea for years but lately I’m experiencing some pretty intense flare-ups. I’m not sure what triggered my flare-up this week, but it was the perfect opportunity to share with you my camouflage makeup for rosacea strategies.
Wearing masks the past two years definitely progressed my rosacea to the point that just about anything will trigger it now, and my prescriptions don’t really help. My rosacea used to be mild, which mostly just looked like a bit of blushing. Getting flare-ups with deeper redness and papules (usually after an intense workout on hot days, or big stress) was rare. Using topical and internal prescription medications as needed helped. Taking them religiously wasn’t even necessary for them to work.
Rosacea Triggers
Lately it seems like everything triggers my flare-ups. Wearing a mask for an hour or more, air conditioning; hot air; stress, dehydration; dying my hair; emotions, the inflation rate…. anything and everything. My skin is a mess. Now I’m even seeing texture changes to my skin with the flare ups, and it looks a lot more inflamed and painful at times.
You don’t think about it much if just staying home, but it is really upsetting when its time to go out in public. Especially on date-nights, or going out into the world to ‘see people’. Before I stocked up on rosacea specific makeup, applying regular makeup over a flare-up just looked terrible. The wrong makeup for rosacea tends to highlight skin texture. The redness also makes my normal foundation color look off.
Use this makeup trick to cover rosacea flare-ups
The trick to wearing make-up over a rosacea flare-up is to use a base color that neutralizes the redness. Stealing a bit of color theory from my art school days, I know that green is the opposite color to red on the color wheel. That means that the redness gets neutralized, and both the red and the green cancel each other out. This is the color you want to use for your base. You don’t need a thick , opaque bright green shade. We aren’t trying out for the shrine circus! Any sheer neutral green will work. There are several formula options to try: from powders, concealers, cc creams to full on foundations. It all depends on your own skin type, and how you wear makeup.
Neutralizing Redness with Green Makeup
The best concealer for rosacea is neutralizing green!
If you deal with the texture changes that come with rosacea like I do, or you have dry skin, the formula you choose will make a big difference. Lighter weight and thin lotions work best for me over my uneven skin texture. A thicker, more opaque green may cover more redness but it can also be too thick and build up over skin texture. This can also feel more makeupy if you don’t wear full makeup everyday. Dry or dehydrated skin tends to prefer a thicker texture.
My favourite formulas include a little bit of light diffusing technology such as interference pigments. These pigment particles help to optically blur your skin, refining it and making it look airbrushed and poreless.
Another great option is a green primer, which is the thinnest lightest formula. This option allows you to layer your favourite foundation on top, or go without any makeup at all.
Green Primers and Foundations
These are some of my favourite redness correcting foundations, primers and concealers:
This is the formula I like best for makeup days. It is very light and silky and it has some optical blurring.
2. Make Up Forever Redness Corrector Primer
This is a primer i like to use for no makeup days. It’s the lightest weight option I have. The option to layer my own regular foundation on top is great.
3. Cicipair Tiger Grass Color Correcting Treatment
For dry, dehydrated skin days this is the best option. It’s rich and thick and it seems to nourish my skin the most.
4. Charlotte Tilbury Magic Vanish Color Corrector
For a spot treatment concealer I use this which is not ‘green’ but it’s extremely opaque and slightly orange. I can’t use this one around my eyes because it will settle in lines, but it’s great for dabbing on any red dots.
SPF coverage is an absolute must with Rosacea as not only are UV rays a trigger, but over time it protects your rosacea from getting worse.
you can shop my favourite rosacea makeup products here
3 comments
Thank you for posting this! I never had skin issues (save the occasional hormonal breakout) until about 2 years ago at age 35, when I started experiencing tiny pimples on my cheeks and nose. I thought it was due to masking, but it’s still sticking around, even after masks have come off. My derm told me its rosacea, and now I’m trying to manage it (meds aren’t working too well). I’ll look into trying some of these!
you are so welcome!
I was misdiagnosed for years with my rosacea but what helped clue me in is that i always had this one same pimple in the exact same spot that would come and go.
Have you tried finacea? so far that’s been the best topical prescription for me. Also, I take spirinolactone for my PCOS and hair loss but a side effect is it also helps my skin out a ton. it seems to reduce some inflammation and shrinks my pores a bit