Kristine Storm

Hello there my little springboks ^_^

Today I present to you all my concealers and how I feel about them.

As a simple prelude I should inform you my skin is dry to combination, my nose being the most oily and my cheeks and under the eyes being the most dry areas of my skin.

The prices may have changed since I bought them, as I've had most of them all for a long time :)

Moving right along.

⚁ Boiing 01 by Benefit

Price: Circa 30€, which is way overpriced i.m.o

Best for: Blemishes/contouring

First things first. The colour range is awful. When I bought mine I think there was only 3 colours to choose from. I believe they now have some darker shades, but nothing lighter unless they've changed their 01 shade. So, the colour just about fits my porcelain skin (NC15/NW15 in Mac cosmetics) in the summer time, but doesn't brighten much, and looks too dark and orange in the winter time. The shades run neutral which is good, and it cancels out circles quite well but, it still doesn't make it worth it for me.

Secondly, it is very dry (as well as drying) and kind of waxy and chalky, resulting in it not combining well with powder and being awful for under the eyes; it creases very fast. It also doesn't blend well with other products, at least not the ones I have. The most likely reason for this is that contains mineral oil, which we should all know is BAD, VERY BAD. It might also be because it has a lot of wax which is good in a way but it's mostly beeswax which is very hard and repellent.

The upside is that the coverage is not bad, and sometimes I find it useful to cover blemishes. Also it contains citric acid which contains vitamin C and which is an antioxidant that stimulates collagen production. The more you know... :)

⚂ Absolutely Flawless Vanilla by Too Faced

Price: Circa 30€, A LOT of product for the money, they should halve the tube size along with the price.

Best for: Professional use

AGAIN WITH THE SHADE RANGE. Three colours is not enough. In this case, the colour is actually light enough, almost too light, but it's very yellow and looks extremely un-natural. It's VERY shiny, and although it feels very sort of "flexible" it does crease. Since it's so tacky, powder makes it agglomerate and go patchy. The thickness of it also makes it quite difficult to blend into the skin.

It is a rather deceptive product. It feels very creamy and moisturising, and although I can't say it's very drying, it's not that moisturising either.

Here's the thing - it's mostly made of Hydrogenated Polyisobutene which is a synthetic oil a.k.a liquid isoparaffin (Yes, mineral oil!). Hydrogenated Polyisobutene acts as a protective film and mostly prevents moisture from leaving the skin. It provides some moisture to the skin HOWEVER, Absolutely Flawless also contains an undefined amount of Silica which absorbs moisture so it's hydrating powers are debatable.

The impressive thing about this product is that it's very pigmented. The coverage is incredible, and I can definitely see it being useful for film, theatre and photography (I think it would be excellent to cover tattoos with) as a rather water resistant, SPF free product. For personal use, I just don't see it - nor do I ever reach for it.

⚂ All About Eyes Concealer 01 by Clinique

Price: Circa 30€

Best for: Undereyes :)

I bought this because one of the sales ladies applied it for me and at the time it looked great. I don't know what she did differently from me - maybe it was the brush, maybe it was the lighting, maybe it was the fact that she piled it on; regardless, I gradually lost faith in it. But I'll get to that in a minute.

Lets start with the pros, shall we? :) The coverage is medium and has a natural finish. It's not drying and is quite moisturising; it's water based and has some good waxes in there and some emollients so I think we can pardon the silica. The shades are slightly a salmon colour which is good for dark circles. Blends well with other products.

Here's where it goes wrong - although I find the product price for the amount to be appropriate - it CURDLES. Only after about a year, but with such a large tube it's nearly impossible to finish it within that time if you use make up like a normal person. So most of it will go to waste.

Also, again, the shade range doesn't go light enough, especially for winter, and it ends up looking slightly orange on me, especially since it also oxidises slightly. It does crease quite a bit, and settles into fine lines. It also kind of disappears throughout the day so lasting power is not so good. Lasts slightly longer with powder but, it doesn't combine so well with powder and tends to go cakey and darker and loses much of the moisturising power. Mineral powder is the lesser evil of the powders if you must use it.

When it comes right down to it I honestly can't decide if I would recommend it or not. I think it's a decent product but I don't know if I could go as far as recommending it considering the better, cheaper options out there.

⚃ Studio Finish NW15 by Mac Cosmetics

Price: 17.50€, kinda worth it

Best for: Heavy duty coverage

Okay so this is like Boiing, but better - like a lot better. The ingredients are quite similar. Let me break it down.

It's mostly beeswax like Boiing but has Hydrogenated Polyisobutene which I mentioned before, and Jojoba seed oil, and it doesn't have talc like Boiing(which is good). So I find that it "glides" much better. Also it contains Stearic acid which makes it very softening, and makes it blend better into the skin and with other products. The shade range is excellent as always with Mac cosmetics. The coverage is amazing, and I commend the high SPF.

The issue I have with this concealer is that it's not ideal for dry skin especially around the eyes due to the rather high amount of silica which, for oily skin is great, but for us skin thirsty people it doesn't do us much good. I wouldn't really recommend using a powder over this as it could go cakey and crease more as well as drying the skin more. Also I find it slightly hard to blend sometimes as a person with a lower body temperature and almost always cold hands (warmth makes this product much easier to deal with). It also doesn't always blend too well with other products. It does also crease - but it seems in my case that is unavoidable with everything. Lastly, by definition it doesn't photograph too well due to the high SPF - although debatably it gives you a kind of bright glow in photos which some people, like myself find rather flattering.

I've found myself mostly just using this on my nose and on blemishes. A very marginal use but, I feel like I should maybe make more of an effort to reach for this one.

⚄ Select Moisturecover NW15 by Mac Cosmetics

Price: 17.50€, WORTH IT

Best for: Dry skin, undereyes, blemishes...everything :P

This is my only empty one out of all of these. It's amazing, basically. It's a concealer I don't feel very guilty about falling asleep with after a long night because it's true to it's name.

The colour range is wonderful. It's highly pigmented and has medium to buildable coverage. It does crease a little but I feel that it doesn't settle into lines and it's quite easy to correct (by rubbing, not reapplying) throughout the day. It handles powder well and photographs well.

My main problem with it is the container. Even though mine is "empty" there is a fair bit of product left in there that I can't get out. Also the fact that it opens in the way that it does seems to make it gradually dry out a little. Eventually it begins to oxidise slightly and loose a bit of moisturising power. But I still used it until it could be used no more.

⚄ Mineralize NW15 by Mac Cosmetics

Price: 20€ I'm rather certain it was less when I bought it, which was when it just came out and I think it was the same as the Select Moisturecover. I think this should be the same price as Select Moisturecover since they are very similar but it's kind of a slight improvement so I guess it's kind of worth the slightly higher price...

Best for: Dry skin, undereyes, photographs/video

This is like the mineral version of Select Moisturecover. It's nearly impossible to decide which one is better between the two, but I think this one marginally gets the upper hand for a few very subtle reasons.

The colour range remains excellent, but the shades run lighter - therefore although this product doesn't have as good coverage (see the thing is, they're both about as pigmented as each other - but this one is a little more runny) as the Moisturecover, it's actually more brightening. It looks more natural and I find it more suitable for everyday use, and being someone who uses concealers mostly for colour correction it fits me well.

It's got basically all the same downfalls as the Moisturecover when it comes to creasing, packaging, and drying - and even has slightly shorter lasting power - but the thing that makes it trump its brother is simply that it's a mineral product. It looks more like a second skin and my actual skin doesn't seem to get aggravated by it. It also works better with mineral powder, naturally.