I have never wanted to cover up a bruise with lipstick more than the one I have on my back currently. I'm no stranger to injury; I stub my toes at least three times a day and feel like I almost knock myself unconscious on a weekly basis. Yes, this dark skin tone is hiding several bruised spots. Since using red lipstick to cover up under eye baggage has proven effective for many, including myself, I figured it had to do something positive for a similarly-colored bruise. Perhaps discovering a new way to use red lipstick would be a silver lining to the injury on my back.
Concealer is the obvious choice when trying to, well, conceal any discoloration on your skin. I had a feeling that while red lipstick can be pretty heroic when it comes to beauty hacks, concealer would still be the best method for cover-up. Still, I am always up for makeup experiment and I couldn't see the harm in trying out my reddest shade of lipstick on my sad little bruise. One reason you may choose this hack over concealer is when you catch yourself needing to cover-up and none of your friends where the same shade as you. Red lipstick doesn't see color, guys. The next time you wake up with a surprise hickey, you can trust at least one of your coworkers to have red lipstick on them.
Here's how my red lipstick hack went down.
1. Waiting For It To Heal
This bruise came from my clumsiness at work. I was bending over to get chilled pints out of the fridge when I stumbled backwards and fell into our speed-rail where we keep the well liquor. Oddly enough, no one seemed to notice that I knocked over several bottles, shook the rail, and screamed in pain. Since my bruise began as a gash, covering it up had to wait until it wasn't an open wound anymore.
2. Starting With A Clean Slate
I don't like applying makeup on any area of your body if it isn't clean. I wiped my bruise with witch hazel first before applying my lipstick.
3. Choosing My Shade of Lipstick
Since my bruise is darker than my skin tone, I chose a brighter shade of red. I still had some doubts about the bruise being completely covered up with red, so I opted for a matte formula. Just like when you're choosing a concealer, you want to go lighter than the dark area.
4. Applying Red Lipstick Directly On My Bruise
The size of the bruise will determine how much lipstick you need to use. I used a dime-size amount of lipstick on my bruise and rubbed it in until I was satisfied that the coverage was sufficient.
5. Being Disappointed
Well, as you can see, I only exacerbated the problem. My bruise still looks like a bruise, but a bruise that someone wearing red lipstick kissed. Refusing to give up on my lipstick beauty hack, I went to my makeup bag and found a mauve color of lipstick to test out instead.
6. Finally Achieving Success
As predicted, the mauve lipstick provided way more coverage than my lipstick had, but it still didn't really cover up my bruise completely. Since my bruise was barely reachable, it was hard to effectively blot the area.
Fortunately, this bruise is on my back and not my face. Still, I'm pretty content to know that in a concealer's absence, mauve lipstick is an alternative I can easily live with.
Images: Kristin Collins Jackson
