Expert Beauty Tips

Thread veins are tiny blood vessels which run close to the surface of the skin and look like fine red, or sometimes purple, lines. They're also sometimes called 'spider veins' or 'broken veins', although the veins aren't in fact broken but only slightly dilated to around 0.5 or 1mm. The medical term for them is telangiectasia.

But if you have them, what you really want to know is how to cover them, right?

Thread veins often occur on the nose, cheeks and chin. Many people try to cover them with thick layers of concealer in the same colour as their foundation, however using a yellow-toned concealer works much more effectively in covering redness.

We developed ReCover Correct & Conceal Red *specifically* to cover facial redness, using yellow tones that are the opposite to red tones on the colour wheel neutralising redness, without leaving the skin grey and dull. As thread veins are not usually raised, these can be successfully covered with a super fine layer of our Correct & Conceal Red, as it doesn’t have a dense texture that other concealers often do. Advances in formulation technology have allowed our development technologists to create a feather-light texture which is packed with redness cancelling pigments and that stays matt on the skin.

So, how to approach concealing these tiny lines? It is most effective to apply a half pump of Correct & Conceal Red onto clean, moisturised skin in the affected area, patting it on with your ring finger. Apply gently along the thread veins, blending outwards, then assess the finish in natural daylight. If any stubborn thread veins are showing through, ‘feather’ a tiny amount more with a narrow brush in short strokes. A clean eyeliner brush is ideal for this, or you can find excellent fine brushes in artist supply shops.