I have long sung the praises of Clinique Airbrush Concealer. I first noticed it on one of Lisa Eldridge’s videos, and immediately bought it. I figured it had to be the best, I mean, Miss Eldridge can do no wrong, right? I’ve used it for years, and I love it, I really do…it’s just that I was relatively well rested during those few years and now I’m…not. You guys, I look like a mess. (I CURSE YOU, INSOMNIA.)
While the Clinique concealer has been a loyal, trusty companion, it’s time to pull out the big guns for the time being. So, I’ve been doing some research (surprise, surprise) on some bestsellers and also put a call out on the Whoorl Facebook page last week. (We like to talk about makeup. Lots.)
Here’s what I’ve found so far.
Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer, $33 – A front runner from the Facebook convo, but I noticed many negative reviews on Sephora. What gives? Here are some comments from my FB lady friends:
“In exhaustive research on dark circle concealing, most people recommend either Laura Mercier or Bobbi Brown’s concealer kit, which I really like and get at Sephora.”
“Two words. Bobbie Brown.”
“I love Bobbi Brown.”
“I have pretty dark circles so I use the corrector first and layer the creamy concealer on top. I set my whole face with her powder so just use that on my under eye area too. I say “set my whole face” like I wear makeup but most days lately I’m lucky if I get concealer on. Her BB cream if fantastic though too.”
“I also use Bobbi Brown, but not the kit. I use the corrector and then the concealer and then I set it withe Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder…”
NARS Concealer, $28 – I’m a NARS junkie, so I am hopeful this concealer could be great. I like that it’s a liquid – obviously easy to blend. Some comments:
“NARS has a stellar one.”
“I’m a huge fan of the NARS concealer. I am pretty hopeless when it comes to applying makeup and it’s so easy to use.”
“Nars’ newest concealer (Radiant Creamy Concealer) is pretty great.”
Benefit Boing, $20 or Erase Paste, $26 – I already have this in my arsenal, but haven’t been using it lately. Maybe I should bust it out again? I sure seemed to love it in 2010.
“I use a combo of Benefit products: Stay Don’t Stray and Boing. (I use) Fingers all the way.” (ME TOO. Have no time for concealer brushes!)
“I love Benefit’s “Erase Paste”, it can be a bit dry, but I put it on over my foundation and then blend it out and it works great. I’ve got light skin with olive tones but some wicked undereye circles and have found it to be the very best at covering. And a little goes a long way.”
“Another vote for benefit’s erase paste. i have fair skin and dark circles–works really well for me and i love the texture. very easy to blend with your finger, i never use the spatula provided, total PITA.”
Clinique Airbrush Concealer, $19.50 – Mah baby, but we need to take a break.
Amazing Concealer, $42 – I used this concealer back in the day when there were only a few shades. Goodness, this stuff is POTENT, but it really does the job. My only beef was that the color didn’t match well, however, now that they’ve introduced tons of new shades to the line, could this be the one for me?
Josie Maran Creamy Concealer Crayon, $20 – Now, no one mentioned this new product, but I have high hopes for this one. First off, I love Josie Maran, and secondly, a concealer pencil? COULD LIFE GET ANY EASIER?! Just draw right over those dark circles! (Please let this one be the one please let this one be the one.)
Laura Mercier Secret Camoflauge, $32 – I have a feeling this is too solid to blend well. Comments have been varied:
“I use the Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage and love it. It is very easily blendable, doesn’t dry, and I like that I can adjust the colour to the season (and how much sun I’ve had). That said, I use mine more to cover my mild rosacea redness than dark undereye circles.”
“I used Secret Concealer for years, but it became too dry. I was constantly blending it with eye cream.”
“LOVE this concealer. love that you can blend the two colors to make it just right for either under eye or blemish concealing. I always use my finger too, because i feel like the warmth of my skin makes the concealer a better consistency.”
“I used to love secret concealer but I found it to cake and dry some.”
“I feel like LM secret camo is more for blemishes and kind of dry.”
“I will say I do NOT like Secret Camouflage, and do not find it easy to blend especially under the eyes. If you like Laura Mercier, they have an under eye concealer, called Under Eye Perfector.”
YSL Touche Eclat, $40 – I’ve wanted to try this for years, but always wondered if the formula was similar to Clinique since they are both in click applicators. Mixed reviews as an undereye concealer.
“I used to love secret concealer but I found it to cake and dry some. Now I’m loving this – I put on with brush and then wait a few min before I blend with my fingers. Best I have found and my dark circles are epic.”
“The YSL Touche Eclat is a fantastic highlighter, but is not actually a concealer, so sadly it won’t help any more than your Clinique airbrush (my personal favorite light-reflective concealer).”
