Do concealers have to be lighter than your natural skin tone?

Why would you want to illuminate your under eye bags? The best colors are similar to your skin tone there and with a slight peach tone to it.

@Shippy – I mean it does not really hide my dark circles that well. I want my eyes to look more brighter and awake. This one that I am using is wonderful to cover up discoloration, pimples, etcs, but not so great for dark circles :( it is a great concealer though!!

@partyrock Logically speaking the cheeks and up should match the under eyes? But like you, I also prefer it a bit lighter. If it is a bag you are hiding you would only use it on the actual darker areas not all the way over the bag area. And pat in. Then to brighten your eyes, you can use a highlighter in the inner corner of each eye.

Napoleon Perdis has a good concealer called The One.

Then you could finish (after foundation) by using something like Yves Saint Laurent’s Touche Eclat, Radiant Touch.

They say you should use one shade lighter than your skin tone if you’re putting it on under your foundation, but the same shade as your skin if you’re putting it over your foundation.

If it’s not covering the circles, it’s probably not a great concealer. My favorites are Clinique Advanced Concealer and Kat Von D Tattoo Concealer.

As for illuminating, they have illuminizer serums that are really good – try Sephora. Their employees are very helpful.

It may also have to do with your technique. How do you apply it?

I have tried another concealer by Benefit called Erase Paste. Don’t let the word paste scare you, it isn’t a heavy looking concealer and it blends with the skin of the eye area really well. I haven’t tried the one that you mention. The one problem with Benefit is that they don’t carry very many shades so it’s hard to match your skin tone exactly. Even so, I love the product.

When I went back to the store to buy another jar of Erase Paste they didn’t have my shade so I ended up buying this instead. I actually like it better. It only comes in one color but it’s very lightweight and blendable.Because it’s light in color and sheer yet clings to your skin I find it to be a great eyeshadow base. I also use it to brighten the dark shadows at the inside edge of my eyes and just the tiniest bit to help camouflage undereye circles. If it’s too light in color for you I would suggest putting a bit of foundation over it and blend well. It comes in a little pump tube and one of the problems I had was controlling the amount that the pump dispensed. I get around that problem by resting the pump on the side of my palm when I press down until I ccan just get one or two small drops. Then I use my finger to apply it.

I have also tried Touche Eclat and I like that it sort of has a shimmer to it but it’s too pricey for my budget and it runs out very fast!

Lastly, I have tried this correct and brighten pen by Trish McEvoy. I love her products, but again, $$$$ is a little discouraging!

All in all, I’ll stick with Benefit.

I just noticed that you said the concealer works great for everything else. I checked it out on makeupalley.com (best website EVER for checking out beauty product reviews) and the response was mixed. If it’s as dry as people are saying, that’s probably the issue. If you like it for blemishes, maybe you could buy a product specifically for under the eyes, like theBalm Time Balm. I’m told it’s like “10 hours of sleep in a pot.”

There are also treatments for dark circles if yours are bad. Kind of expensive, but might be worth it.

My concealer is lighter than my skin tone, but that works for me cause I use bronzer as powder year round since my skin tone changes so much. So it doesn’t really matter what I put on to cover blemishes or whatever, I even it all out in the end.

@livelaughlove21 I love Sephora too, I get lost in there way too long and spend too much there! I can’t have money in my pockets and go into Sephora, too much temptation :)

I use my finger which is what the lady at Sephora said was the right way to apply concealer under my eye.

I asked her what was the best concealer they had and she said Boing by Benefit, which is the one I got….

And I am using it under my foundation so I should of gotten the one shade down!

@livelaughlove21 – Is the Kat Von D tattoo concealer only specifically for tattoos…? Or can it be used for my face and under eye bags as well, do you know?

I love MakeupAlley too and go there often… they are a hit and miss with everything! Even perfumes that I love!! I go there for perfume reviews just to see and there are always people who hate it :)

@Earthgirl – Have you tried the pen by Trish yourself? It is a bit pricey, and it doesn’t look like much… I love benefit too.

@partyrock Sorry, I should have mentioned that. The “tattoo” part of the concealer is misleading. Yes, it can be used anywhere, and is absolutely amazing. There is a beauty guru on YouTube that has pretty horrible acne, and uses that concealer as a foundation (talk about expensive). By the time she’s done, her skin looks flawless. It covers EVERYTHING, but doesn’t look caked on, oily, or otherwise.

As for MakeupAlley, I agree that there are always mixed reviews. I always read the negative reviews first to see what people hated about the product. If I’m looking at a foundation and a person says, “I have oily skin and this made my face shiny”, I know I won’t have that problem because I have dry skin. Different preferences, different skin, different opinions. But I find that the overall rating is pretty accurate. I don’t buy a product unless it was given at least 3.5 lippies, and it’s never steered me wrong!

Boing by Benifit got a 3.5, Clinique Advanced Concealer got a 3.8, and Kat Von D got a 3.9, so I’m sure they’re all great, but Kat Von D or Clinique may provide the extra dark circle coverage you need.

@partyrock Yes, I have tried it. At least I am pretty sure that is the one I tried. It’s hard to remember with all the detailed long names they give these things! Then they change the packaging too and I am completely in a fog as to whether or not that was the one I had tried. I had a makeup consultation and the makeup artist used that and I bought it. I was unhappy with how fast it got used up and how expensive it was for how little mileage I got out of it,lol. I like the Benefit Stay put better. You can also use it to cover blemishes and it doesn’t get all pasty looking. Put it on first then let it dry a sec and put your foundation over it. The foundation adheres better and doesn’t rub off as easy but blends really well.