Review: Concealer Comparison

I finally finished editing this video!  I think all the text is what made me take so long getting this up :P  And I don't know why but I forgot to sit off to the side so I didn't have a lot of room to put the text :(

I thought about posting swatches of these concealers but I decided not to because ultimately, how well a concealer works is particularly dependent on your individual skin color and tone.  Not to mention your skin condition (oily/dry/combo), what kind of foundation you use over it, what kind of scars you're trying to cover etc all come into play.  So, I thought it would be best just to write the most objective observations I can in terms of texture and blendability, which doesn't vary too much between different people.

NYX Concealer In A Jar (Green)
Purchased at: Cherry Culture ($5)

I was not impressed.  It had the notorious gray overcast and while it did neutralize redness, it just did not hide my scars and zits.  I have almost nothing good to say about this except that it was quite cheap so I don't feel too bad about throwing this away.  I tested this out on very "typical" sized zits (smooth but red, about 3-4 mm in width) and this does not cover those.  Blending the edges without fading the green color is next to impossible and causes caking if you use a powder foundation.  I have heard that some people have had good results with this but their acne must be very light.  Overall, I find that this was too difficult to work with.  I would rather spend a bit more for a better concealer and I don't recommend this, especially for makeup noobs like myself :P

L'Oreal True Match Super-Blendable Concealer
Purchased at: Walmart ($7-8)

I commented that I find this setup unhygienic but it really isn't any less unhygienic than the jar set up, so I don't know why I said that :P  I think I was thinking about mascara and how bacteria grows inside the tube if you don't remove the brush in a twisting motion...I dunno.  Anyway, although 9 shades sounds like a lot of colors to pick from, I couldn't find my match.  There are 3 warm, neutral, and cool colors each.  I personally tried Fair/Light Cool 1-2-3, Light/Med Cool 4-5 (the one in the video), and Fair/Light Neutral 1-2-3.   None of them worked for me very well for one reason or another.  I bought the Light/Med C4-5 in August, so when I was tanner, the color wasn't "that" off but as I've gotten quite pale for winter, this concealer has become a spectacularly bad color match.

The coverage is rather good I think, much better than what the NYX Concealer in A Jar resulted in.  It's also blendable, doesn't cake much, quite creamy, and decently long lasting.  However, the tendency to oxidize and the bad color match killed it for me.  I don't really recommend this unless you're on a tight budget, willing to test out a lot of colors, and don't need to wear a lot of concealer (aka you only need to cover redness around your nose and a zit or two).  Otherwise, the oxidation isn't worth the trouble.

Benefit Boi-ing Concealer (Medium 02) 
Purchased at: Sephora ($18)

I like to fancy myself as someone who favors drugstore brands over higher ends most of the time, but in this case I have to admit, I'm willing to dish out more money for the higher end.  Mara recommended I try this and I don't regret it because the texture, coverage, lightness, and blendabilty were far superior to the NYX and L'Oreal concealers. I picked this up during Sephora's annual 20% off Friends & Family sale and it was definitely the best thing I hauled.  Don't get fooled by how NYX concealer jars have .23 oz ($5) and the Boi-ing has only .1 oz ($18) because this pot is going to last you awhile.  You just need a dab of the this to pat on your face, I can honestly see this lasting at least a year for me.  The texture is silky smooth and it just sticks to your face somehow, so it doesn't fade as you put foundation over it.  Needless to say the staying power is great and it does not oxidize.  The one thing about this concealer is you need to "warm it up" with your fingers to maximize blendability; this is a common characteristic for most creamy concealers so this is not a negative.

Shade 02 Medium is little dark for me right now but it has a peachy yellow undertone so it blends passably enough without leaving an orange or ashy shadow.  Like I said in the video, Shade 01 would probably be best for me but I am so lazy I just never got around to returning the one I have *sigh*  But I really have no complaints about this.  $18 is an excellent investment for a good concealer but since everyone's skin is a little different, I highly recommend poking your head into a Sephora one day and trying it first.  This way you can be sure you aren't allergic and are pleased with the results before buying a full-sized jar.

Concealing Tips
1.) Less is more, particularly with concealers.   Even the Boi-ing will start caking if you add too much.  Just start super light and don't try to completely cover blemishes with the concealer because remember you are probably adding foundation over it.  You need to just blend out about 40-60% of the blemish's redness and your regular application of foundation/BBcream will do the rest.

2.) If a concealer/foundation looks ashy/grey/dirty, it means the color is too light.  Most people can tell when things are too dark ^_^  Asians tend to do best with peachy concealers with a hint of yellow for spot-concealing, but ultimately, you need to go by your own individual skincolor/tone.

3.) Concealing spots and concealing undereyes are two different things and may require two different concealers.  The concealers I reviewed today were for spot-concealing.  I never tested any of them on my undereyes and fyi, I do not cover my undereyes because I like to fancy myself as someone who doesn't really have too.

