Yves Saint Laurent’s two concealers, the famous Touche Eclat (.1 oz, click pen, $40) and Anti-Cernes (stick, $31). Touche Eclat offers more brightening than real concealing.
Touche Eclat: Luminous Radiance, Luminous Ivory, Light Peach, Luminous Toffee
Anti-Cernes: Anticernes, Ivory Beige, Nude Beige, Pink Beige, Gold Beige
I’m not sure this product is going to excite you if you’re not a professional makeup artist, but MAC has very quietly released a new product: loose pans of cream concealer in various correcting shades.
These loose pans are sold individually, and they’re the same size as the eyeshadow pans. So if you’re a makeup pro, you can buy an empty four-pan palette and make your own concealer palette. And if you’re not a pro, you can figure out which shade you need and build your own travel palette with one concealer and three shades of eyeshadow.
Excluding any kind of professional discount, the pans are $14.50 each and a four-pan palette is $3.50. To buy these (or any pro products), you don’t have to be in the industry, but you will have to visit a MAC Pro store, or call 1-800-387-6707 (shipping fees apply).
From my conversation with a MAC sales associate:
I spend a lot of time mooning over color cosmetics: eyeshadow, lipstick, blush, etc. But the “fun stuff” is all made possible by the support of a few great, “behind the scenes” products. So I’m opening my medicine cabinet to share with you the products for which I am most grateful.
1. Laura Mercier Moisturizer with SPF 15 (the jar)
I really like LM’s skincare line, and her daily moisturizer may be my favorite product. It contains SPF 15; it’s extremely light, quick-absorbing, and non-greasy (which is rare for a moisturizer containing SPF). It’s neither a very potent moisturizer nor a very powerful sunscreen, but it’s perfect for daily use, and it feels so delicious when I apply it — like my skin is drinking.
2. Cosmedicine Medi-Matte (the blue tube)
My skin is normal/combo, but my entire family has extremely shiny t-zones (you should see our family portraits). One by one, I’m converting them all to Medi-matte. Medi-matte is a mattifying lotion, and I apply a very thin layer to my forehead and nose (after putting moisturizer on my cheeks, chin, and throat). The thin layer is important — if you use too much, it feels like glue. But it kills shine the moment it touches your skin, and lasts all day. It also contains SPF 20.
The first time a Sephora sales associate showed me this product, she poured some hair oil into the palm of her hand, then soaked it all up by rubbing in Medi-matte. I don’t know how scientific that demonstration was, but it was definitely impressive.
3. Fresh Lotus Eye Gel (the pump tube with the white cap)
Lotus Eye Gel is full of botanical stuff supposed to diminish dark circles, reduce puffiness, and erase signs of fatigue. Does it do any of these things? No.
But it does make my concealer go on really smoothly. As a primer, this stuff is too expensive to re-buy. I’ve been looking for a cheaper replacement, but haven’t found one yet. When I do, I’ll let you know — and in the meantime, I’d love to hear your suggestions.
4. MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NW20 (potted concealer)
Since the age of 5, I’ve had some serious hereditary undereye circles (as mentioned in my review of Kinerase) — on a bad day, I think I can see blue, purple, and green (?!). Concealer resets that discoloration to “Skin Zero,” giving me a blank canvas on which to build the rest of my eye look.
My requirement of concealer (as with foundation and mascara) is that it do the job AND look natural. My choice for that is MAC’s potted, SPF 35 Studio Finish. I apply it with my fingers (and if the house is really cold in the morning, I put the pot in my pocket to warm the product up before applying).
If your circles are “not that bad,” I really recommend Neutrogena’s 3-in-1 Undereye Concealer. It’s a fantastic and natural-looking product, sold in any drugstore for around $7. When this was my daily concealer, I did use a flat, domed concealer brush (rather than my fingers) to apply.
5. Neutrogena Healthy Skin Blends Translucent Oil-Control Powder (mosaic pressed powder)
I use powder to set my concealer (or cancel shine, on lazy makeup days), and my favorite is Neutrogena. It’s the most invisible-yet-effective powder I’ve tried, and I love the price.
6. Eyeliner
Concealer erases a lot of color around my eyes (there were a lot of colors to erase), which makes them look “fresher” but also smaller. Eyeliner puts emphasis back in the right place.
In my opinion, eyeliner was meant to define the eyes and create the optical illusion of fuller, darker lashes. For me, eyeliner is also completely necessary when wearing eyeshadow, to define the lash line. I’ll wear eyeliner without shadow, but I won’t wear eyeshadow without liner.
I have found many eyeliners to love, and I’ll have to detail them for you in another post, but the one I wear most often is MAC’s Buried Treasure. It’s a very dark brown (near black) with tiny sparkles, in a waterproof, non-mechanical pencil form.
7. Mascara
Mascara is so important — long, pretty lashes make me feel feminine — but I haven’t yet subjected you all to a mascara review. (1) Because we all have different expectations of our mascara, (2) because results vary so much from person to person, and (3) it’s hard to swatch. I want mascara to make my lashes look fuller, thicker, longer… but still natural. If you notice that I’m wearing mascara, I’m not wearing the right one.
