This is technically a concealer and color corrector declutter post, but I didn’t have many color correctors to begin with, so I kept them both. The ELF Camo Color Corrector in Orange I use just on my face because it settles too much in areas with lines, like under my eyes. The Huda Beauty #FauxFilter Luminous Matte Liquid Corrector in Mango (reviewed HERE) does a decent job, but it doesn’t pair well with all my concealers and it’s a touch on the light side for me, so that also partly limits how and where I can use it. The MAC Pro Palette Studio Finish Skin Corrector x 6 (shown HERE) was old, so I decluttered it.

The photo above is what my concealer collection looked like a few months prior to me moving overseas, but I have a few new concealers and additional shades within the same lines that I purchased since then and will discuss here too.

In the “You’re Falling Apart” category of concealers that I had to toss due to them being too old, I decluttered the Pat Mcgrath Skin Fetish Sublime Perfection Concealer in 23 (also owned 22 and 24 reviewed HERE) and Lancome Teint Idole Ultra Wear All Over Concealers in 460 and 495 (reviewed HERE). Although the Pat Mcgrath concealer was one of my favorites in terms of coverage, the shades in the MD range were too olive to look natural on me. Even if I had a better color, I admittedly had to babysit this concealer a little because it wasn’t as long lasting on me as some of my other concealers, such as Tarte Shape Tape. I still attest to it being a good concealer that I used quite a lot (about 1.5 tubes worth of product between all three shades). The Lancome concealers were decent, but I kept reaching for other things because of my desire for more coverage and a longer wear time.

The “It’s YOU, not Me” category is for concealers that looked horrible on me nearly immediately. I couldn’t get them to work no matter what powder I used with them or by switching techniques. The ones that fall into this category are the LYS Triple Fix Brightening Concealer in DG6 and Bobbi Brown Skin Full Cover Concealer in Almond. I hated them both so much that I didn’t want to review them. The irony is that the shades for both looked nice. I just couldn’t get them to last even an hour without gathering horribly in the lines under my eyes or fading in under an hour if I used the products too sparingly. Also being placed in this category is the Juvia’s Place I Am Magic Concealer (reviewed HERE). I have shade J11 which is too light for me, but the next shade would be far too dark. Color aside, I love the full coverage aspect to it, but it creases too fast and too deeply for my liking. So, it’s no surprise that all three were decluttered.

“The Incompatibles” are the concealers I’ve heard good things about that tend to be loved by others with a different skin type than mine. The ones that fit this description are the Urban Decay Quickie 24HR Full-Coverage Waterproof Concealer in 70WR, Huda Beauty #FauxFilter Luminous Matte Liquid Concealers in Crumble 7.1N and Butterscotch 7.5G (reviewed HERE), and the Ami Cole Skin-Enhancing Concealer in Medium 1 and Deep 2.
With the Ami Cole one, as I told a friend, Medium 1 is really pretty and matches the lightest part of my face, but because it doesn’t 100% cover the intensity of my dark circles, I get the slight grey look to it. Because I loved the way it spread and the finish of it, I saw the potential of it being a favorite if I had a darker shade, so I ordered Deep 2. Deep 2 turned out to still be lighter than my dark circles, so it still looks “improved,” even though it’s deeper than the lighter parts of my skin. Because the foundations I reach for most are essentially matching the darker parts (not as deep as the hyperpigmentation areas), I can pull it off when I have a full face on. Medium 1 is only the tiniest bit lighter than UD’s 70NN, but because the one from UD is full coverage (and the tiniest bit warmer), Quickie doesn’t give me that slight grey look.
The Ami Cole concealer has such a beautiful finish on the skin, but because it didn’t give me more than six hours of wear, I left it behind.
The Quickie concealer, as much as I wanted to love it, I couldn’t get it to last on me unless I loaded up on powder which then dried out my under eyes. It didn’t look as good as Tarte Shape Tape, so there didn’t seem to be much point in keeping it.
The Huda concealers also gave me issues with dryness. I found some ways around it, but then longevity was an issue. I was tempted to bring these with me, but since I liked other concealers more, it made more sense to just let them go. I think all three of these concealers in this category could be fantastic on the right person.

In the “Good Formula, Wrong Shade” category is just the Dermablend Flawless Cover Drops which is a foundation that I use as concealer, I loved how it looked when I had shade 75W, but I was unwilling to pay full price for it again since I was unable to use up even 25% of the giant bottle before it went bad. Two other times I purchased shade 72N from Ulta during a 50% off sale (Ulta still doesn’t carry the 75W shade), but it never looked as good because it was too neutral on me and didn’t have enough warmth. It got the job done and I loved how lightweight it was, but since the shade couldn’t measure up, I decided to give up on it. I currently still have 72N in my collection, but I plan to declutter it.

