Tag Archives: Concealers

In My Makeup Kit: Benefit Erase Paste

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Benefits Erase PasteSo this really is the wonder eraser for the under eyes. Of all the concealers I’ve tried, this one covers with just one dab, so it’s perfect for those early mornings when your undereye circles look like they just want to go back to bed and curl up for a few more hours sleep. (A bit like their owner). But! Before you go racing off to invest, there are two drawbacks that you need to know about.

It only comes in three shades, so it’s nor for everyone. My skintone is literally the colour of Barbie (as in, melted plastic pink), so it’s perfect for me and this lives both in my kit and in my personal makeup bag, since it’s just so quick and easy. But you really need to be able to try it on to ascertain whether its amazingness is going to work on your skintone.

Also be careful not to overdo it – it’s a very creamy (yet covering) formula, but if you just blob it on, it can get a little bit goopy. Also it does need to be set with a loose powder to prevent creasing later on.

Having said that, if it IS a good colour on your skintone, it’s phenomenal as an everyday concealer. The little pot will last you a lifetime of early morning starts and undereye blitzing, and a little dab really will do ya. This truly is Erase Paste.

www.benefitcosmetics.com

Bin It: Laura Mercier Secret Brightener

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Laura Mercier Secret BrightenerI am a big, big fan of Laura Mercier products as you might know from reading of my almost creepy love of her Translucent Powder and Secret Camouflage concealer. The Secret Brightener? Not so much.

The idea is that you use this under the eye before concealer in order to “brighten dark circles, reduce shadow and minimize discolorations”, according to the website. Which sounds great in theory except that this product is pearly pink. And I mean REALLY pearly pink. Even on my Mattel-doll complexion it shows up pink under the concealer. I believe it now comes in two shades, and to be fair I haven’t tried the second shade, so I can only comment on how Number 1 looks. Also I wouldn’t know how it reads on anyone else’s skin as it never made it near my kit.

However it could be used as a pretty highlighter on the cheekbones, just please, for the love of Mary, not under the eyes. It will give you that awful deer caught in the headlights look which you see when sometimes a celebrity is caught by flash photography with the paprazzi, and their makeup artist has been slightly too generous with the under eye highlighter. As a sweet highlighter pen it’s great as it can be tossed in your bag, and it’s easy for doing delicate spots like the tip of the Cupid’s bow.

For undereye highlighting I can safely recommend YSL Touche Eclat, Clinique Airbrush and Estee Lauder Ideal Light, but not this dude.

This one, I’m sorry to say, is going in the bin.

Bin it!*

* Does not affect my love for the Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder, nor her genius concealer and powder, which I’m still evangelical about.

Best. Concealer. Ever.: Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage

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Best Concealer Ever: Laura Mercier CamouflageI can’t believe I’ve been blogging for well over a year now, and I haven’t  mentioned this trusty little helper that comes on literally every job. It’s almost as if because it’s there, just when I need it for dark circles and nasty red spots, I don’t even think about it. All these other concealers step in and steal its limelight, when really, it’s the star of the show.

It’s super thick and dense (so great for spots and blemishes), and each colour has two pans of product, one more yellow-y skin coloured one and a peach, so it can be mixed up to just the right shade. The peachier tone is perfect for concealing under-eye darkness – let’s be honest, the scourge of women everywhere.

But the trick is, you need to know how to use it. You need a brush – the Laura Mercier concealer one is pretty good, and then use the brush to mix the colours up the right way on the back of your hand. Then apply with feathering motions (or dabbing motions if it’s a spot) onto the offending area. It can be sheered out or coverage built up until all imperfections just melt away under its tender ministrations.

For under eye circles it really is usually too thick, so I generally put a bit of basic moisturiser on the back of my hand (Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Moisturiser is a favourite for this task), and dip a tiny bit on the brush, then onto the product. The moisturiser breaks it up slightly so you get sheerer coverage. Laura Mercier also makes a Secret Concealer which is more peach-y, and more emollient which I sometimes mix in too. And LM Secret Camo (for it is Secret Camo, and I am Australian, and I will abbreviate things even when it’s not appropriate) can be layered under other products too, for even more superior eyebag coverage.

It comes in 6 shades from really quite pale to reasonably deep tones, although if you are extremely pale or very dark I would stick with Becca as they have a wider selection of colours to choose from.

All in all it is my go-to concealer guy, and I owe it a major apology for not covering it sooner. I may even buy it a drink.

For more information visit http://www.lauramercier.com

Stop Press! Discount YSL Touche Eclat!

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Yves-Saint-Laurent Touche EclatYes, you heard that right – YSL’s miracle concealer wand is now cheaper – but only in Australia. It is now down in price from AUSD $78 to $55, in order to bring it into line with European and US prices for Touche Eclat.

That is exciting news not just for Touche Eclat afficianados but also for luxury cosmetics in Australia, as I hope it heralds a shift where we don’t pay quite such exorbitant amounts for makeup in Australia. I nearly passed out the first time I bought makeup back in Sydney – $78 for a blush (which is about £47). Much more expensive than the UK. This doesn’t stop Australian women from being some of the biggest cosmetics consumers on the planet, so I think it’s wonderful that YSL in Australia have recognised this discrepancy in pricing and moved to rectify it. Nasty dark eye circles rejoice and begone!

