Confessions of a Concealaholic

L-R: Bobbi Brown Corrector, Maybelline Dream Mousse, Make Up Forever Full Cover,
Rimmel Recover, Maybelline Double Face Perfector (Highlighter - top, Concealer - bottom), 
Almay Clear Complexion, NYC Cover Stick

I know that the concealers look a little crazy against my hand and it seems like they don't match my skin tone at all, but keep in mind that I swatched these quite heavily and this is my hand not my face - I'll go into details about how well they match my skin tone below :)

Bobbi Brown Corrector in Light Peach

If you remember, I bought this from Sephora about a month ago and I'm still loving it. This is one of those products that lives up to the hype for me and I'm ecstatic about it cause this means that all the money in exchange for this product was well worth it! Since this is not a typical concealer where you match it to your skin tone it's a bit overwhelming to find the right colour by yourself, so I recommend getting a MUA/SA to match it on you (which I did at Sephora).

The Pros:
- brightens up your under eye area & covers dark circles very well (full coverage)
- has a wide range of colours to choose from
- sleek packaging, comes with a mirror; good for on-the-go or travelling
- a little goes a long way
- doesn't settle into your fine lines
- set with powder and it will last 8hrs (maybe more if you don't have combo/oily skin)
- can also be used to cover up redness around the nostrils and minor blemishes or spots

The Cons:
- very little product for the price (1.4g for $30 CDN)
- hard to blend with a brush (use your fingers to apply this or blend it out with your fingers, i usually swirl my ring finger once around the surface to warm up the product and then pat it underneath the eyes)
- over use will result in fast creasing
- if you don't set it with powder, it will crease & settle into your fine lines within a few hours (but as with all concealers, it's usually best to set with powder regardless)

Overall Rating: 9/10

Maybelline Dream Mousse Concealer in Cream Light 4-5

Before buying the Bobbi Brown Corrector, I used this to cover up my dark circles. It has a smooth creamy mousse texture and conceals dark circles quite well - much better than the any other drugstore concealer I've tried. I'm very close to hitting pan on this because I've used this everyday since I got it (I've had this for ~1.5 to 2 yrs). 

The Pros: 

- covers dark circles relatively well (medium to full coverage - depending on severity)

- smooth creamy mousse texture, easy to blend

- a little goes a long way

- affordable and good amount of product (3g for ~$8-10 CDN)

- has a decent color range 

- Glass container

The Cons:

- Can be a little dry and flakey at times

- doesn't cover up medium to heavy acne well

- doesn't apply well with a brush (fingers only)

Overall Rating: 8/10

Make Up Forever Full Cover Concealer in Sand 7

This was my favourite purchase from IMATS last year at the Make Up Forever booth. I can't wait to go again this year and buy another one cause my brother keeps borrowing mine lol. He even had it for 5 months =o=; because he had "accidentally" forgot about it and left it in his bag. Uh-huh, sureee. It drove me crazy looking for it and i don't recall lending it to him what-so-ever! >:( Anywayyyys, it definitely lives up to it's name of "Full Cover"; perfect for blemishes and acne or any other imperfections that you may have (except dark circles - as it is not made for that).

The Pros:
- Full coverage
- Oil-Free
- smooth and easy to blend
- wide range of colour selection
- A lot of Product (15 mL for $36 CDN; ~$22 when I got it at IMATS)
- a little bit goes a long way
- Squeeze tube packaging - sanitary & non-wasteful!
- covers acne, acne scars, blemishes, hyperpigmentation, redness, imperfections

The Cons:
- Doesn't last that long even when set with powder (maybe only ~5-6hrs) and it claims to be waterproof.... :T I haven't even put my face in water to test it yet!

Overall Rating: 9/10

Rimmel Recover Anti-Fatigue Concealer in Soft Beige

I bought this on a whim when I was strolling through Shoppers a while back and recalled seeing a youtuber rave about how well it covered her dark circles, so I gave it a go and bought it right away cause it was so cheap. However, it didn't work for my dark circles because the colour matched my skin a little too well and didn't brighten up my eyes as I had hoped so I used it to cover up my imperfections instead. Except....this doesn't have very good coverage either because of the thin consistency. The only purpose I have for this concealer now, is to blend it on top of my Almay concealer to match my skin tone.