“You Have My Attention” is what I’m calling concealers I was unwilling to declutter because I felt there may be potential, but I hadn’t (at the time I was preparing to move) had the time to explore and test them further. In this category is the Haus Labs Triclone Skin Tech Hydrating and Depuffing Concealer in 40 Medium Deep Neutral and 43 Medium Deep Golden, Estee Lauder Futurist Soft Touch Brightening Skincealer in 6W, and Hourglass Cosmetics Vanish Airbrush Concealer in Maple and Umber. I had a creasing and fading issue with Haus Labs, so I left that in the US to deal with in the future.
The other two concealers I brought with me and I can say that it’s shocking the EL concealer is light on me considering 6W in the foundation has been much too dark for me these past five or so years. This is a range that I definitely recommend seeing in-store if possible before purchasing.

The EL concealer has a very interesting applicator that helps get into corners, but I still have to blend it out with a brush that gets into all the corners, so having a good brush at the end of the day is more important than the shape of the tool. I give it credit for not applying a ton at once though.

The finish looks beautiful initially, but it creased horribly in the beginning and faded significantly within the first hour or two. The best I’ve been able to get it to look is using the Milk Hydro Grip Eye primer, which gives me six hours maximum before the fading is too significant for me to want to be seen in public with it. The Charlotte Tilbury pressed powder with it helps too, but it still settles more than I’m used to in my under eye lines. Without the Milk primer it’s far worse. As much as I like the finish, I’d only wear this for short outings until I can figure out a combination with powder that potentially helps it last longer. I don’t have much hope on that considering Nikki had similar issues as detailed in her review HERE. I’m close to giving up on experimenting with it since so many trials ended poorly or with such short lived results.

As for Hourglass, I’ve been able to get minimal creasing and a 7-8 hour wear time with the Huda Beauty Easy Bake loose powder, but I have to continue checking if any other powder combinations can improve the results. The best wear time I get with the concealer plus any powder is if I used the MILK Hydro Grip Eye Primer underneath. Then the concealer lasts on me at least nine hours. It could be even better, but eight hours is the minimum for my wear tests and nine hours was the maximum I was able to test it for before intentionally choosing to remove it from my face. With the MILK primer, I can get close to full coverage. Without it, I’d say I get high medium coverage.

Also, I just wanted to add that the applicators are different between the travel size and full size of the Hourglass concealer. The full-size (on the left half) has more of a curve and tapered tip. The travel size has a more common/generic shape.

Between the three concealers, the Hourglass seems to be the one with the most potential.

My Top 5 Concealers Ranked

In fifth place is the Fenty We’re Even Concealer in 385W and 410W. It’s a new one to my collection that released since I’ve been overseas. The coverage level is quite good, it has very little creasing, and while it’s not the longest lasting of the bunch, it lasts eight hours before the fading starts to be significant. At least, that’s the case when I pair it with the Charlotte Tilbury powder. Using it with other products led to way faster fading. For example, I got superb protection against creasing and full coverage results when using it on top of the Milk Makeup Hydro Grip Eye Primer, but after just four hours, it looked fully worn out. So, I just have to remember to keep using it with the Charlotte Tilbury powder or any others I may discover work well with it in the future. Also, when I use it with the CT Powder, I have to still apply a lot more product than I would with other full coverage products. This isn’t to gain extra coverage. This is necessary because a thin layer, although enough to hide dark circles, will get absorbed (or broken down…whichever happens to cause the disappearing act) too quickly by my skin. Loading up the product means some will disappear, but there will be enough left to last the eight hours when paired with the right powder. If I try to use a normal amount of concealer, even with the Charlotte Tilbury powder, it will fade significantly after only five hours.

This isn’t a deal-breaker, but the Fenty packaging doesn’t allow one to stand the concealer upright. There are too many pointed edges and the only flat parts are the front and back, so it has to be stored in a laying position unless it’s stored in a container. Also, it has an interesting curve tip for distributing product.

In fourth place is Tarte Shape Tape in 35N Deep (reviewed HERE) and third place is the L’Oreal Paris Infallible Full Wear Concealer in 415 Honey. I still go back and forth trying to decide which of the two is truly better. They even have similarly sized packaging with near identical wands, though the applicator tip from L’Oreal is even bigger than the already large one from Tarte! Tarte’s component also has a tighter inner ring that prevents excess product from being pulled out of the tube, whereas L’Oreal’s gets a little messier.