My favorite mascara is Prescriptives False Eyelashes (followed closely by Prescriptives Lash Envy). It’s just my perfect, volumizing, soft-touch, gorgeous-looking, go-to product.
8. Chapstick
There are a lot of lip primers out there — this one is the best. I dot it on before applying lipstick to prevent settling or chapping. I also put it on top of lipliner for a matte lip look that isn’t drying. Okay, I’m also a Chapstick addict.
It smells faintly of vanilla and contains SPF 15.
By special request from a reader in Belgium, today we’re taking a look at Laura Mercier’s Secret Camouflage concealer. Everything’s a secret with Laura. She makes Secret Camouflage, a two-sided compact for face; Secret Concealer, a potted concealer for undereye; Secret Brightener (an illuminating click pen akin to YSL’s Touche Eclat), and Secret Brightening Powder (an illuminating finishing powder for setting undereye concealer).
You might have also seen something called an Undercover Pot — that’s an all-in-one, travel-ready trifecta of Secret Camouflage, Secret Concealer, and Translucent Loose Setting Powder.
The Secret Camouflage compact comes with two shades: a wide stripe and a narrow stripe (and the swatches are in wide, narrow order). Laura’s website says something about this producing a blended concealer that matches the depth of your skintone as well as your undertone… that explanation is a little beyond me. The point is that you mix the two shades on the back of your hand (or a petri dish, or whatever) to create your exact shade. This is great because you should be able to produce an exact match, regardless of seasonal variations… but you’re going to have to repeat that alchemy every day.
The makeup artist I spoke to said to choose the compact whose wide shade most closely matched your skin: I would use SC-1.
Secret Camouflage is really thick and dry, intended to cover spots, blemishes, discoloration, etc. You wouldn’t want to use it for your undereye area unless you mixed it with eye cream first to make a creamier consistency.
Secret Camouflage is $28 for .26 oz (7.7 g), and Laura’s recommended application tool is a pointed, synthetic bristled, concealer brush.
Make Up For Ever has five different concealers in its line:
I recently took advantage of a complete display of the HD Invisible Cover to make some swatches.
As the name suggests, MUFE’s HD concealer is supposed to provide perfectly natural, brightening, medium coverage — undetectable to either the naked eye or an HD camera. It’s packaged in a click pen with a weird, flexible, silicone elephant-nose applicator, which I think would take some practice. (With any click pen, I usually end up dispensing onto the back of my hand, and then applying with my fingers.) HD Invisible Cover is $28.
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Given how impressed I am with Cle de Peau’s concealer, I thought you guys would need to see swatches sooner rather than later.
As I mentioned before, CdP’s famous concealer is a dense cream stick. I personally will need a little more experimentation to decide whether I prefer applying with fingers or with a fluffy brush, but you definitely don’t want to apply stick-to-face. I think you’ll also want some kind of primer or eye cream underneath it… Cle de Peau’s Eye Contour Essence (their $120 anti-dark-circles eye cream) was lovely, but there are a few other options I’d like to try.
I wore Ivory, but the Cle de Peau associates mentioned that if you’re fair with VERY dark circles, you may need Beige to cover them. They also said Honey was frequently a good match for mid- to darker ladies of Middle Eastern origin.
There’s actually a Neiman Marcus employee from Iran who said she wears Honey, but she wasn’t comfortable with my posting her picture (which I can certainly understand).
On my “Cle de Peau face” post, someone asked if I noticed any creasing — I didn’t, and I suspect it’s because the product is so pigmented that you use very little (meaning there’s nothing to crease).
Cle de Peau’s concealer is $70, but I’ve been assured that a stick lasts forever — and even Mama Sugar said it looked good.
Mickey Contractor has been a Bollywood makeup artist for 32 years, and for the last six, he’s been MAC’s Director of Makeup Artistry for India. If his name sounds unusual to Western ears, it might be because Mr. Contractor is Parsi (Zoroastrian), and Parsis in India frequently have vocation-based last names (think Baker, Smith, or Miller in the Western world).
Random fact: Freddie Mercury (lead singer of the band Queen) was Parsi.
Contractor’s MAC collection launched January 6th — concurrently with Peacocky. If you haven’t seen the display at your local counter, it’s because the collection is only available in North America at the 22 top-selling counters/stores (and online).
None of the counters in Texas made that top-22 list, so I wasn’t able to swatch the entire collection. But thanks to professional local artist Mr. English, I was able to swatch most of it (he very graciously let me swatch items from his own kit).
Many of the products in this collection are named in Hindi. I wasn’t sure how to correctly say many of them, but Mr. Salt speaks Hindi, so I asked him to record this pronunciation guide:
In a 2007 interview with The Times of London, Contractor said that the eyes were the most important feature in Bollywood — and the eyes definitely have it in this collection.
