Mastering the art of covering those ginormous, always-come-at-the-worst-f*cking-time pimples is something that takes patience, a high-performance product, and, normally, the advice of a professional.
Obviously you don't have to cover your pimples if you prefer to let them live, and frankly, who has the time to constantly touch them up? But if you are looking to eradicate that zit, you might not have to smother it in concealer after all, according to makeup artist Karin Darnell, who is known for her work with the Spice Girls. After quizzing her on how long the girl power group took to get ready for a show (spoiler: a mere 20 minutes) she let us in on her zit-hiding trick.
Due to the constant heavy makeup and high-stress job the Spice Girls had (plus hormones on top) it often resulted in some pretty unpredictable skin. Darnell explained, "We live in an airbrushed world now but back then you didn't have filters, it was day lighting. So if someone had spots, and one of the girls really did, I had to alter the looks for that." But rather than just piling on the foundation and concealer, Darnell used to make the main makeup focus all about the eyes, to focus attention there. Think: full on smokey eye, all the eyeliner, and shimmery inner corners of the eyes. This way, it drew the eye away from the skin and onto that bold statement look.
It wasn't just eye makeup, lip liner was certainly involved too, and lots of it. Either the iconic 90s brown-toned lips, or a classic red lip, which even ended up getting Geri Halliwell in trouble with the royal family.
Darnell said, "What I absolutely say to this day is if you can't laugh at what you used to look like then you really achieved nothing." So really, if we've learned one thing from Darnell, it's that going heavy on the eye makeup works, but also that it's not the end of the world if you can't quite cover that pimple or if you regret some of your makeup trend choices years later. If the Spice Girls can live and learn, then we all can.