I Just Tried the Best-Selling Concealer in America—Here’s What I Thought

To say that I am a fan of concealer can be one thing of an understatement—I’m borderline obsessive about it. In truth, if I had to throw out all of my other makeup gadgets and solely use one for the remainder of my life then it might be concealer. “But wait, what about mascara?” I can hear the eyelash aficionados wailing. Truthfully, I can take it or depart it, however an excellent concealer can totally rework the best way I really feel about my face that day. And whilst I’m positive that my love of concealer is partially right down to the fact that I have acne-prone skin, I’m either dealing with lively breakouts or the scarring and pigmentation left behind by previous spots—there’s something superb about the best way that the suitable concealer can cowl, brighten, illuminate and even pores and skin tone. It’s just so damn versatile.

In fact, as a concealer connoisseur, I have my favourite formulas, however that’s to not say that I’m committed to just one. No, on the subject of concealers I am proudly polyamorous—testing every little thing from cult £54 formulations that celebrities swear by to £4 concealers that have bought over eight million tubes since their unassuming launch.

So once I heard a few concealer that everybody from Shay Mitchell to Kim Kardashian West was raving about, I knew I had to attempt it.

The concealer in query is the Tarte Shape Tape Contour Concealer (£23) which, until fairly just lately, was solely out there stateside. Thankfully, although, Tarte now ships to the UK, which suggests it was straightforward for me to get my palms on a tube. In case you have not heard of them, Tarte are an American beauty model that I keep in mind U.S. beauty bloggers going crazy for. However it clearly isn’t simply the sweetness group that they seem to be a hit with—Tarte is America’s #1 concealer brand. Interval. Meaning the model sells extra concealers than some other beauty model, and it is the Form Tape components that is available in at the prime spot.

So what exactly makes it so good? Nicely, it’s been spotted within the vainness of makeup mogul Kim Kardashian West, with People revealing her to be a fan. Actress Shay Mitchell can also be an enormous fan: “This [concealer] is one thing that I stay by,” Mitchell informed Cosmopolitan. “I exploit the shade medium and I exploit it as my concealer daily to cowl all the spots that I have. I like to apply it earlier than my foundation, so I’ve a clean slate to work from.”

And it is not just the A-list that love this concealer both—there is no scarcity of real individuals who swear by it. On the time of scripting this, the Tarte website had virtually 14,000 customer reviews with a mean score of 4.eight stars out of 5. “It hides darkish eye circles like a professional,” says Meghan M. Reviewer Mel claims “This is the perfect concealer since concealer has been developed. Critically. I am 48 and my eyes do not appear to be crepe paper with this one!” High praise indeed.

This is what happened once I put it to the check.

As you possibly can see from the earlier than photograph, being pregnant hormones haven’t been type to my skin these days. While I skilled a bit of that rumoured being pregnant glow through the second trimester, the breakouts have nicely and really come out to play as I enter my remaining few weeks. Regardless of this, I are likely to veer away from completely full coverage concealers for worry that they may look cakey and unnatural on my skin, so I was undoubtedly doubtful about utilizing the Tarte concealer, particularly as it’s also described as having a matte end.

I’ve to say, though, that this concealer actually is well worth the hype. Sure, it’s full protection (and nice if there are areas of your skin that you’re looking to cover up), but because of a components enriched with mango seed and shea butter, it manages to mesh naturally with the pores and skin and offers a delicate, luminous finish. In reality, I actually would not describe this as a matte concealer at all. I found it greatest utilized with a Beautyblender (as I find is the case with most liquid concealers), but as soon as it was on, I used to be really impressed with how it stuck round all day—even under my eyes and round my nose which is where I find concealer tends to fade first on me. (Oh, and FYI, I am in shade 20S Mild Sand.)

Yes, this concealer may sell a tube each 12 seconds worldwide, but I can totally see why.