All covered up (a concealer comparison)

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My skin  has been a little bit troublesome in the past (psh, understatement!), but even though it’s mostly under control these days I still have lots of discoloration to deal with. So, as you can imagine, I’ve built up a pretty decent stash of concealers. Finding the perfect concealer is a long process (and a pain!) so I thought maybe a comparison would save some trouble.

The ones I have right now are Tarte Maracuja Creaseless Concealer (just a sample, but it’s a huge one), Maybelline FitMe Concealer, Hourglass Hidden Corrective Concealer, Amazing Cosmetics Concealer and Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer.

I got the Tarte Maracuja Creaseless Concealer specifically to use under my eyes, which is why it’s so much lighter than the others. This shade (Light) is  neutral leaning slightly pink, and is great for covering and brightening up dark circles. The coverage is quite good, and true to the name it creases less than pretty much any other concealer I’ve tried. I find that it fades a little bit during the day, but not terribly. It’s very moisturizing, which is a must for the thin skin in that area.

I also picked up Maybelline FitMe Concaler in #10 Light to use under my eyes, but I definitely chose the wrong color; it’s a bit too dark, and leans pretty yellow. The texture is very liquid-y but it seems to be a little bit drying on my skin. The coverage is pretty thin, so I have to use quite a bit of it – which leads to creasing. Overall it’s my least favorite.

Hourglass Hidden Corrective Concealer (I have it in Natural) comes in a stick form. It’s creamy and moisturizing, with medium coverage. It has a tendency to crease in the fine lines under my eyes, but it’s great for brightening up undereye bags.

For hyperpigmentation or blemishes on my face, Amazing Cosmetics Concealer is one of my go-to’s. I wear the color Medium Beige. It’s a little thick but it blends without much trouble (you’ll want a dense brush for sure though), and it sits nicely on the skin even when I use it over larger areas. The coverage is great. So great, in fact, that I have trouble using up the large tube before it expires. I definitely recommend the travel size tube if you don’t have much to cover. It’s a little too thick to use under the eyes; it can be a bit hard to blend without tugging at the skin there, and it creases a little bit in my fine lines (which oddly enough doesn’t happen on the rest of my face). There are 20 different shades in this one, so there’s a good bet most people can find a match.

My other face/blemish concealer is Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer, which I’ve swatched here in SX09. I also have SX02, which I mix in to get a good color match. This one is crazy thick, but the coverage in phenomenal. It looks great over small areas, but when I try to use it as foundation (which some folks do) it settles into my pores and really emphasizes uneven texture. It creases like crazy under my eyes, so I don’t even attempt that anymore. So, in other words, I like this best for spot-concealing.

But, the coverage, what is the coverage like???? I couldn’t think of a great way to get a good comparison on my face since the color is a bit uneven all over. Instead, I put approximately equal amounts of each one over a tattoo, and then blended them lightly with the Eco Tools concealer brush.

Top to bottom: Tarte, Maybelline, Hourglass, Amazing Cosmetics, Kevyn Aucoin

As you can tell, the Maybelline concealer has the least coverage of them all, followed by Hourglass. That doesn’t mean they’re bad, of course – just that you’ll need a little bit more to get the same amount of coverage. Tarte and Amazing Cosmetics have pretty similar coverage, and Kevyn Aucoin definitely has the most. Right now my everyday concealer combo is Amazing Cosmetics for the face, and Tarte under the eyes. I feel like I should also mention that the bigger tube of Amazing Cosmetics concealer is going to be  50% off on 3/26/2014 as part of >Ulta’s 21 Days of Beauty sale. I’m running low on my current tube so I’ll definitely be picking another one up.

What’s your holy grail concealer? Leave it in the comments so we can check it out!