Concealers on the market today come in these little packs of green, yellow, peach, and pink. You might have even bought one thinking, yup, totally know how to use this…only to have it collect dust at the bottom of your makeup bag. Well fret no more friends, I’ve come to demystify the color correcting concealer challenge!
Let’s start with the basics (again)… See, color matching and color correcting only exist because of the basics of color theory. The basic concept of color theory is that the color chart has primary colors, analogous colors, and complimentary colors.

The three primary colors we will go by are red, yellow, and blue. These three colors cannot be made by combining any of the other colors.
Analogous colors are the varying shades of a particular color that lie next to one another on the color wheel, like red and red-orange.
Finally, complimentary colors are the colors found opposite of one another on the color wheel, like red and green. The opposing colors create harmony by being the most contrasting, yet most stable combination.
Typical foundation color matching finds the most appropriate analogous color to match a person’s skin tone. Maskcara Beauty color matching (see here and here) finds the most appropriate highlight and contour shades for a person’s skin tone and undertone. To go a step further, you can color correct skin concerns like dark circles, age spots, melasma, hyperpigmentation, rosacea, eczema, redness, and even some birth marks or freckles people might want to blend in. To find the best color correcting concealer in Maskcara Beauty iiid foundation, I’ve created a cheat sheet for you, below.
The cheat sheet works best if you look at a person’s face to see colors from the color wheel. For example, if a person’s concern is their dark circles, take a look at their photo or face and identify whether the dark circles look blue, red, violet, or green. If you notice that they are dark with a purple hue, the best color correcting choices will likely be Sunlit or Wheat. If a person has deeper skin tone with dark circles that look blue, try a color corrector in the Orange family. Or if you have a dark brown (olive hue) birth mark needing color correcting look to a shade of pink to help color correct.

The cheat sheet follows the principles of color theory as applied to Maskcara Beauty foundation tins.
- Pink – Candlelit, Petal, Pink Grapefruit, and Baby Watermelon all have pink tones that correct olive hues.
- Red & Red-Orange – Scarlet, Saffron, and Sandstone all have red to red-orange tones that correct olive to blue-green hues.
- Orange – Goddess, Papaya, and Icon all have orange tones that correct blue hues.
- Peach – Frenchie, Amber, and Mango have peachy tones to correct blue violet hues.
- Yellow – Sunlit and Wheat have yellow tones that correct mild redness with violet hues.
- Green – June, Sandy, and Candlelit all have a bit of green tone to them that correct redness.
- Blue – Aspen has blue tones that correct redness with orange hues.
- Purple – Although rarely needed, Plum, Nude, Bare, Ballerina have violet tones that correct sallow skin with yellow hues.
- Skin Tone & Bronzer – The general principle of Maskcara Beauty iiid foundation is to pick a highlight shade slightly lighter than your skin tone, and a contour shade slightly darker than your skin tone. Between that and bronzing, you can color correct slight imperfections or concerns that don’t require a whole lot of work.
As you can see from the graphic and the description above, there might be several color options to help color correct certain areas. Skin tone and undertones, color availability, and personal taste may all play into your decision. The best way to learn what works best is to practice on real life faces, and learn to recognize the colors on people’s faces. There might be several ways to color correct a certain shade, but what matters most is that the person using the makeup is happy with the results and feels beautiful wearing it.
If you use some of these shades to color correct, share with me what works for you or share a picture for others to see how well they can work! <3
Until the next lesson, Artists.
xo,
Kat D.
I love your website. I’m a brand new artist and have learned so much from reading your posts. THANK YOU!
Thank you so much Melanie! I’m really happy to hear that they’ve helped you!
Yourvadvicevtonuse Mango as my brightener was game changing. I had no added a second highlight at that time. Not I can’t see going without it. Thank you!
Aw yay! So glad that helped! 🥰