The Athma quad ($36) is everything you need to create Contractor’s signature, soft smoky eye in browns and earth tones. Jaan (technically a lustre formula, though I think MAC is throwing the old formula definitions out the window) is a peachy, biscotti, “flesh” tone with a few gold sparkles. Folie (a satin) is a matte red brown (like red chocolate). Vivah is a yellow (almost olive) brown with gold sparkles. In both Jaan and Vivah, the sparkles are really tiny. Carbon is MAC’s matte black.
People are going nuts over the collections two Fluidlines (gel/creme eyeliners, $15): Ivy is emerald green, and Siahi is peacock blue. I’m surprised this collection didn’t also repromote Feline, the only pencil liner that stays truly black on medium and darker Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern skintones.
There are four single eyeshadows as well ($14.50 each). Saffron (satin) is a red-orange with tiny sparkles that juuust keep it from being a matte. I expected “Saffron” to be yellow — that’s what color the world’s most expensive spice turns the food you cook with it. I guess the color is that of the saffron itself (it looks like red threads). Rani is a satin-finish hot pink. It also has those tiny little sparkles which just keep it from being a matte. Marvel is a buildable, deep blue-purple satin with tiny blue sparkles. Oomph is a buildable, very blackened green shimmer.
In that Times of London interview, Contractor said, “When there’s so much focus on the eyes, I like to play down lips and go for nude, lighter colours; I recommend going for colours that match your natural lip colour.”
I only swatched two of the four lipsticks in this collection. Yash (matte) is a nude, mauvey, beige pink. Mehr (matte) is a very blue rose. The missing shades are Gulabi (amplified creme), which MAC describes as bright fuchsia, and Mocha (satin), a permanent shade, which I swatched here.
There are two Mickey Contractor lipglasses. I was able to swatch yellow-caramel Flesh, but I haven’t seen Lust, which is supposed to be a soft, muted pink. Lipsticks and lipglasses are $14.50 each.
Let’s talk about the blushes and come back to the “face” products.
The collection contains a highlighter (Gana) and a blush (Sur). Both are $18.50.
Gana (frost) is a surprisingly delicate, golden champagne shimmer. Even in a heavy swatch, it wasn’t frosty or overwhelming. Sur (satin) is a dusty, browned rose. I really liked them both despite not technically being the skintone this collection was designed for.
About the “skin” products. Mickey Contractor’s collection contains three new shades of Studio Fix Fluid SPF 15 ($26): NC41, NC43.5, and NC44.5. Are these limited edition? How can you make a foundation shade limited edition?
There are also four Select Moisturecover Concealers ($16.50, which I swatched above, with the lip products): NC23, NC43, NC44, and NC45.5. Then there’s a dual-ended Select Moisturecover Concealer ($21) in Coral Corrector and Yellow Corrector. Contractor says this product is intended to “tweak” a foundation or concealer that is almost the right color for your skin. They can also be used as color correctors to adjust darkness under the eyes or around the mouth.
Finally, this collection repromotes the 219 pencil brush ($24.50), the 239 eyeshadow laydown brush ($24.50) and the 116 small blush brush ($32), as well as Prep + Prime Translucent Finishing Powder ($22), because photoshoots in India can get awfully hot and humid.
You may not know that I have a YouTube channel (click to subscribe). I used to make swatch slideshows set to music — actually, Mr. Salt made them for me, but he’s been busy so I haven’t uploaded anything new in forever.
Talking to a camera actually makes me incredibly nervous, but I figured the only way to improve was to actually do it… so I just uploaded two new videos.
There’s a lot of room for improvement — but I’m working on it!
NARS recently revamped its concealer (and introduced a few new shades), though the formula hasn’t actually changed.
The packaging went from a “traditional lipstick” shape to a “skinny lipstick” (like the Pure Matte lipsticks), a decision intended to reduce dryout (since less of the product is exposed to air), resulting in a product that feels creamier. Though I wonder if this will make more of a difference to a counter’s set of testers than an individual’s personal product.
These concealers are $22 each, available on NarsCosmetics.com (which is still offering free two-day shipping on a $50 order).
Light 1 Chantilly (new) is a very pale yellow-white. If you wear Siberia foundation, this is the concealer for you. Light 2 Vanilla is more pink (a good match for Mont Blanc, my shade). Light 3 Honey is peachy, good for brightening and covering blue. It’s too dark for me, but my Santa-Fe-wearing sales associate likes it for brightening.
Medium 1 Custard is pale yellow (a good match for Fiji and Santa Fe). Medium 2 Ginger is deeper yellow (a good shade for Barcelona).
Medium/Dark 1 Biscuit (new) is peachy, a good choice for Syracuse. Medium/Dark 2 Caramel (new) is yellow-orange; good for Tahoe, Cadiz, and New Orleans. Medium/Dark 3 Amande (new) might be a good match for Macao.
Dark 1 Cafe (new) would be good for Benares (and Trinidad, and Tortuga), and MAC ~NW43. Dark 2 Cacao (new) would be a good choice for Khartoum.
Tremendous thanks to Eneida (en nay ee da) of my NARS Neiman Marcus counter for her shade selection advice!