The First Things I Learned About Concealer

Where I had once thought foundation to be a mask under which people could hide if they didn’t like themselves, I also used to think that concealer was a mask on top of a mask. In fact, I’m pretty sure I used to believe that you didn’t need concealer unless you were an acne-prone teenager and ashamed of your acne. And why wouldn’t I think that? It’s called “concealer,” after all. But just like my revisions around my understanding of foundation, my knowledge around concealer also needed an overhaul.

First, I had to get around the language. Concealer. It sounds kind of dirty, like there’s something I’m trying to hide. And we shouldn’t hide ourselves! Why betray your face by being ashamed of it? But maybe we should look at it a different way: am I trying to conceal something on my face because I don’t like that about my face, or is it because it doesn’t belong there?

Ah, there we go. A minor cognitive adjustment, and suddenly concealer doesn’t seem that bad. As I was quickly learning about makeup, it cannot completely transform your face and make you into someone you are not. I mean sure, if you’re talking about stage or effects makeup, that might well be the case, but the day-to-day stuff? Not so much.

So rather than concealer being something that hides my face, it is in fact hiding or downplaying something that has no business being on my face but is there because my eczema has flared up or because I just got bangs and my forehead is freaking out. That, at least, is an interpretation that works for me.

The research began, and again, MakeupGeek came to the rescue, where I discovered that concealer, like foundation, came in many different forms. Liquid, cream, gel. Apparently concealer is also used under the eyes if you have dark rings under them. I did not know that. Cool.

The information helped, but it also served to intimidate: I had only just learned what types of concealer are out there, but how do you actually use it? The same day that I wandered up to the MAC counter and found a nice primer, I also asked about a concealer that could be used on the awful eczema rash above my lip. What should I use, I asked, and how do I use it?

Out came the liquid MAC Pro Longwear SPF 15 Concealer. A thicker product like the MAC Studio Finish Concealer that MakeupGeek suggested can be tricky to use both for a beginner and for the particular rash I was concerned about because it can make that area look unnatural. I was then shown how to use a concealer brush and my own fingers to apply and blend the concealer into my skin.

I have to admit: it looked pretty good! I was pleased, and so I bought my first ever bottle of concealer.

TIPS AND TRICKS

When I asked the sales assistant whether concealer should go on top of or under foundation, she gave me a smile and said “either.” It can depend on just how much you want to cover and sometimes what kind of foundation you’re using.

If you’re not wearing foundation at all because it’s just a light makeup day, you can kind of go nuts with the concealer. As long as it blends in to your skin and becomes invisible, you can wear as little or as much as you need to hide your problem areas. Just don’t use it like foundation.

For heavy coverage WITH a full face of foundation, use the concealer right after primer, blend it out, then use foundation, then concealer again if you can still see the problem area. Sometimes people will use two different concealers before-and-after, depending on what looks better on top of foundation.

For normal coverage, you can go with either before or after. Some people like to use foundation before concealer because then you can see just what the foundation is able to cover before you conceal, which means you end up using less concealer. Others like to use concealer before foundation because you don’t run the risk of a concealer not blending into your foundation and leaving a weird patch or line in your makeup… but this of course can lead to people (like me just starting out) using too much concealer because I’m putting it onto a bare face and I go nuts with it and I forget that the foundation alone will take care of the smaller stuff!