How to Cover Every Type of Zit, According to a Makeup Artist

Whiteheads are the best, most manageable zit to have. Just steam that sucker with a warm compress at night, and chances are good that it will break. You can dry it out with spot treatment and be in good shape in the morning. There will often still be a lingering sign of trouble, which can easily be covered with foundation and/or concealer.

If you have time to treat your whitehead in the morning, use a concealer that has a drying medication in it so that it will dry up over the course of the day while it's covered up. It Cosmetics has unveiled Bye Bye Breakout Full Coverage Treatment Concealer ($28), which will medicate and treat your whitehead throughout the day while keeping it hidden with concealers. While your skin looks flawless, oil-absorbing zinc oxide, kaolin clay, witch hazel, tea tree, and sulfur will work to dry out your pimple.

Clogged pores and blackheads are the result of overproductive oil glands. The best treatment for clogged skin is a detoxifying scrub. A great scrub will exfoliate the dead skin off the top surface of the skin and allow dirt and oil to drain from the pores. Over time, if clogged pores are not addressed, the pore wall becomes enlarged and clogged, which makes skin look like it has black dots all over it.

The best way to hide this condition is to use pore-filling primers, which will make skin appear smoother. Choose a silicone-based primer that will fill in pores and create a smooth texture to prevent foundation and concealers from sinking into pores. My favorite is Benefit's The Porefessional ($31).

There's not much you can do once you have performed minor surgery on yourself. The best thing to do to speed the recovery process is to put Neosporin on the zit at night, because essentially you have a minor skin abrasion/open wound at this point. The antibacterial properties of the Neosporin ($9) will fight infection and soften and heal the skin while you sleep. In the meantime, not much will truly cover this eyesore.

The best thing to do is apply your oil-free foundation and skip concealer. It will only accentuate the scab. Dust mineral powder or foundation powder over the scab lightly with a fluffy brush to add more coverage that won't get cakey.

First things first: makeup does not work well on flaky, overmedicated, or picked-at, acne-prone skin. If you are prone to breakouts, then chances are you are using all sorts of treatment methods to dry out these suckers. The problem then becomes more about applying makeup that will land smoothly on your irritated and dried-out top layer of skin.

Moisturizer is a must in these situations. Women who are acne-prone are often guilty of frantically applying way too many drying products in an effort to get rid of pimples, and simultaneously dry out the top layer of skin. It it is imperative that you get your skin to its most optimal health before you apply makeup.

They also tend to skip moisturizing because they already feel oily and think they don't need hydration. This is the worst thing you could do. Your skin is already reeling from your topical ointments and cleansers, so if you don't add moisturizer back into the skin, it thinks it's dehydrated and starts producing more oil!

I carry Clinique's Moisture Surge ($39) in my makeup kit at all times. It's perfect for dehydrated skin and will get rid of flakiness in seconds. It is an aloe- and water-based moisturizer that doesn't feel greasy and gets rid of any dry patches that stick out under makeup.

Don't panic when you have the lone red zit. Apply oil-free foundation as you normally would, and then add a dry, oil-free concealer to areas that need a little bit of extra coverage. The most common mistake I see women make is that they use the same concealer that they would use in their under-eye on their zits. This is by far one of the worst things you can do.

Under-eye concealers are creamy and luminous and almost always filled with oil. By using that on your zit, you are basically pouring more oil into the area, which will only cause more breakouts and worsen what's already there. I cannot live without Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage ($35) in my life, for myself and my clients. It is oil-free and will cover everything including a tattoo, so if you have this in your possession, you will never have to worry again.

These you can feel coming because they are deeper and more cystic. They could come that one time a month, or they could be stress-related (anxious feelings can sometimes cause the skin to overproduce oil). The good news is that before it comes to a head, it will just appear on the skin as a bump or red inflammation, which can be easily covered. Don't bother with any spot treatment on this bad boy under your makeup, because it will only dry out the surface of your skin and won't really help.

When you are in the midst of a hormonal outbreak, it is important to switch over to all oil-free products, as your skin does not need any excess oil. Be sure to wash and tone your face with products that contain salicylic acid to reduce shine, and use a light, oil-free moisturizer. Apply an oil-free foundation, and then go over that layer of coverage with a foundation powder or oil-free mineral powder.

My go-to foundation for oil-free coverage is Too-Faced Born This Way Foundation ($39). The key to hiding unsightly bumps is to make them completely flat, with matte, smooth coverage, so that when the light hits your face at different angles, it won't accentuate the zit. Do not add any more coverage, as the foundation and powder will usually do the trick.