I spoke with celebrity makeup artist Joey Healy, who shared his go-to methods on how to use make-up for optimal tattoo cover-up. “To conceal a tattoo, Dermablend is the most general consumer product, and professionals in the film and TV industry use it to cover actors’ tattoos. Most normal liquid concealers won’t provide adequate coverage,” he says. “A heavier duty brand, Skin Illustrator, has a palette of colors that are rock hard and you have to use 99 percent undiluted rubbing alcohol to activate.  It’s pretty serious stuff.  After you activate it, you paint with it like an artist and it sets really quickly.  It’s totally waterproof—you could go swimming with it on.  I’ve used it to cover full sleeves of tattoos on models.”

But if you don’t have the resources to make movie magic, Joey suggests the following steps:

1. You need to find a normal foundation to match your skin tone, and a complementary foundation that will neutralize the tattoo.

2. First you will apply the corrective color on top of the tattoo, followed by the foundation.

3. You have to apply the complementary color on top of the tattoo to neutralize it.  It’s sort of like painting your walls.  Normal color wheel principles apply.  You want to set with a powder to ensure longevity—something that ensures long wear.

4. After the tattoo is sufficiently covered with the base foundation, apply the powder to match your normal skin tone.

The steps are as follows: corrective color, foundation color, then powder to set.”