Concealer Review Series: Cover Girl Simply Ageless Concealer

I love that this concealer comes swirled with a moisturizer. See that pretty little swirl? It is there to help keep your undereye area from becoming a caky, line settling mess. Love! This concealer also has a companion corrector (learn how to use those in this post about concealers and correctors), which looks and feels almost exactly the same. The corrector is the same color range as the light concealer, but with a light peach tint.



Consistency: Cake, though it feels more smooth than most cake concealers
Blendability: I found it easy to blend at first, though it sets quickly and becomes difficult to blend. I recommend working in sections of an area, the entire undereye area was too much.
Buildable coverage: 2 layers are fine, more doesn't play well together.
Feeling on skin: Medium feeling
Wear: ~10 hours
Problems with wear: Caking and Settles into fine lines after the 10 hours are up. I'm not sure why, but when I use this concealer it's like Cinderella. At an appointed time, suddenly things are not what they were just a short time before.
Shades Available: 4 shades


Cover Girl Simply Ageless Concealer

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Concealer Series: Dalton Line and Crease

Dalton is a new line for me, though they've long been a QVC favorite. Their face products contain "Dermaflex Technology, a proprietary formula that combines specific ingredients designed to flex and move with your skin allowing you to express yourself without settling." So, basically they've tried to make their products move with you throughout the day. Sounds pretty good to me!

The concealer also contains hyaluronic acid to help with hydration and light reflectors to help distract from fine lines and wrinkles. I don't notice there being any shimmer (this is good, sometimes the light reflection is too much), and I was pretty happy with how the concealer worked overall. I did have to use several light layers to cover my stubborn visible capillary under my eye.



Consistency: While the concealer comes in a pot and is in a cake form, it seems a bit less compact and "looser" than many traditional cake concealers.
Blendability: Since it is a bit creamier than other cakes, I did find it easier to blend.
Buildable coverage: Yes, though I recommend stopping at 3 light layers as it starts to cake a little bit.
Feeling on skin: Medium weight in feeling
Wear: 8-10 hours
Problems with wear: Caking as noted above with too many layers
Shades Available: 4 colors available

Dalton Line and Crease

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Concealer Series: FACE Stockholm's Magic Wand

This concealer seems to be a little more moisturizing than most, so it needs less area prep for perfect application. I love the wand it comes in, perfect for on the go application! Be careful if you need more coverage, building too many layers does result in some caking with this product. This is one I'll be keeping in my purse for on the go touchups.


Consistency: Liquid, comes in a wand with a brush end
Blendability: Very blendable
Buildable coverage: Yes
Feeling on skin: Lightweight
Wear: ~10 hours
Problems with wear: Caking, with many layers this becomes apparent towards the end of the day
Shades Available: 4 shades, better for those with fair skin

FACE Stockholm Magic Wand

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Every Thing You Ever Wanted to Know About Under Eye Circles, Bags and More....

In my recent post on how to use concealer and corrector on your under eye area I very briefly alluded to under eye bags and what causes them. I didn't go in to it, as that's a whole other ball of wax. It's a post that I've had in the back of my mind for years, but for some reason I've never gotten around to writing it.

Well, I don't need to write it after all! Dr Cynthia Bailey, my favorite dermatologist, has written an amazingly comprehensive and easy to understand post on what causes under eye circles, bags and puffiness. This is the post I've wanted to write for years, but better written and more inclusive. Definitely go check it out.

Dr Bailey Skincare


Pictured above is my new mommy under eye area, sans makeup and eye cream. I felt the need to share since I had a picture in the concealer post that was on a good day, with amazing lighting, and so blown up that everything looked incredibly smooth. I felt the need to pull this pic out of my iPhoto trash (see why it was there??) to show that I definitely have bags! At least those bags had the decency to be insanely expensive luggage in this post. You can even see my visible capillary. It's been there since I was little and is really hard to cover with concealer, hence my obsession with highly pigmented concealers.

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Concealer Series: L'Oreal Paris True Match Concealer

One of the things that I love about this product, truly, is the way in which the shades are labelled. How many times have I tried to buy a new foundation, concealer and powder set in a store (from the same line in a brand) and had each product have a different name? All things like natural beige or bisque... so confusing. L'Oreal makes it easy here with letters and numbers (C1, C2, C3 are cool, N1, N2, N3 are neutral, etc) and the colors actually correlate with each other. Amazing!