MAC Select Cover Up, $18 – Love me some MAC, and these comments sound promising:
“M.A.C. Select Cover Up is the only thing that can hide my raccoon eyes. It’s heavier, and dries quickly so you have to work fast but I love it. And I only use my fingers.”
“I’ve tried many but I always come back to MAC Select Cover Up. It’s creamy, blendable and stays on stubbornly.”
Cle de Peau Concealer, $70 – One of my best friends swears by this, and she’s usually right on when it comes to skincare and makeup. Hey, I’ll pay the price tag for results! (Although, SEVENTY DOLLARS?)
“Cle de Peau…hands down the best! Yes, it is expensive BUT it lasts forever!!!”
“Yep, definitely Cle de Peau.”
“If you have an extra arm and leg to spend, you won’t be disappointed with Cle de Peau.”
Other notable mentions:
Laura Mercier Secret Concealer – the pot version
T. LeClerc Correcting Fluid Pen
I’m headed to Sephora very soon with the hopes of finding my next companion. Will report back. In the meantime, have I missed any major contenders?
Shopmomma
August 19, 2013 at 6:24 pmSeriously, I would die if Loreal stopped making their Visible Lift Serum Abdolute concealer. I have tried most of these on your list, except the two priciest, and this is hands down, my favorite ever. Great click and brush application, SPF, fantastic coverage and formula. Try it! (Although I am very intrigued with your findings on the Josie Maran stick. I use all her face stuff and love it!) I’ll wait for your test drive.
Mary
August 21, 2013 at 2:32 pmI have to 2nd Shopmomma in that I LOVE the Loreal Visible Lift click pen concealer. I have Boing, Touche Eclat, Laura Mercier single pot concealer, Erase Paste, Maybelline Instant Age Rewind, Amazing Cosmetics Amazing Concealer, Clinque Air Brush concealer (Yes, I’m obsessed with concealer also). I don’t have dark circles but a little darkness and DRYNESS so it’s so hard to get coverage without caking and creasing. I like the YSL but it’s pricey, I like Benefit Boing and the Laura Mercier pots of concealer but if I don’t put on enough eye cream, it will look cakey and crepey. I didn’t like the Maybelline Instant Age Rewind (didn’t like the sponge applicator and the consistency was just weird to me). Amazing concealer (which you’ve used before), is highly pigmented but has to be applied carefully to avoid creasing. I really like the click pen style of the Clinique, YSL, and Loreal Visible Lift when doing the inverted triangle. I find that the inverted triangle method doesn’t work as well with the heavier concealers. They are just way too heavy to put on that much skin area (at least for me they are). So for my purposes and price, the click pen Loreal Visible Lift has worked really well. I just bought my 2nd one yesterday!! Good luck with your search.
Christine | Life in a Dress
August 19, 2013 at 7:06 pmMy vote goes for the BB duo with Stay don’t Stray underneath. I’ve been using it for years but I’m dying to try CDP.
MAC Select Cover Up was good but I think products meant to be layered have better staying power (this is probably all in my head).
I was not pleased at all with YSL Touche Clat, I thought it went on a little chalky. Laura Mercier also went on a bit dry but I have dry skin so maybe I didn’t moisturize enough before hand.
Can’t wait to see what you like best!
Tess
August 19, 2013 at 11:40 pmAs a med student, I am no stranger to sleepless nights. Thus, I have extensively researched this.
-Bobbi Brown: good color range, creases galore. I wanted to love it…
-Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage: ACK. I loathe this product. I am so glad it works for so many people, but man have I tried. Dry, difficult to blend, inconsistent cover. And yet, I tried again. No dice for me. Just seriously I am like LM SC dumb over here.
-Also loathe the Benefit concealers. Like, all of them. Across the board. Additionally, none of their shades are light enough for me. sadtrombone.com
-NARS radiant: OH MAN did I want to love this- I am the most porcelain of porcelain skin tones and their range of colors is just not to be beat. It was strangely drying/crepey on me (an accomplishment considering I just turned 30 a month ago), and required too much muss and fuss to apply it in a way that was lasting and natural. If you find success with it, I would love to hear how! (Honestly, I like the original NARS stick way better than the radiant even for undereye. Perhaps I am an oil slick and need something a smidge drier than the Radiant.)
-Amazing Concealer: great, full, very full coverage. Sometimes would be sort of cakey, but overall pretty good. Possibly my second choice.
