How To Choose Concealer Shade in 2022
It’s 2022 — if you’re still using the concealer you wore ten years ago, it’s time for an upgrade. Our skin naturally changes over time, and so does our skin tone. Not to mention there have been some serious concealer upgrades in the last decade.
Used correctly, the right concealer is a secret weapon in your beauty kit arsenal, but get your shade wrong, and you could end up looking washed out, sick, or even clown-like.
Don’t worry, the team of makeup professionals at RMS Beauty has you covered (pun intended). We’ll tell you how to pick the perfect concealer shade and learn how to wield your concealer wand perfectly, to create truly flawless skin that looks real and natural.
Why Do I Need Concealer?
Concealer can be used alone or in combination with foundation and/or powder to create skin that looks even and smooth. You use concealer to even out areas of redness, correct and cover blemishes, or brighten areas that you don’t want looking so dark (like under your eyes).
Using a concealer can also help you reduce the amount of foundation coverage you need, which can help your skin look more naturally radiant, such as using concealer under your eyes, in the center of your chin, and around the edges of your nose to adjust variations in your skin tone without the use of foundation.
Concealer vs. Foundation: Which Do You Need?
Concealer and foundation are two separate products. Although it’s possible you could interchange them in a pinch, they’re best left to do their separate duties. Here’s why.
- Concealer is thicker than foundation. Because concealer is used for smaller, more “tough to cover” skin imperfections, it’s generally thicker than foundation. As such, you won’t want to use it all over your skin like foundation. You’d end up with heavier-than-you-need coverage on your skin.
- Foundation spreads more easily. Concealer has more grip than foundation, and usually sets more quickly than foundation. Foundation is slightly more blendable, which allows you to use it for larger areas of coverage.
RMS Beauty’s “Un” Cover Up Foundation is made like our concealer, but includes RMS’s proprietary adaptogenic herb blend to give your skin a powerful mix of essential nutrients. It also contains jojoba oil. Jojoba oil is a plant-based oil that is closest in chemical composition to our skin’s natural sebum, which means your skin absorbs it easily and uses it to stay hydrated and balanced.
If you run out of concealer, you can use a buildable foundation to get coverage on areas that need it. When attempting to substitute concealer for foundation, it’s a little trickier. Try adding a drop of beauty oil or raw coconut oil to thin out the formula before applying.
How To Find the Right Concealer Shade
Finding the right shade of concealer can feel like trying to find a needle in a haystack, but it doesn’t have to be hard work. Here are three ways to find the perfect shade for the job.
1. Determine Your Skin Tone
Your skin tone is the color of your skin in total. In other words, it’s the sum of your skin’s natural color plus your undertone (which we’ll talk about in a moment). Your skin tone can change from season to season, and can even change as you age.
Skin tone is determined by the amount of melanin in your skin, but it’s also affected by the undertones of your skin.
2. Find Your Undertone
Undertones are the colors just below the surface of your skin. If you look at an area of your skin that is thinner (like under your eyes or the inside of your wrist) you’ll notice variations in the color balance of your skin.
Skin undertones are usually classified as either cool, neutral, or warm.
To quickly assess your skin’s undertone, examine the visible veins on the underside of your wrist. Using your veins can help you determine your undertones.
- Cools. Cool undertones will see bluish or purplish colors on the inside of their wrists.
- Warms. Warm undertones will see golden or peachy colors on their wrists.
- Neutrals. If you have trouble seeing your veins, or if the color of your veins appears very close to your natural skin tone, you’re a neutral undertone.
Once you know your skin tone and undertone, you can select a shade based on what you want to conceal.
3. Your Concealer’s Job
A concealer can be used to cover blemishes or even out areas of redness or darkness to balance out your skin tone. Depending on what you want your concealer to do, you might need more than one shade in your makeup bag.
- For dark circles. The skin under your eyes gets thinner with age which causes dark circles to appear. Dark circles can also be hereditary, so you may notice them even if you’re in your twenties.
Dark circles that are bluish or purplish need correction with particular shades of concealer. RMS Beauty’s “Un” Cover-Up Concealer shades 11.5, 22.5, and 33.5 are made for color-correcting these tones.
- For blemishes.Acne can happen at any age. Most acne bumps fall into two categories: new blemishes that are red and swollen, and old blemishes that are healing and may have flaky skin.
For acne blemishes, choose a concealer shade that is about one-half shade lighter than your natural skin tone. If you choose a darker shade, you’ll end up with a darker spot. Shades that are too light can create a polka-dot effect that doesn’t match your skin tone.
It’s also not uncommon to need different concealer shades based on the season. If you’re naturally a little fairer-skinned in the winter, you’ll need a lighter shade of concealer than you use in the summer.
Common Concealer Mistakes (and How To Avoid Them)
No matter how perfectly chosen your shade, you can still make a mistake with your concealer that can really ruin your look. Here are three common concealer blunders and how to avoid them.
1. Raccoon Eyes
You’ve seen them and you might have even given them to yourself by accident. Raccoon eyes happen when you put too much light colored concealer under your eyes. To avoid this from happening, don’t swipe concealer completely underneath your eye.
Using your ring finger or a brush, dab a small amount of concealer in the inside corner of your eye, downward along the side of your nose. Dot any excess on the outside corner under your eye and gently blend both areas inward.
2. Using Too Much
Concealer is such a wonderful tool that it can be easy to overdo it. Remember, concealer is not foundation. Using too much can cause you to look washed out. Excess concealer under your eyes can also settle into fine lines and wrinkles, making them more noticeable.
RMS Beauty’s “Un” Cover-Up Concealer is buildable, and goes on easily for a flawless finish. If you need to add more for additional coverage, our concealer makes the job easy and helps you do it without going overboard.
3. Concealing in the Wrong Order
You should always put your concealer on before your foundation, but only after you’ve moisturized and primed your skin.
RMS Beauty’s “Re” Evolve Radiance Locking Primer provides the perfect way to lock in your skincare and smooth your skin to grip your makeup and give it lasting power.
Get Even, With RMS Beauty Concealer
Concealer is the best way to cover blemishes, correct dark circles, and even out your skin tone. Choosing the right shade can ensure your concealer looks natural and your skin looks radiant.
Get your skin even, with the right concealer for the job. RMS Beauty’s “Un” Cover-Up Concealer is made with living ingredients that are nourishing for your skin.
Sources:
Jojoba Oil: An Updated Comprehensive Review on Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Uses, and Toxicity|NCBI
