Erin's Favorite Concealers, Part One

Oh concealer. The product that helps us hide, highlight, contour and everything in between. While you can definitely get the same effects by using fuller coverage foundations, there's something about the little containers that makes us feel more "confident". Here's a breakdown of some of my favorite concealers.

L.A. Girl Pro Conceal HD Concealer

I bought the LA Girl Pro Conceal because I saw rave reviews on Youtube. You can get a container of this stuff for less than $5, and it comes in a wide array of colors. I like it because it's definitely full coverage and very affordable. However, it's on the bottom of my list today, because, let's face it, you get what you pay for. When you compare it to higher end products, it definitely isn't the best quality out there. But trust me, it does this job.

MAC Studio Finish Concealer

This Studio Finish Concealer ($19) one of those holy grail products. Much like the LA Colors Pro conceal mentioned above, this is a product you have to "warm up" and work with on the right skin textures to get maximum effects. I typically swirl a flat or domed brush onto the concealer to pick up the product, then apply it to my face. If I'm using it all over, I scoop a bit onto the back of my hand and rub it down a bit with my finger. This makes it super creamy. But let me say that this covers anything. In fact, this is the little sister of MAC's Full Coverage foundation. Same product, smaller jar.

Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer

My goodness, my goodness. This Bobbi Brown concealer ($25) is lightweight, super creamy and crazy powerful. I once bought this in a kit that had a pressed powder and eye brightener in it. And when I realized that this was such a stellar product, I picked up another shade. This is top quality.

Make Up For Ever Full Cover

MUFE makes this fantastic lightweight concealer ($32) that works wonders. It goes on creamy, then dries down to a satiny, beautiful finish. When I think of multi-purpose makeup, I think of this. I'll show you how to use it in this video.

Check out my favorites below:

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Makeup For Beginners: The Easiest Eye Shadow Combo To Wear

  Today I took a trip down memory lane. I looked at some of my old pictures from my Fotki account, the picture album site. Before blogs were big, we were all of forums and Fotki's! In the picture above, I'm wearing MAC Patina eye shadow on the inner lid, and a touch of Femme Noir on the outside. I tended to always wear to shadows in a similar format.

I had a few albums--neutrals, bold, wild, lashes, random. And I realized some things that worked well for me. I have since ventured out, but here's how it usually went.

• I'd wear a color on the inner lid and outer lid. Always. This was the rule of thumb for almost every look that I wore. It always seemed to work. I still often wear this now, except I now know that I have more lid and crease space to work with. If you're looking for an easy look, this can be your best friend.
• Gold seemed to be a theme in book--it was the easiest way to go. At the time, I worked for the Cosmetic Company Outlet and I was obsessed with MAC. The discount helped a lot.
• Liquid foundation like Studio Fix Fluid or creamy Studio Tech was always on deck.
• I likely lined my eye from the start of my pupil out to the lash line.

In this image, I'm wearing MAC Gold Pigment on the inner corner, and Pink Bronze on the outside. Let me make this clear, I wear Pink Bronze Pigment more than any other pigment. It's one of my top 3 favorites. It looks absolutely out of control gorgeous on brown skin. I wore it on eyes, lips, cheeks, you name it. Sorry for the crappy image!

MAC Glorify Extra Dimension Skinfinish Review + Swatches

Yet another product that made me gasp when I saw it. I mean really, look at how vivid this is! I can't even! I waited for a couple of days so I could take pictures before I swatched the product. Remember MAC Hullaballoo High-Light Powder from '06? It had that fantastic sheen on the top, and underneath it was an average blah powder? Well, Glorifiy isn't like that.

Nordstrom describes it:

Extra Dimension Skinfinish is a liquid-powder highlighter with prismatic reflections that sculpts, highlights and models the face. The cool, creamy near-fluid formula creates a luminous, well-defined finish and wears ten hours.

Yes, the powder is silky. The color is a true copper with a lovely sheen. Yes, it's really a great brown girl product that can be used on eyes and cheeks, probably as a highlight on the lips. But honestly, I'm not sure that the powder feels any different than a frosty eyeshadow. This is one of those products that you should really try for yourself at your nearest counter or store. In its defense, I think it looks better in real life. It's really, really pretty to look at in the container, and the color is good, but I can't say that you'll want to jump off a bridge for not having it. I definitely don't have the same enthusiasm that I had for Heroine lipstick! This is my first impression, but I would love to know what you think when you try it!

Edit: Two hours later, I went downstairs to do laundry. The lights are a bit more dim down there, and there's no direct sunlight. The swatch on my arm was still there, and the color looked 50 times better! It's really a true bronzy copper, perfect as a hightlight for brown skin. I'm going to try this as an eyeshadow tomorrow. And no, I'm not changing my mind because everyone else is saying this is an epic product. Lighting truly makes a difference!!!!

Note: This was sent to me by the company for review.