4.) Concealers/makeup in general should never have orange undertones, it just means it's oxidizing and has a bad formula. Also I don't think orange undertones are flattering on anybody :\

Overall
It's pretty clear that the only concealer I recommend in this video is the Benefit Boi-ing.   I probably will not be reviewing anymore concealers till I run out of the Boi-ing since I am very pleased with it.  The next concealer I'll probably try is the Kevin Beautymaker BB Mineral Concealing Cream.  In the meantime, please do leave your thoughts/experience with these concealers if you've tried any of these :)

Review: NYX Product Reviews

Now for more reviews ^_^ This time from a couple NYX stuff I picked up from Cherry Culture.  Cherry Culture is pretty much the place to get NYX products; I've compared prices left and right - at Ulta, Ebay, various drugstores - CC hands down has the best prices.  Shipping isn't even much of an issue because it's always free shipping when you spend $40+.  Ulta in my area particularly jacks up the prices of NYX single shadows and round lipsticks and NYX is not carried at Walmart here. So yeah, online is really the place to get NYX for me.  The stuff came well packaged and within a week of ordering + detailed receipt.

If I recall correctly I got these all on Final Sale so they were cheaper than usual. For example, the famous NYX Round Lipsticks are usually $3.50 and I snagged em for $2.50 :D  All of these NYX items are still on sale (in the Sale section) so grab them now (esp the Round lipsticks)~!  I've heard some people have gotten these for as low as $1.75 but either way it's an amazing bargain.   NYX is known for their Round Lipsticks and Single Eye Shadows, so those are items you should definitely try if you're thinking about trying NYX stuff.

Everything was in bubble wrap but what I really like is how they put the concealer in a separate pouch in case it breaks or something.  Attention to details like that always impresses me. Neway,  I've put swatches of everything up here except the concealer, I still need to take pics of how it covers blemishes~   And I have yet to try on the lashes but they're pretty cute yeah ;)? I'll review them properly another time.

NYX Fabulous Eye Lashes - $4.00

Option 121.

Option 114.

The look real nice but let's see if these really last 10 uses ;) Sample pics online are exactly what you get.

NYX Single Eye Shadows - $3.99

Extreme Apricot, Blue Marine

I only bought two so I could see what the hype was all about before a bigger investment.  The camera really captures the exact color of Extreme Apricot in this pic I think, hopefully individual monitor colors aren't too far off.  On the left is a matte red-orange, truly exquisite.  The color is rich and exactly red-orange. Love it.  Very smooth and no fallout.  Blue Marine is supposed to be a matte color too but I swear it has light sparkles and a slightly frosty finish I think. Blue Marine also has a bit of fallout and is less smooth on application than the apricot. Overall, great pigmentation and the color pay off is worth the price tag.

I don't have a particular reason I picked these eyeshadows, I just really like blues and that apricot color looked unusual. I mainly picked these up to see what all the hype about these shadows were.  I'll definitely be picking more up, these were quite good, especially the matte colors.  NYX has a great range of single shadows so I look forward to exploring more of the unusual colors.

NYX Rouge Cream Blush - $6.00

This is my first cream blush -- I've been dying to try out Canmake Cream Blushes but I've heard good things about NYX Cream Blushes so I decided to try this out and it looked quite similar to Canmake's.  I don't regret it, this blush is super creamy and pigmented.  My swatch is obviously a lot darker than how you'd apply it on your cheeks - the actually color you'd get on your cheeks is like the top part of the swatch where it fades out. I only took one pic because it captures just how the blush looks in room lighting.  Rose Petal is among the more popular colors for this blush and I can see why, it's a very wearable color indeed.  It's got a peach-pink glow and while it looks more brownish in the pan it's a lovely peach pink on your face.  Cream blushes are said to be more natural and give a delicate lit-from-within glow powder blushes just don't give and I would say that's true.  There are no sparkles and it just settles into my skin into a subtle healthy flush - very natural.  It looks like I just came in from a quick jog :)  A good first cream blush and it's decent size too.

I applied this onto my face with my fingers the first time *yuck* cuz I didn't have any sponges and it was a bit difficult to get an even application. So def use a sponge or something when using this.  I know many people use their fingers with cream blushes but it's really unhygienic in my view and since cream blushes do "dry" fairly quickly, if you don't blend fast you'll end up with splotches.

NYX Mosaic Powder - $6.75

A super popular blush color and understandably so.  This is a very wearable peach color; it creates a very natural nude peach glow.  It's gorgeous in the pan and well-milled.  No fallout from the glitter and application is smooth.  The colors mixed together are really lovely, it creates a beautiful shimmery peach glow. It's more peachy than the cream blush above.  One thing that occurred to me looking at the single swatches is that I want to use the gold-bronze in the lower left as an eye shadow ^^  This has less color payout than the cream blush but I like it that way, I prefer to build colors slowly rather than struggling not to splotch my face with too much color.  This is a really nice blush and the color's lovely - I'd say it's worth the money.

NYX Round Lipsticks - $2.50

As usual I saved the best for last - SUCH a steal and the quality is eye popping! Packaging isn't "high end" but it's definitely sturdy and does not feel cheap - it has a nice heft and I like the peep of color on the bottom of the tube.

