MAC Studio Fix Conceal and Correct Palette

COVERAGE: Medium to Full

FINISH: Natural

A ‘one stop shop’ professional correct-and-conceal product in a sleek flip lid palette offering a variety of skin finishes for all skin types to be used anywhere on the face (or body) for coverage of blemishes, dark cirlces, tattoos, birth marks and moles. This iconic product from MAC is part of the best-selling MAC Studio Fix Foundation range renowned for its oil control and matte foundation formula and like the foundation, this concealer palette also offers superb pigmentation, antioxidants to moisturise and long lasting medium to full coverage.

Depending on your preference of finish, Pro Makeup folk like myself mix this on the back of our hand with a small amount of moisturiser prior to application for a more natural, sheer finish. For more opaque and full coverage, simply apply directly to well moisturised skin and blend out with a finger, brush or damp sponge. You can build this concealer in layers to the coverage level you personally require but just be sure, like with all concealer and foundation products, to work in thin layers, building as you go. It’s always easier to add product that it is to take away should you apply too much!

MAC offer this palette in Light, Medium, Medium Deep, Deep and Extra Deep to cover all skin tones. Each palette provides 2 colour correcting shades (in the picture shown here, it’s the yellow and the salmon pink) and 4 concealer shades. The correcting shades are used to block out dark shadows or marks and pesky bluey veins before applying the concealer over the top or you can use the colour correctors to lighten and adjust the concealer shades to match your unique skin tone. After a thin wash of colour corrector has been applied, simply apply concealer colour either inidivudally or combined to match your skin tone… and voila!

The added bonus is, as your skin darkens in summer or pales down in Winter, you can be sure to have a concealer that matches your skin tone all year round without having to buy or carry around several products making this beauty a travel must-have product in your makeup arsenal.

£30 from MAC

Bobbi Brown Under Eye Corrector

COVERAGE: Full

FINISH: Natural

I love a multi tasking product myself and if you’ve ever wished that your current concealer had a bit more ‘oomph’ and coverage, or if you are new to the benefits of colour correcting, give this colour correcting and perfecting ‘2 in 1’ concealer from Bobbi Brown a whirl.

It’s sweat and humidity resistant (so stays put all day), it comes in a wide range of shades with either a pink or peach correcting base depending on your undertone, it’s packed with skin treats to care for the delicate under eye area and offers miraculous creamy long-wearing coverage banishing those dark circles until cleansing time.

Purchasing a good colour corrector product to join your makeup arsenal is a must for those ‘hard to cover’ makeup days and a makeup artist’s secret weapon to turbo charge the effects of any concealer.

Under eye dark circles, for example, can be difficult to conceal with makeup. Step forward colour corrector! Prior to concealer application, if you block out those pesky shadows with colour corrector, you end up using less concealer thereby giving more of a natural makeup effect as opposed to several layers of full coverage concealer.

All those crazy palettes you see in the shops offering purple, green, red and yellow are and so on? Let me briefly explain…..

HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT COLOUR CORRECTOR

A colour wheel is used to illustrate complimentary and opposing colours (see colour wheel below). Opposing colours cancel each other out by neutralising pigment. For example, you will see that red is opposite green on the colour wheel so for a makeup artist, we know to use a green colour corrector to help cancel out redness in the skin. Sallow yellowy areas under the eyes or around the nose are neutralised by a purple based colour corrector. So now you know!

Other recommended colour correctors are NYX and Charlotte Tilbury.

£20.50 from Bobbi Brown and other retailers such as John Lewis, Debenhams and Look Fantastic

Red Skin? Use Green Colour Corrector to reduce redness because Green is the opposite to red on the colour wheel and opposite colours when mixed neutralise each other

Trinny London BFF Eye Serum Concealer

COVERAGE: Light to Medium

FINISH: Natural

Want to look like you regularly enjoy 8 hours of sleep?….Hell yes!

Once applied, this non-creasing hybrid product from Trinny London looks like your skin but better. Not only that, but the Peptide Activator ingredient depuffs and can also reduce the blue red tones in under eye dark circles.

Both brightening and hydrating in one, thanks to the infusion of hyaluronic acid to boost moisture and soothe, this clever little pot of magic concealer-serum-in-one not only delivers hydration but with added Vitamin C, it also brightens and helps reduce the appearance of those dreaded dark circles.

Whilst this is not a concealer in the strict sense, this small pot packs a big punch with its skincare benefits for the under eye area, giving a second skin finish and going by all the reviews, loved by those who have tried it. (If you like the idea of a hybrid concealer serum, also check out the Bare Minerals Serum Concealer in this list.)

£26 Trinny London