How to Cover a Tattoo:Tips from Hollywood Makeup ArtistLeah Vautrot

Yesterday afternoon I received an email from an out-of-town client, asking if I could give her some tips on how to cover a tattoo. While I'm educated on corrective makeup, I'll be honest in admitting that tattoo camouflage isn't something I practice often, so after replying with my advice, I jumped on to twitter and shot off a 140 asking a few other makeup artists how they like to cover ink.

The lovely Leah Vautrot was kind enough to respond with some of her favorite products. If you're not familiar with Leah, you totally should be. She is Department Head of Makeup on the show "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and has worked on some of my favorite movies, like "I Love You, Man" and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" (Oh! I wonder if she got to touch Russell Brand???)

I was absolutely thrilled at Leah's recommendations, but THEN, as if she's not busy enough, Leah proceeded to cover one of her own tattoos, and send me step-by-step pictures! How could I NOT share those with you? A big thanks to Leah for taking the time out to do this, and for agreeing to let me share this with all of my readers!

Leah's Tattoo:

Leah recommends prepping the skin you'll be covering with a fixing spray, like Skindinavia. This helps to keep the makeup from rubbing of onto clothing and provides a flawless finish.

Step One: Color Correcting

Since Leah's tattoo is black, she's using an orange toned corrector (she likes the orange shade on the top of DuWop's Circle Block). Of course, the opposite of black is white, but generally orange works better on black tattoos simply because black ink, mixed with natural skin tone, tends to have a blue cast. Orange is the complimentary shade for blue, so it helps to cancel out the color. If your tattoo has large patches of color, you may have to selectively correct those colors. In this case, a quick drying, smudge proof creme (like MAC Chromaline) may be helpful. BTW, if you're not sure what colors to use, click here and here to review, or check out a simple color wheel!

Step Two: Apply Foundation

To begin covering and evening out skin tone, Leah applies a coat of long-wearing foundation like Revlon Colorstay. You'll generally want to match your skin tone as closely as possible; Leah was quick to point out that this one was too dark simply because she didn't have a shade handy that was pale enough to match her inner arm ("no one is that pale"!)

Step Three: Conceal and Set

For further coverage, Leah conceals with Colorescience Corrector Palette (she says both the classic and the global palettes are must haves for seamless concealing!) After setting with powder, give your fresh blank canvas a spritz of finishing spray, and you're ready to go!