You asked, we investigated! What are the best tattoo covering products?

Here at Tattoo Removals we get asked a lot by our clients what they can use if they are wanting to cover their tattoo during the removal process or for special occasions etc. So, Lisa and I decided we would start doing a bit of research on the topic of tattoo covering cosmetics; which then led to a full blown investigation into the wonderful world of makeup! – Each product that has been tested for coverage has been trialed/tested on my own tattoos which are NOT in the removal process which means they are still very dark/vibrant – meaning any product that is capable of covering them has fantastic coverage qualities! I also chose to trial these different products on my own tattoos so that I was able to report back to our clients with the most honest opinion on coverage, lasting power and value for money.

Over the past few weeks I have been reaching out to numerous cosmetic companies throughout NZ and overseas ranging from drug store to higher end cosmetics in order to find the perfect tattoo camouflage product. What I have been looking for is a product which has enough coverage to initially cover the tattoo but that also has the lasting power to last several hours with minimal touch ups.

The following companies were more than happy to help us on our search and all had products that they believed would have enough coverage to cover the tattoo and enough lasting power to keep it covered:
1.M.A.C
2.Kryolan
3.Thin Lizzy
4.Dermal Cover

M.A.C and Kryolan happily invited us to visit them in store to demonstrate the products that were available on my own tattoos. Thin Lizzy as well as Dermal Cover each very kindly payed us a visit in the clinic bringing all of their goodies a long with them for very informative and through demonstration of their products!

Here are my findings after weeks of research and demonstrations (please note these are my own personal opinions on the products from my own personal findings and coverage results may vary from person to person) I will be explaining what I personally believe to be the pros and cons of the products that were tested. Please note: these companies are in no particular order and are not ranging from best to worst or worst to best.

Please note that makeup is a cosmetic product which is able to help us cover and conceal what we want to hide, however it is not a magic wand and requires the correct application techniques and practice to get it right. It is likely at some point you will also get it on your clothing, it is makeup at the end of the day and there is only so much staying power that can be achieved, some is bound to rub off on to your clothing. Be aware of the colour choice of your clothing and take note of where your tattoo is that you are covering and try to ensure that you are not rubbing the products all over your clothes.

It would be wise to spend some money on a good fixing spray or alternatively you can give the finished product a few coats of hair spray (sprayed from a distance) to avoid as much ‘rub off’ on clothing as possible.

I would recommend watching video tutorials on YouTube on different techniques for covering tattoos as you may find a different technique that works better for you.

M.A.C – What I like the most about MAC in terms of tattoo covering is that they have colour ‘correcting’ shades. This means that they have a few different shades which you would apply firstly to counteract the colour in the tattoo, for example: a green concealer would help to counteract the red within a tattoo. Once you have used colour correcting techniques you can then go in with a thick consistency concealer such as the ‘Studio Fix Concealer’ in a shade that suits your skin tone. You would then powder using the ‘Studio Fix Powder’ which has a nice matte consistency and helps to blend that product into the skin for a more natural appearance. From there you would then repeat in layers until you had the desired effect.

You can also use some of their thicker concealers on their own without colour correcting before hand, all this means is you will probably need to work in more layers which in some cases has the potential to leave you with a more cakey appearance. For the best results I would personally colour correct before hand.

The staff at MAC will also be able to show you how to correctly apply the products as well as colour matching for your correct shade and they will also be able to let you know what colour you need to colour correct.

The Studio Fix Concealer retails at $40 and the Studio Fix Powder retails at $60. A staff member also told me that the MAC Pro store in Britomart does little palettes where you can get a few different shades of the concealers which would be great for someone who needed to mix several shades in order to get their skin tone correct or for someone who had a tattoo with many different colours, who would need a few different shades of colour correcting concealers. It would end up working out cheaper to buy these as a palette rather than buying them separately if you were needing a few different shades.

Over all, I was happy with the coverage, however unsure of the lasting qualities as I did not wear the product for a long period of time. I use MAC on myself as my every day foundation and also concealers and I find in general the staying power is great, and generally I only have to do minimal touch ups if any throughout the day/night.

If you are MAC fan then you can most definitely use this product to cover your tattoos once you have mastered the correct technique and have been matched with the right shades!

