The Right Way To Conceal Under Eye Circles

It’s one of my most-asked questions from family and friends. “I’m using X-product to cover my under eyes, but can you recommend something else,” or “Help! I need something to help cover these terrible dark circles!” The biggest reason many of them aren’t satisfied is because they’re using the wrong type of product to fix the problem, so I want to address the right way to conceal under eye circles today. Let’s do this.

The product many are using to fix their under eye circles is usually some form of a highlighting or standard every-day concealer – think: YSL Touche Eclat, some random Cover Girl or Maybelline basic concealer or one of those clicky concealer pens by L’Oreal or Revlon. This won’t do the trick, friends. This is ok if you’ve slept for three days, drink gallons of water a day or are genetically blessed with perfect under eyes. But for the rest of humanity, we need something called color correcting.

Color correcting is the process of canceling out certain unflattering shades in order to achieve a flawless finish using  opposite colors on the color wheel. We’ve all seen those weird (usually green, to cancel out redness) concealer sticks at the drugstore, but makeup companies have come a LONG way since then. The idea behind color correcting your under eyes is finding a peachy/orange undertone corrector (opposite the blue-ish/purple under eye).

So many brands make products for color correcting under the eyes now, which is the right way to conceal dark circles. Not all of them do it well, though. Some products are too waxy, too greasy, too sheer or the company simply doesn’t educate the customer enough on how to maximize its effectiveness. Many of the good ones are a slight bit thicker (almost sticky) and require a sheer wash of powder to set into place. Don’t think powder will highlight your fine lines – with a good color corrector that has the right level of thickness/stickiness, it corrects darkness, hydrates and helps plump the skin a bit so that the powder minimizes fine lines and holds the color corrector in place.

Step 1 – Apply your base/foundation

First, you need to even out your canvas before assessing how much correcting/concealing you need. I never conceal before my foundation – you’re just wiping it off when you place your foundation on top of it. Plus, you may need less concealer than you think if you do your foundation first and then assess your needs.

If you normally don’t even wear foundation at all, that’s fine. Start with Step 2.

Step 2 – Color correct

Take a very thin layer of your color corrector on the pads of your ring fingers and rub together to warm up the product – this is essential to ensure a more natural finish. Pat firmly onto those dark circles – do NOT forget those inner corners, they’re always super dark on me! You should feel like this color is a bit peachy/salmon/orangey compared to your skin. This is good.

Step 3 – Conceal

If you’re feeling like the color correcting is pretty peachy/salmon/orangey compared to your skin, NOW you apply a thin layer of your normal concealer that is your normal skin tone on top. Pat gently on top of the corrector until you no longer can see the orangey hues. You probably will feel like this is so much more product than usual, right? Don’t worry, it will be worth it 🙂

Step 4 – Set

Now take a lighter/brighter or even translucent powder with a makeup sponge or brush and lightly tap to set your work in place. This prevents creasing, cracking or melting off.

***

This process isn’t for everyone and this isn’t always necessary every single day, but if your under eyes bother you and you want to do the best job at eradicating them, this is the right way to conceal under eye circles. You need to correct the dark color before just packing on a concealer or highlighting pen.

Some of my favorite color-correcting under eye products are:

• Bobbi Brown Corrector* – $25; pick it up at Sephora, Nordstrom, Macy’s or any other Bobbi Brown counter.
  *This is one of the best, but it’s imperative you get professionally color matched to find the right shade since she has a vast variety of options. I personally can use light peach or peach.
• IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye – $10-24; pick it up at Ulta, on Amazon or QVC.
  I personally use Medium. You will NOT need concealer after using this product. It’s a two-in-one.
• Benefit Erase Paste – $26; pick it up at Sephora, Ulta, Macy’s or Nordstrom.
  I’ve used Medium.
• NYX Dark Circle Concealer – $6; pick it up at Ulta, Target, Amazon and select CVS locations.
• LA Girl Pro Conceal – $2-6; pick it up on drugstore.com, Walgreens.com or Amazon. Prices vary.
  Limited shade selection for correcting under eye, but good for medium/deep skin.

Some of my favorite YouTube tutorials showing this process in more detail:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXtNof4Gia4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_b4XII-bNQ

I hope this helps you look your best now that you have this little trick! Let me know if you try it and have success or if you have any other under-eye correcting products to recommend.

Happy correcting,

-Steffanie

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