I’m gonna propose something kinda crazy here regarding under-eye concealer, but if you bear with me, I think it could be worth your while. It’s something I’ve been doing pretty regularly for the past few weeks and, frankly, it’s rocking my world.
OK, here it is: instead of applying your concealer right after your foundation, do it after you do everything else — after your foundation, your eye makeup, your blush, your lips, bronzer if you wear it, etc. — all of that stuff.
Then, as the very last step in your makeup process, do your under-eye concealer.
Why have I been doing it this way?
Because I’m always looking for ways to get my makeup to look as natural as possible, and that can be a challenge in the under-eye area, you know? — especially if you have some fine lines in that area, and/or you follow a multi-step process involving color correcting and setting your color corrector with powder.
I have lines there, and the more makeup I wear underneath my eyes, the heavier it looks and, but when I wait and do my concealer as the last step, I find myself using less concealer — correction: using just the exactly right amount — because I’m able to use the rest of my look as a reference point.
I talk about using reference points a lot because they really help me use the least amount of product I need for a particular effect.
In this case, depending on the rest of my look, I can adjust the amount of under-eye concealer I’m using to match the particular look, so if I go full-on glam, then I can go heavier with my concealer, but I’m less likely to go too heavy.
Without anything else to guide me — like, if I do it the normal way and apply my foundation, and then my under-eye concealer — I just keep putting more and more on, because I can’t tell! But when I can use the whole look as my reference point, it’s very easy to tell what the least amount of concealer that I can get away with is.
It’s just something to try if you sometimes wrestle with your under-eye concealer like I do.
Oh, and this approach definitely works better for certain types of looks than others. If you’re doing smoky liner along your lower lash lines, I would probably still do my concealer first, then do whatever smoky action I have going on underneath. And you also have to be mindful of your blending to seamlessly blend that concealer in if you have foundation on the upper parts of your cheekbones, but if you keep those things in mind, I think you’ll be fine.
Give it a go sometime. I hope it works for you. 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Chris25 says
January 3rd, 2017 at 10:06 amGood tip! I’ll try this, but I have a feeling that I’ll benefit from applying it before anything else because genetics didn’t work in my favor. Lol.
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Kiss & Make-up says
January 3rd, 2017 at 10:15 amMakes sense to do it as the very final step in your routine. Thing is, even I get lines and creasing when I wear under-eye concealer. AND I DON’T EVEN HAVE LINES! I just can’t seem to stop the product from creasing and looking all icky after a days’ wear, no matter what I try. So most of the time I don’t apply anything under my eyes at all. That seems to keep the area looking the smoothest and freshest.
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Sonia says
January 3rd, 2017 at 10:33 amKaren, Happy New Year! Coming out of my lurk mode one more time to ask you to ID that corally pink lipstick you’re wearing in the top picture. Thanks!
Karen says
January 3rd, 2017 at 4:11 pmHey Sonia!
It’s so nice to meet you! Glad you decided to de-lurk… Lipstick will make ya do that. LOL! Anywho, the color is by Kjaer Wise. I featured it a brand spotlight a few weeks ago, and it’s called Love. Let me know if you have any questions about it.
Fran says
January 3rd, 2017 at 10:57 amAh, the battle to keep my under-eye concealer from emphasizing increasingly less fine lines… it got worse once I started wearing progressives, because then that part of my eyeglasses magnifies the lines for all the world to see… at some point I had to kind of stop aiming for perfection in that area, lol.
Still, I will give this a shot sometime. I think I may need to set my foundation with the powder you’re using here instead of with my Ambient Lighting Powder, though, if I’m going to put concealer on top of it.
Some things I’ve found that help a little:
The undereye area needs to be well-moisturized, but too much emollience in the area will increase creasing. Fine-tuning of eye cream and primer used in the undereye area may be required. (What works best for me is Paula’s Choice eye cream, plus Smashbox hydrating unedereye primer in the winter). If I’ve overdone it, pressing a bit of tissue against the area to absorb extra moisture helps. Then I use as little concealer as I can — I usually pat it on gently, not actually trying to totally conceal everything, then, when I put my CC cream or foundation over it, again use as little as possible. Then set with as little powder as possible. It seems like, the deeper the lines get, the less product I can get away with using. So I let a bit of darkness, most of which is shadow, remain — it looks better than a creased mess does, any day. When they finally come up with concealer that effectively deals with skin texture issues, that will be a happy day!
Karen says
January 3rd, 2017 at 4:16 pmFran, I totally get you. I used to be obsessive about the dark circle situation in my under eye area but now I’m at the point where I’m just like, eh, it is what it is. I’d rather look a little tired then have loads of makeup sitting on all those lines, ya know? Thank you for reminding me about prepping with eye cream. I haven’t been so good about that lately. And I’m with you on using as little powder as possible to set! I take practically all of mine off before I roll it on. I dunno why, but gently rolling seems to help set everything in place, especially when you’re using very little powder.
Seriously… I could talk about under eye concealer for DAYS.
Raph says
January 3rd, 2017 at 11:34 amHi Karen, and happy new year again ?.
I’ve never thought about applting my under-eye concelear after everything else but ut does make sense! I’m gonna try tomorrow or the day after tomorrow and will let you know ?
Thanks a lot, take care.
xxx
Karen says
January 3rd, 2017 at 4:18 pmHappy New Year, Raph! I hope it works for you. Remember that you might have to do a little extra blending with your blush, foundation, etc. after you put the under eye concealer on. It shouldn’t take you too long though!
By the way, what under eye concealer have you been using/loving lately?