You can find MAC stores located throughout NZ, central wise you can find MAC stores in; Ponsonby, inside St Lukes mall, Newmarket inside Smith and Caugheys, Britomart and in Smith and Caugheys on Queen Street. Alternatively you would be able to find a store locator on their website.

Apologies as I do not have photos of the MAC on my tattoos as the first counter I visited did not look the best (which I think came down to technique), however I decided to visit another counter before ruling the products out and at the second counter the staff member covered one of their own tattoos (much more successfully) which had actually faded a wee bit and I completely forgot to ask if I could take a picture.

Kryolan – Not a common name that many people know of -YET, Kryolan is a wee bit of a hidden gem and if you are a lover of makeup once you discover the store you will never want to leave! They do a huge range of different products and have great stage makeup and special effects makeup which is why I figured they would be great for tattoo covering.

Before I go any further I have to mention the exceptional service I experienced inside the store, I have been in twice and each time the staff have been AMAZING, I don’t think I have ever experience such amazing customer service before. They were more than happy to help, answering any questions I had an really went above and beyond what they needed to do. I can not rave enough about how amazing and talented the Kryolan staff are.

Upon my visit to the brand new store on Broadway in Newmarket I discovered that they do in fact have a product specifically made for camouflaging purposes called ‘Dermacolour’. Like MAC, they use correcting colours first on your tattoo before then matching your correct skin colour tone. They have a camouflage cream which is available in various shades including corrector colours, also available in various sizes; they do a 12g Mirror compact as well as a 4g small pot and a larger 30g pot to suit each individuals needs and price range.

To use the product you would need approximately two camouflage creams (one corrector colour and one in your natural skin tone) and the setting powder. You could also purchase the fixing spray which helps to hold the product in place and also acts as an SPF20. You would apply the corrector colour, powder then apply your skin tone colour, powder and then continue to layer with the skin tone colour and powder until you reached your desired effect.

They also have very handy sets available so that you are able to mix and match different colours if you are unlucky like myself and need a few different colours to mix together to get the correct skin tone shade. They have twin sets, trio sets, quintet sets as well as various different sized palettes which makes it very convenient to have a few different colours for mixing as well as your corrector colour shades.

They also have cover sticks and pump style bottles of the product available as well as a body camouflage which would be ideal for larger areas that were needing to be covered.

They also do concealer wheels (these are not in the Dermacolour range, but also do a fantastic job) which you can get with many different skin tone colours and a corrector colours within one wheel which would also be extremely handy for someone who needs to mix shades and also needs a corrector colour. I do know that the concealer wheels retail at $68.50 and has five skin colour tones and one colour correcting tone in the center.

Unfortunately I can not remember what the pricing was like for the Dermacolour products, however if you payed the staff a visit I am certain they would be more than happy to help you out with any of your needs including colour matching and finding the right product that suits you.

I found that the Kryolan products were very quick and easy to apply, had good coverage and you didn’t have to wait for the product to dry before powdering or before doing other layers. I loved the huge product range that Kyrolan has and they literally have a product to suit everyone’s needs which is great!
Tattoo Removals Auckland
Thin Lizzy – A company that everyone knows, a ‘house hold’ name to which I have heard very mixed reviews about over the years. So I had to give it a go myself!

Before I had the lovely Wendy from Thin Lizzy come in and show me how it was done I ATTEMPTED to try out the concealer cream and mineral powder on my own during a Farmers visit. I failed miserably and although the coverage was okay, I ended up with a wee bit of a cakey mess! In all honesty after this experience I was not sold on this product for tattoo covering, UNTIL Wendy payed us a visit in the clinic and showed us how it should be done. – Yes there is specific way you should apply this stuff !

Once applied properly the product was actually surprisingly good! It had great coverage and didn’t appear too cakey or unnatural looking at all. The only downside is that it takes a lot of time to do in order to get it to full coverage without it looking too cakey or unnatural. Overall we were happy with how the product looked and felt and happy with the amount of coverage it had when applied correctly!

You can apply the product with your fingers tips or disposable cosmetic sponge, the trick is to get the cream on fast before it starts to dry and you must work in layers so it will take a decent amount of patience because you must wait for the cream to dry before you can set it and then begin with another layer.

