MakeUp Special - Concealers for Blemishes December 5, 2007

Reviewer: Jenny, Skin Status: Combination/ Dry skin, Age group: 26 - 30 years old

As do most women, I do have occasional breakouts and I do not want people to see my blemishes whether they are new or old. The solution, concealer to the rescue!!! This is one of my must have items in makeup bag. Unless you are one of those people who are blessed with great genetics and never have pimples or acnes. Remember, if you are a man, you can also use concealer too, the key is the same as woman, finding the perfect color concealer match and the right one for your skin type. This is a lengthy article that includes reviews of several brands of concealer.

The most important part in finding the perfect concealer is matching the color of your skin. You do not want to highlight your blemishes, you want to conceal the blemishes (Unless you are very proud of your blemishes). I think finding the right color is more important than finding a certain brand of concealer. Some brands may have good reputations but the color selection may not match your skin. Therefore, it is necessary to find the color that is a perfect match for your skin. I recommend shopping for concealer during daytime, do a test on your face and look into a mirror that has direct sunlight. Store lighting is very misleading, you wouldn’t believe the number of concealers that I have right now that looks great in store lighting but not in natural direct sunlight. Also, do not test on your hand, the color on your hand is not exactly the same as on your face. If you only test it on your hand, it will not look right on your face. If you are uncertain, bring someone who you can trust when purchasing skincare/makeup product, someone who can give you honest opinions. MAC cosmetics stores or counters is a good place to start looking for the perfect concealer. They have a wide varieties of colors and types of concealer to choose from (ie: cream, liquid, stick and pencil). I don’t recommend using green color concealer to counteract redness. I tried using green color concealer before and it just didn’t look right on my face, it ended up with some weird color on my face. If you must, rub a little Visine eye drops onto your face or use ice first to reduce redness. Another great way is to do an express 5-10 mins hydrating mask before applying moisturizer and makeup.

As mentioned earlier in this post, once you find the color, all you have to do if find the right format of concealer. There are liquid concealer, cream concealer, stick concealer and even pencil concealer! My personal favorite is creamy stick concealer. I find stick concealer gives me the optimal coverage without drying my skin. I can apply stick concealer with my finger, q-tip or a concealer brush and it is easy to carry around for touch ups. I tried cream and liquid concealer on my blemishes before, they just don’t really cover my blemishes as well as a creamy stick concealer. I bought numerous brands of concealers before, there are a few that I really like but just can’t find the perfect match and I ended up using it to mix with other colors of concealer for covering blemishes. I find drugstore brands not too reliable when it comes to cover or hide blemishes or acne scars. First, you can’t really try out the color at the store and second, the staying power is not that good. Below is a list of concealer that I tried and recommend, usually they last for a very long time. I never see the end of these concealer before, I only stopped because I know I had them for way too long (more than 2 years).

*If you use a concealer brush to cover / hide blemishes and acne, remember to wash the concealer brush everyday.  There could be bacteria on the brush that may cause more breakouts.

My current favorite concealer : MAC studio stick concealer - Perfect match! It hides my blemishes very well and doesn’t even look like I have make up on! This does not dry up my skin and there are 8 colors to choose from. This product has a slick black packaging. (I also tried studio finish concealer, it has 14 colors to choose from but it just didn’t hide or cover my blemished that well)

NARS stick concealer - it is a good concealer for hiding blemishes and acne scars if you can find a match from their 6 colors selection. I bought this one to mix colors with all my previous wrong color concealer purchases. The staying power is really good too. In the Nars cosmetics website, it says this can also be used as a eye shadow based. This product has the Nars lipstick black packaging with white letters that says NARS.

Aveda Inner Lights concealer - One of the few liquid concealer with a wand that I tried. This is also a good concealer if you can find a match from Aveda 6 colors. You definitely need a brush to use this concealer, the wand is too large to be used to cover blemishes or acne scars. It has a really thick liquid consistency.  Once you apply this on the blemish area, wait at least 5 minutes before blending it in. It will have a longer staying power. This product also cover blemished really well. This is a transparent tube with a silver top.

Cle de Peau stick concealer - This is a really good concealer if you can find a match from the 3 colors that are available. This is one of the most expensive stick concealer I tried except I couldn’t find a perfect match to my skin. I purchased the wrong one under store lighting. One stick will also last you a very long time if you are only using it to cover blemishes and acne scars. This product has a blue stripe packaging.

Origins Quick Hide easy blend concealer - Another liquid concealer that I tried. This one is alright, it does hides blemishes well but one tube will expire in a very short time. This is the only concealer that I tried that has a very short life time. It will start to smell funny after a few months usage and that is when I tossed it away. The packaging is also a transparent tube with silver-color top.

Chanel Estompe Eclat corrective concealer stick - My very first concealer. There are 3 shades to choose from but really there are only 2, the third one is a green color one that I don’t recommend using to hide or cover blemishes. This is a great concealer if you don’t need to use concealer often because this is a very small stick concealer which doesn’t last a long time compare to the others. This product has a very slim black packaging with the double cc on top of the stick.