Arianne says
January 3rd, 2017 at 11:46 amOooh I’m down to try this when I’m doing a “look.” Because let’s face it, I usually just do powder, along with brows lashes and lips. Great tip, because I get pretty heavy handed with concealer over here.
On a related note I totally need to try that new NARS concealer. Ooh baby come to mama!
Karen says
January 3rd, 2017 at 4:18 pmHi Arianne,
That NARS concealer is SO good. Especially when you blend it out with a BeautyBlender!
Indya says
January 3rd, 2017 at 12:16 pmI’d be willing to try it! Also, I think that Nars concealer will be my next (and first) beauty purchase of 2017.
BTW, you look amazing with the smokey eye!
Indya recently posted … How I Fill in My Sparse Brows
Tatiana says
January 3rd, 2017 at 2:19 pmI’ll have to try leaving my concealer to the end. After I powder it, I like to tap over it with a damp sponge. For me it seems to smooth things down even a bit more over my not so fine lines.
Karen says
January 3rd, 2017 at 4:19 pmI’ll try that trick tomorrow! Maybe with a BeautyBlender sprayed with a setting spray?!
I feel like we haven’t talked in forever!
Tatiana says
January 3rd, 2017 at 7:45 pmI either use one of the mini beauty blenders dampened and squeezed out with water or just one of the cheap triangle wedge sponges with water and wrung out as much as possible. I just never use setting spray. It isn’t so much about setting it as I feel it smoothes out the lines and blurs it better.
We haven’t chatted in a while, mostly because I feel like a zombie. I had a full glass of champagne and one of red wine with dinner new year’s eve and I still felt like I was walking through a thick, wet, gray blanket this morning. It took a full 45 minutes of my workout before I felt even remotely energized. And then 15 minutes later it was over and I walked to the pet store to get more food for Nora kitty and then came home and crashed.
Karen says
January 4th, 2017 at 4:48 pmYou sound like me right after Christmas, LOL! I was pretty much the same way and needed the week after to recover.
I think you asked a while back if the coq au vin I made was hard to do… It was actually not difficult. There were multiple steps (marinating overnight, browning chicken, etc.), but it’s not like I had to babysit a pot and stir it every 15 minutes. You could totally do it. The only thing I plan to do differently is to *not* crowd the chicken in the cast iron pot when I brown it. I made the mistake of putting too many pieces and they didn’t brown properly. Oh well!
Erin says
January 3rd, 2017 at 2:40 pmI kind of do the same thing but mostly for night looks as I don’t know how much I’ll put on my lower lid until I’m doing my makeup. I know I should plan it out more but I’m often going way lower on the lash line than I intend to. If I put concealer on first it’s harder to clean up and sometimes I’ve gone low enough I don’t need much at all!
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Chelsea says
January 3rd, 2017 at 4:28 pmI can’t wait for that Nars concealer to come out, I really want to try it.
Karen says
January 3rd, 2017 at 4:32 pmIt is honestly the best one I’ve tried, and I usually don’t like cream concealers in pots because they often look too heavy. This one is so skin-like! You have to use it with a damp BeautyBlender though. That’s when it seems to do its best.
Chelsea says
January 3rd, 2017 at 4:47 pmThis is going to sound crazy, but I don’t actually own a Beauty Blender! I keep meaning to try it because all the cheap knockoff versions are just awful!
Karen says
January 5th, 2017 at 10:02 amIt’s available now on the NARS website. I’m not-so-patiently waiting for mine to ship. It sounds amazing!
Diana says
January 3rd, 2017 at 5:04 pmHi Karen! I’m a new reader&adore you already! Great timing to read this-just bought Bobbi Brown Extra Repair Eye Cream&Serum Corrector as a last effort with dark circles, sigh, the bane of my existence too…I just couldn’t decide to buy her Serum Concealer with it (been using It Cosmetics cc eye&anti-redness together). Do you like the Nars Radiant the best?
Karen says
January 4th, 2017 at 4:45 pmHi Diana,
NARS Radiant (in the tube with the wand) is OK. Not my fave at the moment though. I love, LOVE Sephora’s Bright Future Gel Serum Concealer (here’s a review). The new NARS Soft Matte Concealer (the one in the pot) is also amazing. Looks very natural on the skin, but you have to blend it with a BeautyBlender to get it to look the most natural (here’s the review). Let me know if you have any questions about either one.
Diana says
January 5th, 2017 at 1:25 pmThis is great, thanks so much Karen! I love your makeup ideas, so naturally beautiful! I will try these with the corrector ☺
Brandee says
January 3rd, 2017 at 7:53 pmI’ve actually done this before on accident- when I’ve already powdered my foundation and then realized that I forgot my concealer- so I popped some it cosmetics cc cream on top and it looked so good- gotta do this again!!!
Bebe says
January 4th, 2017 at 3:17 amHi Karen
Happy New Year sweetie ! All the best to you and your family 🙂
I love your blog , your ideas always learn something new from you , thank you
What is the lipstick your wearing in the second pic , the dark one ? Absolutely stunning !
You look always amazing!
Hugs
Bebe
Karen says
January 4th, 2017 at 4:42 pmHi Bebe,
Happy New Year to you too! And thank you for your sweet compliment.
The lipstick in that pic is Dolce & Gabbana Dolce Inferno 333. HTH!
Alex says
February 18th, 2017 at 12:08 amKaren,
I’ve been reading your blog a lot lately (love by the way, I’m learning lots and not wasting my money on products thanks to your reviews) but I was wondering what kind of primer you use with the Mac studio face and body foundation?? I have the hardest time finding one that won’t cause my make up to separate and I love the foundation which works wonders for my oily skin.