I used to struggle with getting the perfect even-winged liner and finding a foundation to match my pasty skin, but my biggest make-up pet peeve these days is when my concealer creases. Five minutes after application, it’s there looking stripey.

My late-night social media scrolling means ditching concealer isn’t an option, but does that mean creasing will plague me forever? Make-up artist Katie Jane Hughes is responsible for powdering celebrity faces such as Dua Lipa and Hailey Bieber, and she believes this simple concealer hack will have us saying goodbye to under-eye creasing.

In a recent TikTok video on doing your complexion like a pro, she starts by applying a swatch of concealer onto her palms. “It warms the product up and is a perfect base to work from,” she explains. Next, Hughes takes the concealer brush from her six-piece make-up brush set and smooshes it into the brush “like your life depends on it”. We’re taking notes. 

When it comes to what brush to pick for the job, Hughes advises selecting one that’s dense and fits into the area. “The denser the brush, the more it’s going to push and blot something into the skin,” she says.

She then takes the brush and gently taps it where you want a bit more coverage. Her word of advice on applying concealer near the eyes? “Do not go to the fine lines around the eyes or the eyelids first, because the majority of the product will be on the brush and therefore, the majority of the product will be on those areas,” says Hughes.

This is because we don’t need much coverage in those areas and more product is likely to cause creasing, so it’s better to hit the flatter areas first. “If you do a thick wedge of concealer and then blend it into the eyelid, I promise you, it will crease and make all the other make-up you add crease,” she cautions. 

She advises that what you put under your make-up controls the wear of it. So if you’re layering multiple thick, hydrating products and go for a sheerer base, it’s not going to have much luck adhering to the skin with that much slip, especially if your skin is on the oilier side, so it’s important to understand what works best for you.

She then takes a flat brush and a pressed powder and gently blots the areas looking too shiny. When it comes to the eye area, she pats the powder in the opposite direction of her fine lines (ie anti-clockwise). “If you sweep power across the under-eye area, it could make fine lines more obvious. By going backwards, you’re sort of pushing the powder into the area as opposed to letting it sit on top,” she says.

The result? The coverage you need to counteract any darkness without having to swipe excess product all day long. Katie Jane Hughes, we thank you for this game-changing concealer hack. 

Images: Adobe