5 Makeup Techniques To Hide A Hickey From Your Parents

The process of getting a hickey is an amazing one, but the aftermath can be quite embarrassing. You don't want your parents to see a hickey anywhere on your body and know what you been up to, nor do you want your friends or employer to know because those are questions you really don't want to answer. So, here are five simple ways to hide a hickey from your parents and other noisy people you may encounter.

Now, I didn’t get my first major hickey until I was in my twenties, so by then I had no idea how to hide them the first time. But these are the five best tips I have come up with to hide a hickey from all eyes.

First, the makeup routine, as I found out, a layer of makeup concealer alone won't hide a hickey. It’s more of a process. Start with makeup primer so that everything stays in place. The next step in the makeup process is to use a yellow-based concealer that matches your skin tone; this will help get rid of the blue-purple tint. Then using makeup is to apply a layer of green concealer to block out the redness in your skin. Third, apply some makeup foundation you use on your face, as it can be used on any portion of skin on your body, and blend the outer edges, so everything looks normal. Finish with a loose makeup powder to keep everything looking natural. BAM! It should be nearly entirely gone, bye bye hickey.

While we are on the topic of hiding a hickey with makeup, what about those hickeys near your lip? Well, lipstick of course guys and gals! Lip hickeys, whether its upper or lower lip, is usually hidden by lipstick. However, lip stain is preferred to lipstick because it is a deep color that lasts for a longer period.

Depending on the color of the hickey itself, you may have to get the matte or purple lipstick. Apply the lipstick, and you will be done. Do note, however, that nude lipstick may not give you the results that you desire of hiding your hickey. But, if the hickey does not stand out, you can use a tinted lip gloss, but check to be sure that it does work well enough for you. Nonetheless, it is worth noting that hickeys which lie on lips often extend beyond the lip.

Start by applying an appropriate amount of concealer to hide the parts of the hickey that lie beyond the lips. Finish up with a red lipstick or lip gloss, and you will look fantastic.

A third top tip to get rid of a hickey is to use peppermint. That’s right, peppermint; you didn’t read wrong.

Peppermint contains a stimulant effect that helps to improve the blood circulation. It can also aid in the healing of capillary blood vessels. Apply a little peppermint oil gently on the affected area.

You might feel a bit of a tingling sensation after applying the oil, but it will fade after a little while. If you don’t have peppermint oil readily available, you can use a peppermint-based toothpaste as an alternative to peppermint oil. Rub a layer of toothpaste over the hickey gently and leave it there for about several minutes. After the area stops tingling from the toothpaste, use a warm washcloth to remove the toothpaste from the hickey area.

The use of toothpaste produces the best results if it is done as soon as possible after you got the hickey. However, peppermint should not be used more than once daily because it will cause skin irritation. If you don’t have access to peppermint oil, you can use almond oil or olive oil as well.

The next fast way to get rid of hickey guys is the use of cold compressing. Cold compressing is usually pretty fast.

Basically, in a nutshell, it constricts the broken blood capillaries and reduces bleeding. That's what forms the bruises, or in this case, the hickeys.

To use this method to remove those big black and blue hickeys guys, wrap up several ice cubes in a towel, press it on the bruised affected area, and hold it on the hickey for about ten minutes or more. The use of ice also relieves the pain hickeys can sometimes cause. But if you want to avoid any swelling of the skin, don’t put the ice on the skin directly. This will also prevent ice burn and frostbite because you don't want to damage your skin any further.

Another cold compress trick is the use of a cold spoon. What you do is place the spoon in a freezer for about ten minutes or so. Take the spoon out and wrap it up in a cloth, and then rub the affected area with the cold spoon or press into the skin. Cold compress methods should be used a few times throughout the day. The more you do it, the faster the hickey will fade guys.

The fifth best way to get rid of hickeys, especially those that are proving to be incredibly stubborn: hot compressing is recommended to get rid of those hickeys that are proving to be harder to deal with.

To use this method, soak a washcloth in hot or warm water. Wring the cloth out properly and place it on the hickey area for a few minutes. Reheat the cloth if necessary, but this usually works pretty fast.

The heat from the cloth often helps to dilate the broken blood capillaries and allows fresh new blood to circulate and clear up the affected area and restore life back into the bruised section. But, in place of a washcloth, you can use a reusable heat patch. You can get heat patch at any retail or pharmacy store such as Target or Walgreens. They are fast and easy to use, not to mention they are cheap and stay hot for a lot longer periods of time than a simple washcloth.

Otherwise, you can also use a hair dryer to heat the area while you massage it with your fingers. Not always the best idea because it takes longer and can sometimes start damaging your skin.

The most painful method to remove a hickey is to stretch the skin around your hickey until it is flat. This can produce great results if you do it right. You can do this by pulling the skin away from the hickey on opposite ends. Once this is done, scrape the skin using the edge of a large coin. The motion should be similar to that of applying butter to bread; it should spread outward.

This method usually requires you to scrape the skin as hard as you can, which can hurt very much, but not so much to break the skin, as this method pushes the clotted blood away from the skin's surface. Scraping leaves your skin a little tender than usual and even brings it to a reddened status; however, the redness fades a lot faster than the hickey. The scrapes are also much less conspicuous than hickeys.

Rubbing alcohol can work on the hickey area, but only if it has been around for just a few hours. It can have some cooling and soothing benefits as well as act as a disinfectant that can help get rid of a hickey relatively quickly.

It’s probably one of the fastest ways to get rid of that annoying hickey, but the tradeoff is that you can get stuck with that alcohol smell on your skin until you can wash it off. Here’s what you must do, you apply the rubbing alcohol to the hickey area by using a simple ball of cotton that you can get at any retail store like Target or Walmart.

If you don’t feel like going to the store to get some cotton balls, a thin cloth should work as well. Then, gently massage the area for about several minutes or so, this way will help minimize any discomfort. After you are done, you need to make sure you use a moisturizing lotion because the rubbing alcohol will dehydrate the skin quickly. Using rubbing alcohol on a hickey area should be done a few times a day for a couple of days.

To avoid the annoying alcohol smell on your skin because people will start to think you don’t know how to handle your vodka, Aloe Vera is a natural moisturizer alternative that is well known for its anti-inflammatory and soothing like qualities. It works by lessening the sensitivity of your skin around the affected area and speeds up the healing of the broken capillaries.

You’ll have to rub Aloe Vera on the affected area and gently massage it two or three times a day. If you do not have any access to the plant or you don’t want a sticky substance on your skin, an Aloe Vera cream or lotion should work just fine to do the job.

Many people like more organic and natural ways of getting rid of hickeys. A good one is banana peels because banana peels have a soothing and cooling property that will help minimize your hickey fast.

You start by cutting a fresh piece of banana peel from a ripe banana. The peel should be about the same size as your hickey. Place the inside of the banana peel directly on the hickey and leave it there for about 10 to 30 minutes.

If you use this method, you need to do it either two or three times a day, and the size of your hickey should reduce significantly. Not sold on the banana peel idea? A great alternative is using cocoa butter as an effective healing agent for hickeys and other bruises as well. Cocoa butter is not only a good moisturizer, but it is excellent in promoting the growth of new skin tissue.

If you use cocoa butter to get rid of your hickey, you need to massage the area of the hickey for a while after applying the cocoa butter. In the end, and all else fails, you can just wear a scarf or turtleneck everywhere you go. Those always work right? Depending on the weather, that may or may not be the most comfortable.

However, if you don’t want to make it obvious to your friends or co-workers, then try any of the techniques listed above. It’ll prevent any parent, friend or employer from seeing those ugly hickeys you got from your hot and steamy night before.