My currently most-used concealers seem to run the gamut as far as formulation goes. I’ve been using a combination of creams and liquids to both conceal and brighten with varying results. I’ve also been testing out a variety of brushes to work with products and have found a few favorites, so it’s definitely time to share.
First, I most often use concealer as a brightener in a liquid/gel pen formula underneath the eyes, on the brow bone and anywhere else that I want to lighten shadows. Depending on the day, I might use a damp sponge to apply my concealer but my go-to blending tool is a Sonia Kashuk No. 07 synthetic concealer brush. I use both stipling and sweeping motions with the brush, first to pat the concealer into the skin and then to blend the edges out.
Napoleon Perdis Mighty Concealer Pen
Status: Holy Grail
Full review: here
Since Napoleon Perdis is no longer sold in stores in the US, I’ve been trying out a few other brightening products without the best results. Sad fact: the Mighty Concealer Pen has ruined me for any other brightening pens. While I was able to stock up on a few of these absolutely amazing Mighty Concealer Pens (I use Mellow Yellow), I’m now down to my last one. Fortunately, I just found out that I can re-order from the Napoleon Perdis website and have items shipped to the US. Hooray!
Since starting Tazorac last year, I still do get the occasional blemish and have the sort of skin that hyper pigments for months up to a full year. I’ve tried quite a few creams products, thinking that they would have the best coverage. I know that they work great for some people but I just haven’t had any luck. My last tries have been with the Make Up Forever Concealer Palette No. 2 and Tarte’s Amazonian Clay Waterproof concealer in fair. I use both a detail concealer and blending brush from Sonia Kashuk.
While I love Tarte’s Amazonian Clay Foundation, the concealer doesn’t work well for me. It may be because I’ve had a hard time warming the product before blending, I’m not sure. I’ve hit pan blending a lot of the different options in the Make Up Forever palette together but didn’t have better results. I think if I was concealing larger areas and using a damp sponge, these products hold the possibility of being great. However, these products aren’t quite what I need for pinpoint concealing.
I heard the raves. I read the raves. I even watched the rave videos. And I still waited way too long to finally give Urban Decay’s Naked Skin Weightless Complete Coverage Concealer a shot. Need to cover a blemish? Use it. Want to conceal discoloration under the eye? Use it. Think a little brightening would be nice? Use it.
My technique with this product is to dab the doe-foot wand onto the back of my hand and then use a detail concealer brush to apply it to the spots I want to conceal. I let it set for ten to twenty seconds or so and then very, very gently blend the edges with a concealer brush. Done. Blemish, hyper-pigmentation marks? Forgotten. Redness around the nose? History. Hours later when I look in the mirror? It’s still doing its job.
I use this concealer mostly for traditional concealing and not brightening, so I went with a color that matched my skin (medium to light, neutral). Love it!
A little about my favorite concealing brushes– all are from Target! I have quite a few other brushes from MAC as well as some smaller concealing sponges and they just don’t hold up the same. The three brushes pictured above are, from top to bottom, No. 116, No. 07 and No. 05. I don’t know if the No. 05 is still around but the other two are definitely available at the time of this post.
Thanks for reading and if you have any questions or suggestions, please be sure to leave a comment.
