Dark Circles Part 2: CONCEAL

hello readers! after a few days of no posting i am back and ready to tackle the second part of my post on help for concealing dark circles. it's not easy to successfully cover dark circles; either the darkness shows through and you still look tired and like a raccoon or your concealer looks too light or the formula you choose gets cakey and accentuates your lines and-- grrrr! it can be difficult. for all the knowledge, tips and tricks i've gathered over the last ten plus years of working on my circles, read on!

the very first step to concealing those nasty dark circles is making sure your delicate undereye skin is adequately hydrated. if that skin is even the least bit dry, forget about it! your concealer will look terrible and obvious and it will probably make you look even worse! for moisturizing you'll need a rich, hydrating eye cream to wear at night to bed and a lighter one for the daytime that absorbs well and acts as a good base for your concealer. for night, i would highly recommend Prevage Eye Anti-Aging Moisturizing Treatment by Elizabeth Arden, $95, which is the only product i have ever used that successfully lightened my dark circles AND erased my fine lines. $95 is a horribly large amount of money and i hate that i've become dependent on a product so expensive but it just plain works amazingly well and i can't live without it! it's definitely an investment, but a worthwhile one. for daytime, i love Clinique's All About Eyes Rich eye cream, $27.50. for under thirty dollars, this eye cream is a really great buy. it intensely hydrates your skin without being greasy and really plumps up any fine lines you have. over time it claims to help with dark circles and boost your skin's natural collagen production--now i don't know if it lives up to those claims, but it works nicely under concealer and keeps your skin smooth and hydrated. once your undereye area is prepped and ready to go, choosing a concealer is your next step!

picking a concealer can be a very personal thing, and many people search for years before they find the perfect one that seems tailor-made to work for their skin type. i know that i couldn't begin to know everything about concealers and be able to suggest the right one for every person, but after many purchases and testings and disappointments, i feel like i have some worthwhile information to share. i suppose we'll start off with colors: if your dark circles are blue or purplish in color, a concealer with a pink undertone will work very well for you. if your circles are more brownish or grey, a peachy tone is the way to go! for a long time i thought a peach-toned concealer was a one-size-fits-all prescription for dark circles, and one definitely can be used with moderate success for a person with blue/purple darkness, but after a very helpful sales assistant at a Bobbi Brown counter did one of my eyes in a concealer with peach undertones (the Peach shades, Light Peach in my case) and the other in one with pink undertones (the Bisque shades, Light Bisque for me), i was sold. the side with the pink, Light Bisque concealer not only looked a lot more natural but the darkness was better covered using less product. at that time i had been using a peachy concealer but switched immediately!

now that you know what shade you should lean towards, i'll tell you some of my favorite concealers. since we've already mentioned the Bobbi Brown brand, we'll start with her Corrector, $22 (at left). the Correctors are different from a traditional concealer in the fact that they were designed by Bobbi to use under her regular, yellow-toned Creamy Concealers, $22. the idea is that you use the Corrector to counteract the darkness under your eyes and then you use the Creamy Concealer on top to blend the area into your surrounding skin. i've tried this method and feel that the Creamy Concealer on top is unnecessary, i have very dark circles and do fine using just the Corrector, but if it works for you, great! i'm definitely not knocking it. the Corrector is an amazing product because it's creamy without being greasy, doesn't accentuate or settle into fine lines, stays on all day without creasing, and really brightens and neutralizes the darkness around the eyes. i use it on the darkness on my upper eyelid as well as beneath my eyes and it even makes a wonderful eyeshadow primer!

another concealer that gets an honorable mention is Laura Mercier's Secret Concealer, $22. not to be confused with the denser, drier Secret Camouflage, the Secret Concealer is made specifically for the eye area and comes in a little pot. this cult favorite concealer is very moisturizing and does a great job at covering darkness-- it was my one and only for almost 2 years! i've since moved on because i have product ADD, but that doesn't mean this concealer isn't still worthy of top billing. since this concealer is very moist to keep the delicate undereye area hydrated, it does need to be set with a powder, and Mercier's Secret Brightening Powder, $22, is a great product to use with it or any other concealer in your arsenal. it not only sets your concealer, it also helps to brighten the whole eye area!

next up is Benefit's Erase Paste, $26, my current favorite does-it-all concealer! this superstar product covers circles, blemishes and red spots equally well and also brightens any area you use it on. to read more about how much i adore this concealer and how well it works, check out this in-depth post that's entirely devoted to it's greatness!

now it's time for a concealer made to hide the very deepest, darkest circles your eyes can muster! if you've never been able to find a concealer that completely hid your circles without a hint of shadow peaking through, then Amazing Cosmetics Amazing Concealer, $28-40, is the one for you! this concealer is in a tiny tube and when you pick it up you think 'there is no way i'm paying $40 for this little thing!' until you try it on. AMAZING! literally! when i bought my tube they only had the original size, but now they have a travel size for $28 which is a much better buy because the concealer is so concentrated, you literally only need a dot the size of half a grain of rice to do each eye! the first time i applied this concealer i was shocked because it was the first time i saw myself with absolutely NO darkness under my eyes at all, and i was instantly sold. i like to use this concealer on the very darkest parts of my circles that sometimes can't be covered by my Erase Paste or Bobbi Brown corrector, and it always works like a charm. if $28 is still a little too much for your budget, Physician's Formula's Conceal RX Physician's Strength Concealer, $7.95, is a phenomenally effective drugstore version of the Amazing Concealer. same type of very full coverage, only a tiny dot needed, and stays on like a charm, all without looking like heavy, cakey concealer. i own both the PF concealer and the Amazing and i can't even decide which one i love best, so both are fantastic and deserve to be given a shot!

those are my top picks for the kings of concealer, and i hope they have given you some ideas to go on if you're tired of dealing with your circles. my advice is to go to a department store without any of the concealer you're currently using on your dark circles and just test different brands and formulas out until you find the one that suits you the best. for the best application of your concealer when attempting to disguise your circles, first make sure your skin is well moisturized, and then pick up a tiny bit of concealer, either using your finger or a small, pointed brush (i recommend MAC's 194 Concealer Brush, $18.50). if you're using a brush, paint on a thin layer of concealer covering all the darkness on your undereye area, making sure not to forget the inside of the bridge of your nose near your eye's corner, and then take your ring finger and gently tap, tap, tap over the concealer to smooth and blend it. the heat from your finger will warm the product and help it to melt into your skin. repeat as necessary until your circles are concealed, and then set with a very finely milled powder to keep it in place (i would recommend using something like Laura Mercier's Secret Brightening Powder or Bare Escentuals Mineral Veil). try to avoid using heavy mascara and eyeliner on your bottom lashline because it can smear and make the undereye area look even darker. for an extra pop of brightness to wake up especially tired eyes, take a small eye shadow brush and a light colored shimmery eye shadow (i am currently liking Stila's Kitten eye shadow, $18, pictured here, for this purpose) and carefully apply to the inner corner of your eye, around your tear duct area. this helps to open up the eye and brings light into the eye's corner which can be especially dark from the natural shadows of your face.

if these method don't work for you, nothing will! no, i'm only kidding, but i think they should definitely help in the battle against dark circles. what are your favorite tips and tricks? as a circle sufferer myself, i'd love to know, so please share!