Thursday, May 22, 2008

Concealer reviews

Hello ladies! I have missed all of you! Even if I've been such a delinquent, please don't think that my interest in makeup has waned a single bit. If anything, I've become more into makeup and skin care products than ever before. I have to, unless I want eyebags, wrinkles, breakouts and all other stress-related problems to completely take over my life.

Moving on!

The topic for today is CONCEALER.

You all know my obsession with concealer. It really is heaven sent! Well, at least for those like me who really need them.

I've been trying different concealers and so far, here are some good choices.

1. TheBalm Time Balm Concealer
- Tucked away on a little, inconspicuous shelf in Beauty Bar is the Time Balm Concealer of The Balm. It's easy to miss this product, especially as this is surrounded by other big name brands like Smashbox or Red Earth but do go check this out. The Concealer comes in four shades (if you're morena, I suggest you go for Medium). The texture is creamy, although it's less creamy than say, Cinema Secrets or MAC concealers. It's chalkier and not as easy to apply, but don't let that deter you. When you apply it, it stays on forever! Really, I go running with this baby. I can sweat a lot and it still won't rub off.

You don't even have to put on powder over it anymore. Once you put these on dark spots, or dark undereye circles, you're good to go. You can even use it on your legs, to hide unsightly scars or small varicose veins, although if you do that I suggest you top it off with powder to enhance its staying power. It really does the trick of covering dark undereye circles, which is a perennial problem of mine. Plus, if you suddenly find yourself out of powder, you don't have to worry as the color of the concealer blends seamlessly onto your skin.

One last tip: Go to Beauty Bar in Shangri-La, because they actually have testers for this product. Other Beauty Bar branches don't, which is a pity. You have to rely on guesswork, and that really takes the fun out of makeup shopping! Not to mention you risk paying good money for a product you're not sure works well on your skintone.

2. Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage -The Secret Camouflage is one of Laura Mercier's bestsellers so of course I had to check it out. What I like about Secret Camouflage is that one package comes in two colors, so you can blend to get an exact match for your skin tone. I suggest you go for set 04. The consistency is similar to that of Time Balm, in that it's not super creamy, but it spreads out evenly. It really does cover imperfections very well and it didn't cake on me when I used it under my eyes. Staying power is excellent too! No wonder this is such a hit.

3. L'Oreal True Match Super Blendable Concealer
- This nifty little liquid concealer is a particular favorite of mine. It does the job of brightening up dark areas, like undereye circles. The downside maybe is the brush, because you can't really use it as a concealer brush. It's only good for applying the product onto the skin. The brush is too small and too soft to actually blend the product well. What I do is just use my fingers, or those wedged sponges to even out the product.

Actually, on regular days, I can just use this concealer on problem areas, like my eyes, on the sides of my nose and around my lips and top it off with powder. No need to put on foundation because that already brightens up my face to a considerable degree. Then I just fix my brows, dust a little bit of eyeshadow, swipe on my favorite blush, put on lipgloss, curl my lashes, and that's it. I look human again, at the very least.

So here are some more concealers for you to check out. Next up: Concealer Brushes

11 comments:

AskMeWhats said...

yay to concealers! they are sooo useful !!!! :) but those days that I don't find blemishes ( i am hoping everyday), i just use foundation and its ok :) thanks for this, I tried True Match of Loreal and it works raelly well, but I didn't buy it at that time coz I still have a couple of concealers to finish up :)

Liz said...

i'm glad to see a blog update from you. yay!

i tried L'oreal True Match concealer, and it's really good.. I still am loyal to NYX concealer, though. ;-)

Jillsabs said...

the l'oreal concealer got me all curious. my mineral makeup concealer is about to run out na so this review was really helpful :)

liz: is nyx a singaporean brand?

Anonymous said...

Another nice concealer to use is the Prestige concealer, also in Beauty Bar. It comes in pen form, and it's easy to apply too! :D

I want to try the true match make-up though! :)

Liz said...

jill.. nope. it's from the US, if i am not mistaken. :-)

mia said...

Hello ladies!

Hi Nikki, what concealers do you use? What's your favorite? I'm always concealer-hunting =D

Hi Liz! We don't have NYX here, boo!! Well we do, a little here and there, but if we want NYX we still have to ask our friends and family to get them for us. I hope they bring it here!

mia said...

Hi Jill! Lemme know how True Match goes for you! =D

Hi anonymous! Thanks for the tip re Prestige! I'll definitely have to check that out. That pen form reminds me of YSL Touche Eclat, but it's pretty pricey, so a cheaper version of that would be great!

AskMeWhats said...

Prestige came out I believe with a really good concealer but it was discontinued.

I'm now using the NYX Concealer in a Jar and it's my HG!!! I love it, it's creamy yet not oily! It dried out as powder form yet it's not flaky :) I believe you can buy it in Singapore..I ordered mine online :(

Jillsabs said...

hi mia!

can i crosspost this on kikay ex?

mia said...

Hi Wheng! Yeah too bad we don't have NYX in Manila. I think it would be such a great hit here!

Hi Jill, sure! Thanks! =D

Jillsabs said...

Hi Mia!

There are a few questions regarding your concealer post on kikay exchange. Maybe you can answer them? :)