Best of all, L'Oreal has a great see through color picker on the display. Hold this piece of plastic up to your skin and the tone that disappears is the one you should buy. And guess what? That thing actually works.



Consistency: Liquid, comes in a tube with a sponge tipped wand
Blendability: Yes
Buildable coverage: Somewhat. It can build in coverage but not to a large extent
Feeling on skin: Lightweight
Wear: 8-10 hours
Problems with wear: Caking towards the end of the day
Shades Available: 9 shades

L'Oreal Paris True Match Concealer

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Concealer Series: Make Up For Ever's Full Cover Concealer

Since I had meant to actually start the concealer review series about 5 or 6 weeks ago, I have to blame the delay on 2 things. First, I'm obviously super busy with my new baby. The second has to be this concealer! MUFE's Full Cover was one of the first I tested and I could not tear myself away from it. I would have the best of intentions regarding trying another concealer. I would even open up another product and decide I didn't want to test that day, I wanted to use my Full Cover. So, back to the Full Cover I went. I eventually had to hide this concealer in a drawer as it was so distracting having this on the counter of my vanity.


Consistency: Liquid, comes in a tube
Blendability: Very blendable
Buildable coverage: After about 2 layers things get dicey, though it's so well pigmented you shouldn't really need so much concealer.
Feeling on skin: Lightweight
Wear: ~12 hours
Problems with wear: Caking, Settles into fine lines when more than 2 layers are on.
Shades Available: 12 shades in a wide array of colors

Make Up For Ever's Full Cover Concealer

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Concealer Review Series: How and Where to Use Concealer and Corrector

Back when I was entering my 3rd trimester, I was thinking about what topics I would be interested in covering shortly after my daughter arrived. I would need something interesting enough to spend a little time on it, rather than simply staring at the baby. (She's super cute as she sleeps! Obviously I must watch this for hours!)

Anyways, I decided that the things I would be most interested in would be speeding up my routine to get ready in a jiffy (hence, spending even more time staring at the baby) and looking for ways to look awake while I do so. I started to work on a concealer review series. A lot of my favorite brands have decided to participate, from Revlon and Cover Girl to Estée Lauder, Elizabeth Arden and even QVC favorite Dalton! The series currently has over 20 concealers, and will go on for quite a while. Watch for a new concealer review every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share what info I have in my brain about undereye circles and taking care of them to look more awake. I've accumulated a lot of little tips over my years of beauty blogging, but most of them came from being a beauty obsessed medical student and resident. So, this post is ~90% reviewing covering up undereye circles.

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Unofficial MUFE Week: I Check Out the Make Up For Ever HD Products

I said a few weeks ago that I'd be reviewing a lot more Make Up For Ever products soon, and I'm finally getting around to it. I've declared this unofficial MUFE week, and I'll be reviewing a different product each day! Overall I have to say that I'm definitely a new MUFE fan, and I can see why the brand has been getting raves for so long.

I thought we'd start off today with the HD Primer, because where better to start than the first step of your makeup?

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Benefit's Boi-ing Concealer Review

After trying out the Boi-Ing included in my Big Beautiful Eyes Kit I decided that I should try out the lighter shade on my under-eye area.

I have had a visible capillary under my right eye since I was little, and without concealer I get told about 10 times a day that there is an eyelash I need to get rid of! As well, my crazy hours and allergies mean that I often have cark cirles under my eyes, and I'm always on the look-out for a great concealer!

My current concealer is Bobbi Brown's Creamy Concealer which I use paired with the corrector. These products do a good job of making me look more awake; however, I do sometimes have caking issues and after a long day I sometimes notice that my capillary is visible again.

Boi-ing is billed as an "Industrial Strength Concealer" by Benefit, and to a certain degree they are right. It is more pigmented than my Bobbi Brown, and a little goes a long way. It is easily blended into my skin, and the shade I bought (light) did blend well into my skin. However, I was a little disappointed by the overall coverage, I still needed 2 coats to cover my capillary (the same number as with my Bobbi Brown), and I still have occasional caking by mid-day.

I now use this product for my nasal folds and any blemishes I have, as boi-ing seems to do a better job at blending and lasting on these areas than the BB Creamy Concealer. If Boi-ing was available in a more liquid formula, this would be even better as I'm currently mixing it with a touch of moisturizer to get the right consistency for blemish coverage.

I've returned to my Bobbi Brown, as I think I look more awake with this routine than with Boi-ing. But overall I do definitely recommend Boi-ing as a concealer.
Benefit's Boi-ing Concealer

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