The Pros:
- smooth and easy to blend
- small in size, so it's good for travelling
- cheap ($5-6 CDN)
- good colour match (for me)

The Cons:
- small range of colour selection (only 3 shades to choose from)
- bad packaging, it's hard to get the product out once you start to run low
- runs out of product very fast (it says it has 5 mL but...feels like there's very little)
- doesn't cover acne or pimples
- light/sheer coverage
- does not last long and rubs off easily

Overall Rating: 4/10

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Double Face Perfector in Medium

This was a highly raved about drugstore concealer a few years back when I first step foot into the makeup world. Upon all the recommendations of the youtube gurus that I've watched, I decided to go out and buy it. It's not a bad concealer, but not an amazing one like I had hoped, it's just...okay. The concealer side isn't bad, but definitely doesn't take care of those bad ass acne and pimples wonderfully. The highlighter portion of the other end does nothing at all, so it's just crap.

The Pros:

- smooth and easy to blend

- light to medium coverage; buildable

- on-the-go and travel friendly

- can cover minor dark circles, blemishes, redness and the not-so-severe acne/pimples

The Cons:

- not a lot of product (only 2 mL on each side, so 4 mL in total for ~$8-10 CDN) 

- low range of colour selection (only 3 shades to choose from)

- highlighting side is useless (doesn't highlight anything at all)

- highlighter has a watery consistency

- bad packaging (hard to get product out when you run low and the highlighting side had an over flow at the rim of the cap, so it got really messy and wasted a lot of product)

Overall Rating: 5/10

Almay Clear Complexion Concealer in Light Medium

This is by far, the only Almay product I own - probably because no one ever seems to mention about the brand a lot so I never gravitate towards their section at the drugstore. So what made me buy this? I googled something along the lines of "best (drugstore) concealers" and I came across a not so popular yt guru talking about it. Skeptical and careful as I usually am, I looked it up on MakeupAlley and surprisingly, it had pretty good reviews. So I gave it a try and I was not disappointed! It contains 1.0% of Salicylic Acid, which means not only will it cover your acne/pimple spots but also treat it at the same time! Although I don't depend on it and think that it helped my acne, the concealer is pretty pigmented and has a relatively heavy and thick consistency so it covers quite good! Don't use this for your under eyes though, it will look cakey since it has a heavy formula and it's not made for dark circles.

The Pros:

- easy to blend

- medium to full coverage

- covers blemishes, acne, pimples, redness, acne scars, hyperpigmentation

- sleek packaging; good for on-the-go or travelling

- heavy & thick consistency but doesn't clog pores

- affordable (5.3 mL for ~$7-8 CDN)

The Cons:

- small range of color selection (Light medium is a tad light for me so I go over this with the Rimmel Recover Concealer as mentioned before)

- salicylic acid medication doesn't really work as it claims

- the thickness of the concealer may result in cakeyness if you're not careful

Overall Rating: 8.5/10

NYC Cover Stick in Green 785C

I had always wanted a green concealer, just to try it out. So I bought this upon a friend's recommendation one time when we were at the Walmart together. Not a bad product, but wouldn't repurchase just because I personally do not have a lot of redness to battle with and judging by the pictures I have shown, you can see that I rarely used up any cause I'm lazy and don't have time in the morning to cover up the same spot twice. I like things quick and easy.

The Pros:
- easy to blend with the warmness of your finger
- dirt cheap for a lot of product (3.6g for ~$3-4 CDN)
- covers and counter acts redness
- the shape of the concealer makes it easy to use and get into places where you need

The Cons:
- can be drying and accentuate dry spots
- some greenness may still be present if you don't blend it out well or if the concealer you top it off with isn't full coverage enough
- bad packaging; part of the product sticks out at the top of rim, making it very easy to nick when you pull out the cover or recap the concealer (see picture below), not good if you're in a hurry

Overall Rating: 6.5/10

I hope you guys found this review marathon helpful. What are your favourite concealers and/or concealers you hate? Thanks for reading!!! <3