And whilst I’m at it, it has been brought to my attention that YSL now have a new shade, Number 8, which is a lemon coloured Touche Eclat. This is exciting as it really is the shade that was missing from the range (and for which I have been substituting Clinique Airbrush in my kit instead for a number of years). Number 8 was created for the Asian market so I’m not sure if it’s available in Europe, however it now means that Touche Eclat is a much more comprehensive concealer range covering pretty much everyone – darker skintones, Asian skintones, and of course, Caucasian (I usually mix number 2 and 3 for most of my fair complected clients.)

www.yslbeautyus.com

Secret Weapon: Becca Concealer

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Becca ConcealerIt’s not because I’m an Aussie that I’m partial to this lovely line made by an Australian makeup artist, Rebecca Morrice Williams – no, it takes an awful lot more than that to get a free pass in my kit these days. Space is at a premium, baby! And because of my severe space issues, for a while I took out my selection of Becca concealers. But I quickly found out, I couldn’t live without them. No, really.

The Becca range is designed around the foundations and concealers – they are the DNA of the brand if you like, and the CRAZY idea, that people are different colors – not just 6 shades of Barbie doll beige (not mentioning any names here, but you know which brands you are), or even worse, one shade fits all. Because in this crazy patchwork quilt world we live in, 6 shades of foundation just doesn’t cut the mustard. Which is why Becca has a whopping 31 shades of stick foundation, and 34 of concealer. And, my beauty loving friends, why I can’t live without it. Because it has certain shades you just can’t get anywhere else. I’m talking alabaster white for our fair skinned sisters, and the deeper duskier hues of caramel and walnut for black skins, which often have undertones of green and red (or even yellow if you’re mixed race), that the bigger cosmetics players don’t address. I defy you to try Becca and not meet your match.

Regular Moleage fans probably know that I endlessly bang the drum for cosmetics houses to be in more inclusive of all skintones – reason being I’m a fair skinned blonde, so for me personally I’ll be right Jack, I’ve got a zillion shades in every brand to choose from, but as a makeup artist I get to feel the pain of anyone who doesn’t have whitebread skin. I have to deal with every type of skin and every type of skin tone, and it’s taken me literally YEARS to find the right products.

Which is why Becca is back in my kit and staying there, because not only is the color range second to none, it covers with serious staying powder and can be used equally under the eyes, or on a pimple without cakiness (as you can sheer it out with a brush). And even more genius! It comes in two densities in one compact – one lighter for under the eye, and the heavier one for any skin problems.

Kay Montano also loves it, and uses concealer in Cappucino on Thandie Newton, Sherbert on Nicole Kidman and Praline on Rachel Weisz.

Bin It – Chantecaille Total Concealer

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Chantecaille Total ConcealerOh how it pains me to write a negative review about Chantecaille – there are so many great products in their lovely, plant based botanical range – but this ain’t one of them.

I have tried this concealer quite a few times because I do so want to like it – their Future Skin foundation is one of my all-time favourites – but every time it’s just one big disappointment. I’ve tried it on a few jobs, and at home on myself, to no avail.

It’s a thick cream which I paint on with a small brush (as I do with all my concealers), and it doesn’t sheer out properly – it sits on the area you’re trying to conceal like concrete spackle. To be fair, it is a full coverage concealer and I know there is a market for this type of product, however it’s a bit hardcore to my tastes. With a bit more blending it improves, but it sort of clings to the under eye area, making it look powdery, cakey and dry – not cute! You know those pictures of celebrities you see every once in awhile when they look like a deer caught in the headlights, their under eyes flashing like radioactive fallout due to over-zealous concealer application? This is what I’m talking about. Even worse, it disappears after a couple of hours, leaving a pale, powdery residue on a hitherto corrected but now obviously UN-corrected dark circle. Great. Thanks.

They have another concealer called Bio-Lift Concealer which is supposed to be amazing, so I’ll need to give it a go soon in order to recover from the shock of a Chantecaille product I don’t like – really, it’s quite disturbing. I love their skincare, foundations, brushes and blushes – even their eyebrow pencils are pretty good. But the Total Concealer? Not so much.

BIN IT!

In My Makeup Kit: Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealers

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Concealer is a key, key product in my kit, because if your skin doesn’t look good, you don’t look good. Quite frankly I could live without foundation, but if you expect me to do a face without concealer – well let’s just say it wouldn’t be easy.

Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer

Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer

 I have to confess that the reason I got into the Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealers was because they gave me the a-m-a-z-i-n-g Pro Palette, and before this, I was a hardcore Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage girl.

Pro Palette

Pro Palette

 Don’t get me wrong, Secret Camo is still on my workbench for every job, but more and more I’m reaching for my Bobbi Brown, and recommending it to clients. The secret is in the Correctors, which come in tones from pale pink to dark peach, and can be layered with the concealer to properly correct under eye circles. You can also layer it over their genius Eye Brightener (which comes in four color correcting tones) if you have very dark under eye circles.

 The Creamy Concealer comes in fourteen shades, and Bobbi’s range of foundation and concealer shades is one of my favourites for women of color (the other good range is Becca). With the Pro palette you can mix and match to get just the right shade, but it is quite expensive, so for those of you who aren’t either employed in the realms of makeup or completely obsessed (ahem), this could be overkill.

Eye Brightener

Eye Brightener

 Simply apply with a concealer brush on any skin blemishes or under eye circles, and tap in with a finger (no wiping or swiping please! If you are sweeping the product around on the surface of the skin, you ain’t doing it right.) Press it in and let the warmth of your fingers melt the concealer into the skin, then dust over with a TOUCH of translucent powder using a fluffy brush (like a small eyeshadow brush). This will set the makeup.

 Voila! No more ugly under eye luggage, and your skin looks like a dream.