Natural Concealer & Highlighter Recipe

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How to highlight and contour with nautral makeup
Wellness Mama » Blog » Beauty » Natural Concealer & Highlighter Recipe

I once asked my high school drama teacher if I could buy some of the ultra-thick stage makeup from her… she looked at me a little strange, since I wasn’t even on the cast of the current musical and was working backstage/tech.

She asked why and I confessed that it was the only makeup I’d ever found that completely covered my acne. At that age, my skin was terrible. I wish I could go back and tell my high school self that it had more to do with my school-lunch diet of hamburgers/pizza and hormones than it did with the many products I tried topically.

Out of pity, she gave me some stage makeup and I used it for the next few years to cover my acne.

A Natural Concealer?

These days, my skin is much healthier and blemishes are a rare occasion, but I still think back about how embarrassed and frustrated I was with my skin. Super-thick and oily stage makeup probably made the problem worse, but I was desperate for a solution.

I don’t wear makeup as often now, but wanted a natural concealer/highlighter that I could use for formal occasions or to hide under eye bags when little ones keep me from getting much sleep.

This concealer/highlighter is very similar to my homemade liquid foundation recipe, but has more zinc and minerals for additional coverage and less color so that it lightens and blends into skin (and how I wish I’d had this all those years ago!)

To make a homemade base lotion for the concealer, you’ll need these ingredients:

And these additional ingredients for color and coverage:

If you don’t want to make the base lotion and prefer a pre-made option, I recommend using a completely natural and non-comedogenic lotion as the base and adding the colors and minerals in to get the desired shade. These are the two lotions I’ve tried that worked well on my skin:

Natural Concealer Ingredients

  • 2 teaspoons of argan oil or jajoba oil
  • 1 teaspoon of shea butter
  • 1/2 tsp emulsifying wax
  • 1 tablespoon aloe gel
  • 1 teaspoon witch hazel
  • OR 3 tablespoons of natural pre-made lotion (in place of first 5 ingredients)
  • 2 Tablespoons non-nano zinc oxide
  • 1/4-1/2 tsp cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tsp clay of choice (if using)

How to Make Natural Concealer

  1. If making the simple version… just mix the organic lotion and powdered ingredients to get the desired color and consistency.
  2. For the complete DIY:
  3. Melt the shea butter, argan oil and emulsifying wax in a double boiler until completely melted.
  4. Add the aloe and witch hazel and whisk until completely incorporated and smooth.
  5. Turn heat off.
  6. Add zinc and clays (if using)
  7. Add cocoa powder a tiny pinch at a time until desired color is reached.You will want this to be lighter than your skin tone so it blends and lightens. If it is too dark, it will leave dark spots on the skin.
  8. Dip the tip of a spoon into the mixture and let cool for a few seconds. Test the color and coverage on your forehead and inner arm to make sure you’ve achieved the right tone for your skin and the amount of coverage you want.
  9. Spoon the mixture into the desired container and let cool.

Important Notes:

Adding more zinc oxide powder will offer more coverage and adding less will create a thinner coverage that is better for highlighting. Experiment by adding small amounts at first to find your desired coverage. I recommend finding the desired coverage first by adding zinc/clays and then adding cocoa to get the desired shade for skin. For really dark skin tones, not as much zinc will be needed and more cocoa can be added. A mineral powder in the color of your skin tone can also help match the color more easily.

Highlighting and Contouring

This concealer also works really well as a highlighting cream for highlighting and contouring. This is a method of applying makeup in a way that accentuates and brightens the face to accentuate the eyes and other features.

There are highlighting and contouring sets available on the market now, but I prefer to use this concealer for highlighting and my natural bronzer for contouring. I use a natural brush to apply the makeup and to blend.

This is the typical highlighting and contouring pattern that is used for accentuating the face. The lighter hues on the left side are where highlighting would be used and the darker ones on the left are where contouring would be used.

How to highlight and contour with nautral makeup

Want a powdered version? Check out my original homemade makeup tutorial.

Do you make your own makeup? What versions have you tried? Tell me about it below!

This natural concealer uses natural oils, shea butter, aloe and vegetable ingredients with zinc, cocoa and minerals to cover blemishes.

Katie Wells Avatar

About Katie Wells

Katie Wells, CTNC, MCHC, Founder of Wellness Mama and Co-founder of Wellnesse, has a background in research, journalism, and nutrition. As a mom of six, she turned to research and took health into her own hands to find answers to her health problems. WellnessMama.com is the culmination of her thousands of hours of research and all posts are medically reviewed and verified by the Wellness Mama research team. Katie is also the author of the bestselling books The Wellness Mama Cookbook and The Wellness Mama 5-Step Lifestyle Detox.

Comments

84 responses to “Natural Concealer & Highlighter Recipe”

  1. Sara Avatar

    I’ve just made your recipe- with the lotion recommended (argan and chamomile). It’s amazing!!! Do you know how hard it is to find a natural recipe that ACTUALLY has coverage?? (You DO know- I know you do ) I’m still playing with the cocoa powder level, but this totally works!! I’ve been wanting to switch out my toxic foundation (it’s really a concealer) for YEARS. I KNOW it’s toxic, but hormonal acne, other digestive issues- I just couldn’t find anything that would COVER when I needed it too. I mean, when my skin is fine- I wear less stuff. Thank you SO, SO much!! I can’t thank you enough for all the work you do finding information and trying things for this blog. It even smells good! ???

  2. Nick Avatar

    Will this work without using the zinc oxide? Is there a substitute that I could use instead?

  3. Karina Avatar

    Hi, I love all your recipes and blog.
    Some emulsifying wax derived by petroleum is there any other wax I could use instead? Thanks

  4. Carin Avatar

    This was a fun chemistry experiment but alas – the color that cocoa gives is totally unable to be concocted to come even close to matching my warm skin tone. What was created was a very white and cool toned concealer. I was so disappointed. I did a second trial, replacing some of the zinc oxide with Moroccan Red Clay (which I use to color my dusting powder and it matches my skin perfectly) and learned that dry Moroccan red clay and wet Moroccan red clay are VERY different! So I packed up my ingredients and called it a day. *sniff* I was going to be so pleased to make my own concealer 🙁 .

  5. Heather Avatar

    Is there any way to make this without the Shea butter? It gives me hives every time I’ve used product with it.

  6. J. Russo Avatar
    J. Russo

    Hi.

    Do you know of a good substitute for the aloe? Very allergic:( I was thinking of using flax seed gel but I wasn’t sure if it was too sticky and would pull on my under eye skin. Thank you very much. Love your blog btw.

  7. Sarah Avatar

    Which clay did you find best to use when making
    A) foundation?
    B) concealer?
    Thanks
    Sarah

  8. Christy Avatar

    Hi! I made this and loved it but there are little bits starting to look shimmery and blue-ish. Hoping it isn’t mold, is this normal or should I do something? Thank you so much for all you do!
    Christy

  9. Shekinah Avatar

    Hi, I can’t wait to try this, but I’m curious.. What exactly is emulsifying wax? I don’t have any.. Is it a necessity for this recipe or is there an alternative? Also about the Witxh Hazel. I have some somewhere but can’t manage to find it.. It there an alternative for this as well..? Thanks so much 🙂

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