Concealer that works

[LadyDMacbeth]

In the last few months, I’ve purchased different under eye concealers, hope they’d do something about my dark circles and occasional bags. I can’t seem to be successful at picking a good one and I’m getting frustrated. My skin looks fine and I don’t have too many wrinkles for my age, but the under eye area gives it all away! Anyone have a recommendation for a good one? I’ve recently read to go with high pigmented ones to get greater coverage. Thank you!!!

[WinglessOne]

Thanks for the tag @GG84 !  🙂

@LadyDMacbeth  Is lack of coverage your only problem? Or do you experience things like cakey concealer, creasing, etc.? Are your dark circles hereditary, or are they caused by sunken skin (hollow tear troughs; this is mostly what causes mine), sun damage, lack of sleep, or allergies? 

You can’t cover bags with concealer. Well, I mean you can, but that won’t hide them. It’ll likely draw more attention to them. The trick to concealing bags is to apply a tiny bit of concealer—ideally a shade lighter than your natural skin tone, but sometimes a shade near your skin tone can work—only to the shadow beneath the bag, keeping concealer off the bag. This reduces the shadow and makes the bag area look a bit flatter. Even this won’t completely hide eye bags, but it does create an optical illusion that can make bags look less prominent. I’d post photos showing how I do this, if I wasn’t already wearing concealer... I can do that for you later though, if you’d like. Wayne Goss has a video showing this technique. 

For full dark circle coverage, try one or more of these things: 

First option - use a color corrector, or a concealer in a color correcting shade. Your best shade depends on your skin tone and dark circle color. If this takes care of your dark circles, hooray! If not, apply concealer (in your skin tone or slightly lighter) over that. I sometimes use Bobbi Brown Under Eye Corrector Porcelain Bisque, but I prefer to just use a color correcting shade of concealer. For me, that’s either BECCA - Ultimate Coverage Longwear Concealer in shade Cinnamon or NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer Madeleine in shade Truffle. 

Second option - use a full coverage concealer. I’m trying not to go off on my usual “ALL concealers crease” rant here, but thick concealers can chisel your lines/wrinkles and get all cakey and cause bad words to be spoken. tarte Maracuja Creaseless Concealer 34H Medium Honey (which is NOT creaseless) is a good example: this is full coverage and quite thick, and it works well for me—as long as I keep it away from my lines, which I try to do with all concealers anyway. A lot of people hate this concealer, and I think that’s because they try to use it the way youtubers/Instagrammers apply concealer (slather lots of it on the entire undereye in a V pattern). The Becca Ultimate Coverage concealer I mentioned is also thick, though not as thick as that Tarte concealer. It’s now my favorite concealer. I love it even more than my old longtime love, NARS Radiant Creamy. But that’s because I apply the smallest amount necessary, and only on the specific areas where I need it. Some folks have better results with a pot or stick concealer, like NARS Soft Matte Complete Concealer Biscuit or BAREMINERALS - BAREPRO® 16-Hr Full Coverage Concealer. Those typically don’t work well for me, but your mileage may vary. 

Third option - add a bit of highlighter to the shadow beneath your eye bags. I do this when my hollow shadows are especially dark—usually when I also have other darkness caused by allergies or lack of sleep. This can bounce light off your shadows. Sometimes I use NARS - Highlighting Powder in St. Barths (your best shade will vary). But lately, I’ve been using Hourglass Ambient® Lighting Finishing Powder Dim Light in Radiant Light. Those Hourglass powders aren’t really highlighters, they’re finishing powders. (The “Strobe” versions are highlighters, though.) They’re subtle enough to not give me a disco ball effect under my eyes; instead, I get a soft sheen of light there. I usually apply it over my concealer and setting powder (my favorite setting powder, while I’m listing products, is By Terry Hyaluronic Hydra-Powder), but you can also try applying a true highlighter beneath your concealer, especially a medium coverage concealer. A couple times, I’ve applied color corrector, then the NARS highlighter, and then a medium coverage concealer like Glossier’s (I have a love-hate relationship with that concealer), and finally setting powder. But since I prefer the fewest layers of product necessary under my eyes, I just do concealer + setting powder + occasional highlighter. 

If your dark circles are caused by hollow skin, you could also go the dermal filler route. I haven’t done that because I’m a big baby who hates hypodermic needles and the thought of one aimed at my undereyes freaks me out. (Yes, I have tattoos, but that’s not the same! 😩) But injectables like Juvaderm or Restylane could work well for you. Just another option to consider. 

This is a lot more than I meant to write about concealers. 😄 I hope some of this was helpful! 

[GG84]

@WinglessOne I feel like could answer this