The pricing and products needed to cover and set a tattoo with Thin Lizzy would be:
Your correct shade or shades in the concealer cream which I believe retails at about $29.95 for a 15ml tube as well as the mineral foundation (powder) to set the cream, this retails at about $39.95 and comes with a brush already for application (no need to fork out on buying one). In addition to that you may want to look into getting the 6 in 1 professional powder to use over both arms as a bronzer to get them both looking even in colour; alternatively you can use your own bronzer to do the same.

This was the only product that I did wear all day (I had nothing to take it off with at the time ) I had the products on from about roughly 10am till 6pm and it did stay on all day however I noticed that by the end of the day my tattoo had started to become more visible through the product so I would say that a touch up would possibly be needed to be done at some point throughout the day/night. Here is a picture of the coverage once the tattoo started to show through a wee bit:

Tattoo Removals Auckland
As you can see from the pictures it did have great coverage, it was just quite time consuming. This product would be fantastic for someone who was not wanting to spend a lot of money and who had quite a bit of time to spend applying the product correctly.

There will be a video coming on how to correctly apply the concealer and mineral foundation for the specific purpose of covering tattoos for those of you who wish to use this product.

Tattoo Removals Auckland
Dermal Cover – Dermal Cover was a company that I had never heard of nor come across before until I began my research into this topic and it sure was an interesting find!

Dermal Cover actually specializes in camouflage makeup to cover skin irregularities and has developed specifically formulated creams and powders for concealing skin irregularities including tattoos. This product is said to be waterproof, SPF15, Long lasting, Easy to apply, Light and breathable formula and approved by the British Medical Association. This make up is designed to be more pigmented and slightly thicker and more opaque than a regular foundation and is easily intermixed so that you can get your perfect shade.

I found that this product was very easily applied and all you needed was the concealer cream, setting powder and powder brush. You can either apply the product with your finger tips or if you chose to you could use a disposable cosmetics sponge which you can pick up at most $2 stores.

Lisa and I were very impressed at how easy and fast this product was to use as well as being highly impressed with the coverage it gave over my dark black and bright red tattoos! I was really impressed with the fact that you did not have to wait for any of the product to dry, there was no mucking around you chuck the cream on, set it with the powder and you are good to go straight away with no fuss. – I did not test the product for its waterproof properties nor was I able to leave it on all day to test the staying power of it. However, with most cosmetic products you would expect to have to do small touch ups here and there throughout the day/night regardless. From what I could see upon application it didn’t look like it was going to come off anytime soon!

Pricing wise you can buy a small 3g disc of the camouflage cream at $30 and from what I have seen a little goes a long way! (great for people with a budget who aren’t willing to fork out a lot of money on one product) OR for people wanting to cover larger areas you can purchase a 20g pot at $72

Now the finishing powder is a wee bit more pricey at $65 for a 7g pot, once again a little goes a long way and this product is a must have as it sets the camouflage cream instantly (no need to wait for the product to dry) and makes it waterproof!

You can also purchase a powder brush for $20 OR you can get your own powder brush else where.

One of my favorite things about this product is that you can buy sample tester kits for $20 which comes with a sample of the colour you chose as well as a sample of the setting powder, such a great idea! I would highly recommend that you have a consultation with the lovely Lynette so that she is able to colour match you with your perfect shade before you buy anything online to avoid disappointment. From there you can buy a sample pack and try out the product for yourself, see if its for you or you can jump straight in and buy the full sized products if you are convinced already that this is the perfect product for you!

This product can not be bought in stores and must be ordered online at www.dermalcover.co.nz

Out of all of the products we trialed I would have to recommend this the most, although each product had good covering qualities this product in particular has the best ‘non-cakey natural looking’ coverage and was the fastest and easiest to apply which would be perfect for someone who is in a rush in the morning and does not have time to fluff around covering their tattoos.

The photo does not do the product justice and excuse the slightly incorrect colour match as we were just playing around with the product and it’s coverage qualities:
Tattoo Removals Auckland

We have ONE MORE product to trial which has just arrived from oversea’s and is NOT a cosmetic product which means there would be no rubbing off of the product on to clothes… Sounds interesting right? Stay tuned to our Facebook page for the review on this product which will be coming over the next week or two.