I’ve tried so many variations of the Medium/Deep range from Tarte: Tan Sand, Tan-Deep Sand, Deep, Deep Honey, and Deep Sand, etc. The best shade from the range for me is Deep, which is the right depth, but still not the perfect because of the undertone. The full coverage nature of it and lasting power is why I’ve repurchased specifically Deep six times between full-sizes and minis since its release. I haven’t found a way to be able to purchase it in Germany*, so it was important for me to find alternatives since concealer is the single most important piece of makeup for me. Although I wish it was a little less dry looking (the creamy version does NOT work for me), I’ve had concealers that looked way worse on me.

*UPDATE: MAY 5th, 2024: I was unable to purchase Shape Tape on previous trips, so I assumed this was still the case, but I did a google search today and saw that it’s available at the Sephora-DE website for 29 Euros.

As for the L’Oreal concealer, it’s the closest thing I ever found to looking and performing like Tarte Shape Tape. It still can look a little dry under the eyes, but the finish is slightly better than Shape Tape. It also has a tiny bit shorter of longevity results, at about a maximum of 10 hours for me if I use the right powders (and as short as 6 with the wrong skincare, powders, or other products). However, one big plus is the price difference with L’Oreal’s being way more affordable**. Tarte usually offers 50% off Shape Tape sales throughout the year, whereas you can get it at less than that at any time by getting the one from L’Oreal. For these reasons, and the tiniest bit better shade match, I believe I like the Infallible Concealer slightly more.

**UPDATE: Just wanted to clarify again that this is based on the US perspective. I was able to see the Infallible Concealer was €15.99 at smaller German websites I’m unfamiliar with, but the website I shop at more frequently, Douglas, has the price listed as €25.99 instead, making it still cheaper than Shape Tape but not hugely different since Shape Tape is €29.99 at Sephora DE.

In second place is the Givenchy Prisme Libre Skin-Caring 24H Hydrating Radiant Correcting Creamy Concealer in N390 and W420 (reviewed HERE). I only go for complete coverage concealers, but the hydrated look from this one (when paired with the right powder) is so nice that I am willing to settle for high coverage instead.
I used to consider this a finicky concealer because using the same products didn’t give me consistently good results, but then I realized it was due to my under eyes and the concealer’s inability to hold up as well when the application area was oily instead of dry. On those oil producing days, I have to monitor my eyes within the first half hour to check if the creases need to be patted back out and touched back up with powder. This isn’t an everyday problem, just every once in a while when my skin decides to play games! Using the Milky Hydro Grip Eye Primer under the eyes helped extend the wear time as well.
Also, since I have to set it with powder to minimize creasing, I lose a lot of that luminosity. I tested the concealer with various powders and Givenchy’s own Prisme Libre Powder was the only thing that helped my under eyes look at least more hydrated than Shape Tape. Since that initial review, I’ve tested new powders I didn’t have before, and the current best pairing is with the Huda Beauty Easy Bake Loose Setting Powder. The Givenchy powder gives me around eight hours of wear time (six hours on a bad day), but the Huda Powder helps it look close to a natural finish while lasting eight hours before the fading even starts! That’s without bothering to use the Milk primer. Since discovering the Huda and Givenchy power combo, this concealer was able to jump up to the number two spot.

In first place is the KVD Good Apple Concealer in Tan 167 (reviewed HERE but I also own Tan 161 and used to own Tan 173). It’s shocking that this is my new number one considering it can be troublesome too. However, when I learned the combination of this concealer with the Charlotte Tilbury matte face powder fixed the longevity issue, I haven’t had problems ever since. I get the coverage I need, the texture is lightweight, the finish is better than Shape Tape (which I consider the standard and where the bar is set), and I can get 8-12 hours of wear as long as no other products come in contact with this one, particularly emollient ones like some skincare, certain primers, and creamy blushes or highlighters. Even when using the Sephora Setting Spray, I have to reapply and repowder my concealer because it will make it suddenly crease badly. Strangely, since my own natural oils tend to not be too much of a hassle to the concealer, I don’t have to baby it as much as the Givenchy concealer. So, this one is essentially my new Shape Tape. This means it’s one that I will continually purchase (and have repurchased multiple times already).

That’s all for today! Thank you for reading!

-Lili ❤