The Viral "Sandwich" Method Covers Breakouts in 4 Easy Steps

@ericanic0le

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♬ original sound - ERICA NICOLE

This month, my skin has been unwell. I don't know if it's stress, my impending period, or the fact that my situationship up and moved to Argentina last week, but my face has been paying the price, and it's been, well, expensive. While I would normally opt to hide out in my apartment and not let anyone other than the DoorDash delivery person see me, I have sh*t to do that involves going outside and being around other humans. So I've been searching for ways to cover up the red blemishes that have suddenly sprouted on my chin, cheeks, and temples.

During one of my late-night TikTok scrolls, I came across a video of user Erica Nicole discussing the "sandwich" method for covering up "fat" pimples. For obvious reasons, my interest was piqued. Essentially, she works backward and "sandwiches" her concealer with setting spray and powder, which leaves her zits virtually untraceable.

Since I already had all of the tools to try out her hack at my disposal, I decided to give it a go and see if it would help. Keep reading to learn how to do the sandwich method and see how it worked for me.

How to Do the Sandwich Method to Cover Pimples

To test the sandwich method, I followed the TikTok instructions exactly, except I swapped out products she recommended for products I already know and love.

Step 1: Spritz Your Face With Setting Spray

I was working backward, so the first step was to take out my setting spray and spritz a tiny bit of it in the palm of my hand. My current favourite is the Urban Decay All Nighter Waterproof Makeup Setting Spray ($36). Next, I patted it onto my blemish using the pad of my finger, then I let it dry down and become a bit tacky.

Step 2: Dab On Some Translucent Powder

The next step was translucent powder. I put a tiny bit of the Huda Beauty Easy Bake Loose Baking and Setting Powder ($38) on a concealer brush and pressed it on top of my zit. This was when I started to notice that the redness had gone down, and in Nicole's video, she mentions it helps create the illusion that you're flattening the pimple.

Step 3: Go In With Concealer

I grabbed a concealer that was the exact same shade as my skin tone. Nicole mentions that the shade is of utmost importance. I went with the Lawless Conseal the Deal Lightweight Concealer ($26). Here's where things got a little weird. The video said I should outline the pimple using the doe-foot applicator of my concealer; however, the applicator is a little different on the product I chose to use, so I ended up using a very, very tiny eyeshadow brush with a very minimal amount of concealer.

After, I let it sit for five minutes exactly. Nicole was adamant in her video that the concealer sit for this exact amount of time, so I set a timer on my phone. When time was up, I took the same brush I used for the powder and blended the concealer inward toward the pimple.

Step 4: Apply Powder and Setting Spray, Again

To finish things off, I went over the area with a tiny dot of powder, then I spritzed it directly with setting spray.

Sandwich Method Results

Overall, the sandwich method worked to make my zit look less red and also to make it less noticeable. Although you could still see that the blemish was there, it was way less intense than it was at the start, and if you didn't know it was there, I don't think you'd even notice it. Consider this hack approved.