The first mistake most girls make is in picking the wrong consistency of concealer, understandable seeing as there are enough options out there to confuse anyone. Textures range anywhere from dry, solid sticks to creamy pots to tubes and wands of liquidy cover-up. So what is the best choice for you? Several factors come to play in this decision, your age, your skin type, what exactly you are trying to conceal and obviously, your skin tone.

Types of Concealer

Solid Stick:
Description: Most companies that make these concealers claim they are lightweight with a creamy consistency. The truth is, these products are generally drier than other forms of concealer. These are best for younger skins, as concealer sticks tend to almost settle in fine lines. They are easy to apply because of the packaging and can be carried in your purse for touch-ups, but make sure to blend blend blend as this formula is thick and can make your flaws stand out if not properly applied. However, it is also the best for dark circles thanks to the thicker coverage.

Our recommendations: The Bobbi Brown face touch up stick for the creaminess and the NARS concealer for the desi tone color match. We are not fans of MAC studio stick concealer – almost everyone we know has gotten panda eyes/a grey cast from using it.

Concealer pot:
Description: For those ladies with fine lines and dry skin, you will want to reach for this one. Concealer pots tend to have a more moisturizing feel to them and are easier to blend, as they are generally creamier. They do not settle into or accentuate fine lines as much as the solid stick formulation. Coverage is medium to heavy, buildable.

Our recommendations: Vincent Longo Cream Concealer – good color range, but has moderate coverage, Bobbi Brown creamy concealer kit – many shades available and buildable coverage.

Tubes/Wands with brushes:
Description: This is the creamiest and most liquid form of concealer on the market. The coverage is lighter than other formulations and is best for those with fine lines or wrinkles. This consistency is the easiest to blend so can also be used without a foundation as it almost melts into the skin. However, lightweight coverage can be too light for dark circles, so you have to test out different brand formulations.

Our recommendations: Stila illuminating concealer for a natural look with mica particles that, according to the website “further fool the eye,” and Full Cover Concealer by Makeup Forever for the color range. A product that the fashion world raves about is Touche Eclat by Yves Saint Laurent cosmetics, however we have not personally tried this one and have heard very mixed reviews from other desi girls – it really is a hit or miss product and many have complained of the panda effect with this one. Try it out and let us know how it works for you!

If you have drier skin lean toward the most lightweight consistencies, while those with oily skins should reach for the solid sticks for better adherence and lasting power. Also, if you are looking to cover blemishes and capillaries, try out the sticks and pots, the drier texture lasts longer on breakouts. Creamier textures work better for the skin under the eye, as it does not produce as much moisture as the rest of the face. You can test out the texture of the concealer by trying it on the veins on the inside of your wrist.

How to pick the right color:

Magazines will always tell you to pick a foundation that is one to two shades lighter than your foundation color. While I agree that this is the general rule of thumb, you have to incorporate several factors into your decision, for example, how dark the skin around your eyes is, what your actual skin tone is and most importantly, what if you don’t use foundation?

- If you don’t use foundation: you should choose a concealer that either matches your skin tone closely or is one shade lighter depending on how dark your circles are.

- If you do use foundation: once again gauge how dark your circles are. I don’t believe in going more than one shade lighter than your foundation, but according to beauty experts you can go up to two shades. Just be sure that you never go lighter than two shades or you will definitely end up on panda express. Also, the lighter you go with very dark circles, the more grey cast your circles will look, which will only draw more attention to them.

- For those with fair and medium skin tones, yellow-toned concealers are best, and orange-based tones work well for those with dark or black skin tones. I have found that pink-toned concealers do not work well with the average desi skin and can end up looking ashy.

9-0-2-1-Oh Dear

If you recall the post on choosing the right foundation color, you can try the strip test, but this time on the skin on your neck under your ear rather than on your cheek. Smear three shades on this area and the one that melts into your skin is closest to your color. However, this is not always fool proof, again, because the darkness of undereye circles varies and contrary to popular belief amongst department store salespeople, many ladies do have faces that are lighter than their necks.

Finally, again, like choosing your foundation, you must keep in mind that your skin tone changes from the winter to summer so you may need two shades of concealer for the different times of year. Also, concealer is a trial and error process just like foundation so make sure to see it in different light and take pictures privately beforehand to see how it looks under the flash – or else you may end up tagged and panda-eyed in photos that appear on your crush’s Facebook newsfeed. And no one wants that.

Stay tuned for our post on concealer application techniques!

Photo Credits (In order they appear):
http://www.ehow.com/video_4407882_apply-lip-concealer.html
http://sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P2858&categoryId=B70#
http://sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P218431&categoryId=B70
http://www.sephora.com/browse/product.jhtml?id=P2679&shouldPaginate=true&categoryId=5318
http://www.womansday.com/Articles/Beauty/Beauty-s-Best-Sellers.html
http://www.celeb-invasion.com/tag/annalynne-mccord/