Beauty Shopping: Concealer Hunt Continued

Yesterday I continued my concealer hunt and checked out a couple more products. What I learnt while trying out all these products is that you need to apply a bit of a moisturizer before a concealer. If you have dry skin around eyes, concealer doesn’t slide on nicely, gets immediately into the smallest creases and gives you this desperate-to-conceal look.

This time I paid a visit to Laura Mercier counter. Laura Mercier offers several products to cover up those circles and imperfections: Secret Camouflage, Secret Concealer, Under Cover, Secret Brightener.

Secret Concealer (photo on the left) is developed specially for eye area and is described as “moisture rich”. On Mercier’s website it is available in 3 tones ranging from very light to medium intensity. However in real life these tones looked much darker. So, this one was out.

Secret Camouflage (right photo)combines 2 tones in a palette and can be used to camouflage various imperfections. For some reason, the consultant did not offer me to consider that option. She suggested trying out a product called
Undercover which actually combines Secret Camouflage & Secret Concealer in one compact. I took a sit. First, a Secret Brightener was applied. I was explained that this color-correcting highlighter works to brighten dark circles, "helps to conceal violet color". Then, she applied concealer with a special brush, tapped on it – while I was wondering how long her nails are and if anybody ends up with a poked eye. Finally it was sealed with a touch of powder. I liked the results. It seemed pretty natural and it gave me a brighter, more rested look. However I was still hoping for a more intensive camouflaging effect. I also thought that to get it right I will need to invest into Secret Brightener (which I don’t really mind, while I liked the product, but I need to keep focused on concealers here!) and a powder (I use an oil absorbing one, don’t think it will be great for eye area) and a brush. Well, I decided to keep looking.

Next product I checked out was Bourjouis’ Anti Dark Circles concealer. It comes just like L’Oreal and YSL products in a pen-brush. I was pleasantly surprised with the texture. It was just a bit creamier and seemed to have a more emollient consistency in comparison to other similar products. I couldn’t really try it under eyes as I was already wearing Laura Mercier Concealer. But Bourjouis’ concealer is definitely a possibility.

So, right now I have 3 favorites on my concealer list:
1. Bobbi Brown
2. Bourjouis
3. Laura Mercier

I am thinking I need to reconsider YSL concealer, it seems to be a favourite of so many make-up artists and now I know how to correctly apply a concealer.