The color payoff is amazing, application is silky smooth, it does not sink into cracks and it does not smell.  I hate smelly lipsticks, it's the reason I dislike Revlon lipsticks (it smells SO strong and chemically to me) and the reason Maybelline lipsticks will never be an HG or favorite for me even though I use them often - I hate the fake wanna-be MAC vanilla smell. Actually, I don't even like the smell of MAC lipsticks even though it has a more "true" vanilla scent :\ To be honest, I believe that cheaper lipsticks tend to smell worse than high quality ones and so far, that has always held true for me.  Not NYX lipsticks though - I was so shocked!  Just a very light almost soapy-waxy scent; it's so faint I almost missed it.  I've read some reviews complaining about this but honestly, you literally have to stick this in your nose to smell it.

The color pigmentation is incredible, all these swatches are just one swipe:

Circe - perfect nude lip color for me. Has a distinct yellow undertone; I really recommend this for cool toned Asians looking for a perfectly nude lipstick.   I have pretty pigmented lips and this covers it very well. I heard this color does not go with warm-toned people though but for NC15-20s (which I am), I think this is very suitable. This is already my go-to nude lip color.

Rea - The color outright looks awful on me, way too brownish-grey :\  ...it makes me look...old O_o It also has a faint purple flash and it makes me look a bit bruised and unhealthy. I do not recommend cool toned people to get this at all.  You will look like you smeared mud on your lips :( Great for a zombie look I suppose. Don't get me wrong, this lipstick is great, just a terrible color choice on my part. Do not recommend for NC15-20s.  This only has a 52% Buy Again and a 3.5 on Makeup Alley, which I think demonstrates what a tricky and unflattering color this can be :\

Thalia - a matte dusty rose color.  I really liked it as a swatch and in the tube but it has a warm brown undertint that makes this rather unflattering on me :\  It also looks kind of purple when it's on my lips.  This color truly does not match my complexion and it would look a lot better on non-pale people I think. For me, this is another "zombie" lipstick -_- Do not recommend for NC15-20s.

Doll - it looks very pink in the swatch but it really is more of a berry (reddish-pink, more red) color with a purple undertone.  This color is strangely harsh on me; it looked like a nice pink in a swatch and in the tube but it turns into a deep plum red on my lips.  It's a bit much to wear to work but it's a great winter color fo' sho'.  It's truly a warm berry tone, rich and pigmented.  I can totally see this paired with gold/bronze eyeshadow + cat-eye for a Christmas party or something ^_^ It may be a hint too warm for my skintone but I'm going to try and work it ^^;;  Nonetheless, I do not particularly recommend this lipstick for NC15-20s.

Snow White - a classic red with a blue flash.  Love it! The blue flash makes your teeth look super white and it really suits my cool toned skin ^^ I'm glad I bought this cuz everyone needs one perfect red lipstick right ;)? I highly recommend this for cool-toned people since warm-tones look better with red lipsticks with an orange flash (see below).

Tangent: I recently returned Maybelline's Color Sensation in Are You Red-dy.  It was red with an orange flash and let me tell you, it looked awful on me :\  I don't buy lipsticks too often and the ones I pick usually look decent on me (well, the lippies I pick in person, not online ^^;;) - but this is the first lipstick that legit looked BAD on me.  On camera and in real life.  It was just way too warm-toned for may face.  I'm sorry I didn't take swatch pics of this color but it was so awful I returned it before I remembered to take a swatch.  Cool-tones should try NYX's Snow White or any red lipstick with a blue flash.  Conversely, this leads me to highly recommend this to warm-toned people :D

For a ridiculous number of NYX Round Lipstick swatches go here.  From the colors I've seen, these are pretty accurate if a bit washed out and more glossy looking since she uses high flash.

FYI: The sample colors of these lipsticks on Cherry Culture are totally off.  If you're picking lipstick colors, google specific lipstick swatches because if you follow the sample colors on the site you're going to end up with something completely unexpected. I also heard NYX lipsticks melt very easily.

Overall
I can't stress how smooth and creamy the application of the lipsticks were.  I must say these have joined my HG list; Etude House lipsticks are still my favorite but those are very difficult to get in America and more expensive.  NYX is very accessible via CC in America and I can't believe these are only $2.50 each....they have a great range of colors too so I am sure everyone can find a color to suit themselves.  I 100% recommend these; of all the items reviewed here, these were the best.   The Extreme Apricot eye shadow was also really nice and the color is awesomely unusual, I haven't seen another color like it anywhere. 

For the other items I think you can find comparable blushes and the Blue Marine eye shadow else where.  They are all nice items and I don't regret buying them but I wouldn't say you're missing out on much if you don't get these. 

RESPONSE to Anonymous:

The staying power of NYX lipstick varies on the texture.  Very creamy NYX lipsticks like Circe and Pumpkin Pie are not long lasting, they come off after your eat/drink etc.  They are also nude lip colors, which is probably why they are less long lasting.  Overall, I'd say they last 3-4 hours.  More matte and darker lipstick colors like Doll and Snow White are more long lasting, they will fade but last through eating/drinking.  They leave a stain on your lips even if the actual color fades. Overall, they last a decent 6-8 hours.