I could go on, but will stop myself. The winner, hands down for me is Giorgio Armani High Precision Retouch. I have bought a tube of that each year for like 5 years now. Everytime I try something new, it ends up just getting usurped once again by my old fave. It’s really liquidy, which sounds not good, but it’s also really pigmented. It never creases undereye. AND the best part to me is that I can use it for blemishes too, which is not true of many undereye concealers. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this stuff. It wears pretty well, too – I mean no makeup lasts through a 28 hour shift, but this gets pretty close to 18 hours on me.
Alllll that said, I am really curious about the Josie Maran pencil, and Urban Decay also has one. Looking forward to your reviews!
Kristiina
August 20, 2013 at 4:34 amYay, makeup talk! :) I have the purple/blue circles under my eyes (damn you, allergies). The YSL highlighter is no good for covering these babies..i’ve used something from Clinique with decent results (can’t remember what). I tried the Bobbi Brown concealer/corrector thru QVC and have never looked back. I have to use the corrector first…no way around it. And light, thin layers are the key to making it not cakey. Her videos are helpful, but I didn’t get it until I saw her demo it on QVC. Also–if you use too much eye cream it doesn’t work as well…I look 10 years younger in my pics–no lie.
Mallory
August 20, 2013 at 6:31 amOK, I already commented on Facebook (I’m the T. Le Clerc girl) but I have one more, since you said you don’t like using eye cream. Over the summer I’ve been using Perricone’s No Concealer Concealer and have been very happy. What I particularly like about the T. Le Clerc is that it has a yellow tone to counteract the purple of my circles against my very pale skin; I don’t need that as much, when I have just a touch more color during the summer, and the Perricone is basically eye cream (with SPF) and concealer in one so perfect for my summertime needs.
SFDC
August 20, 2013 at 8:55 amI’ve had good luck with the Laura Mercier version in the little pot. Never seemed dry to me!
Stickyheels
August 20, 2013 at 9:23 amAmazing Cosmetics Amazing concealer with Laura Mercier Eye Primer (Wheat – to brighten my eyelids b/c for some reason that seems to make a HUGE difference), and (if I’m feeling like I need it) Touch E’clat (color #3.5) to highlight/brighten is my holy trinity of eye/undereye coverage and brightening.
Runner up for me goes to Benefit Fake Up for being easy to use w/ staying power (just not as delightfully pigmented and matchy as Amazing Cosmetics).
Stickyheels
August 20, 2013 at 9:26 amPS- FWIW: have heard from my dermatologist that MAC is basically the worst product line for your skin. That might get me some hate mail.
Christa
August 20, 2013 at 6:49 pmHey Sarah,
I really like Lancôme genifique eye light pearl. It is a serum that I use for dark circles. It works instantly upon application. It is a lifesaver! Excited to see which concealers you select.
http://www.lancome-usa.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-lancome_us-Site/default/Product-Show?pid=100600&cm_mmc=Mercent-_-CSE-_-Google-_-GenifiqueEyeLight-Pearl&cm_mmc=LabeliumSearch-_-GooglePE-_-any-_-any&cse=l_google&mr:trackingCode=91C11B56-07D5-E111-AC8D-001B21A69EB0&mr:referralID=NA&mr:adType=pla&bookmark=247333
Elizabeth Dolan
August 21, 2013 at 8:19 amSo excited to hear the results. I use Boing and like it quite a bit, but am always looking for something even better. I hate my dark circles! Elizabeth
Becky
August 21, 2013 at 9:39 amI swore by MUFE undereye concealer for about 10 years. It was light and did a good job. I recently discovered IT Cosmetics and their Bye Bye Under Eye, in combination with their Illuminator, and I can’t BELIEVE what a difference it makes in my appearance! This is a must-try combination!
shelly
August 21, 2013 at 11:34 amI’m still on the search for my perfect concealer too. I find some formulas are great, but there just doesn’t seem to be a color for me (like the Nars one).
It also seems that the Laura Mercier products are getting confused. There are two–Secret Concealer (for under eyes) and Secret Camouflage (much more formulated for hiding blemishes/imperfections as it is very dry).
I’m been interested in the Josie Maran stick one too. I cannot wait to see where your research leads you.
Faith
August 21, 2013 at 12:33 pmTrish Mcevoy Instant Eye Lift. Awesome stuff. Love it!
Faith
August 21, 2013 at 12:37 pmAlso flawless concealer…..http://www.trishmcevoy.com/c-273-see-the-collection.aspx
Melissa
August 25, 2013 at 6:07 pmBeing a 36 year old with occasional insomnia, Make Up Forever’s Full Coverage Concealer has become my holy grail. Superb coverage, no creasing, blends beautifully. And bonus, you need such a tee-tiny amount. I’ve been using the same tube daily for at least 8 months!
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