You’re tired. You’re going somewhere where tired eyes just aren’t acceptable - like an important morning meeting, a party full of banging hot bangers or a Being Not Tired convention (these don’t exist).
A while back I tried out some under-eye concealers to mask your hard partying, but now there are a whole host of new players on the block. The block being the bit underneath your eyes.
Don’t spend your money on looking awake until you’ve seen what these actually do to your face - for the purposes of comparison I’ll be putting the concealer on my left eye only. So you can look at how shit my sad right one is (I haven’t slept properly in roughly two months) and work out exactly how much magic the concealer is doing.
Behold, the under-eye concealers put to the test on an actual (left) eye…
Maybelline Eraser Eye
Price: £7.99
Well shit, let’s start with an absolute belter shall we? This applicator is so, so soft which is perfect for under your eye (everyone keeps telling me it’s delicate and to stop rubbing them when I’m tired/cheese grating them when I’m bored) and the formula makes thin skin look a baby’s. It gives you a baby’s eye. And also covers dark circles impressively. Plus, it’s not too pricey either (bonus).
bareMinerals well rested eye brightener
Price: £19
This one requires a brush, and because I’m a woman of the people, I don’t own a brush so decided to put it on using my finger. After forking out for this, who has the money to buy a specialised concealer brush? Who owns one anyway? The powdery formula is quite fun, but not really ideal for under the eye. It sort of sat in my wrinkles (of which I only have a few, so the fact that it managed to locate and then sit in them doesn’t bode well) and didn’t cover too well. They do a really great creme pot though, so if you like bareMinerals then opt for that as it’s excellent.
Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Complete Coverage Concealer
Price: £17.50
Ooh this is fun because it has a doe foot applicator (I learned that from Features and Beauty Writer Chemmie Squier, as have been calling it a Spongey Thing my whole life) and the formula is thick with good coverage. Only problem is that you can very easily put too much on, and when you put too much on it looks pretty heavy and works to accentuate bags rather than hide them. Plus, it doesn’t spread too easily and feels a little too thick after a while. Definitely on the right track, but less ‘naked’ and more ‘loads of stuff on my face’.
Benefit Erase Paste
Price: £20.50
This one wins gold in the competition of my heart. It’s pretty much perfect, except it won’t get you a coffee. Really light, really creamy, you only need to use a teeny tiny bit (but if you overdo it, your eye still looks good) and it doesn’t make your eyes look like old pig’s arseholes. If it was a man I’d like to marry it and live in a house in Italy. Although the relationship would, ultimately, become unsatisfying due to the fact that sure, it works well on my undereye shadows but no, it’s not that good in bed. Oh, did I not mention I have sex with all the products I test? Sorry, yeah. So far, wouldn’t recommend any of them.
Bobbi Brown creamy concealer
Price: £19
This is a solid creamy concealer. Good coverage, feels nice, smells nice, makes you look less tired, but will sort of shift into the lines if you laugh a lot of have big wrinkles. Really small so fits cutely into your bag and does exactly what you’d expect it to - but nothing more or less. Wouldn’t marry it, might go for a few long weekends with it to, say, Austria then decide to go our separate ways. That’s probably too metaphorical to be helpful in a beauty article. Alright, I wouldn’t invite it to New Year with my parents but I might buy it a nice Christmas present. Hopefully that’s more useful.
What I’ve stolen to keep forever: the benefit Erase Paste because I want to try and make the sex work. Also, it’s the best concealer.
What I would recommend to a friend: the Maybelline Eraser Eye because it feels so beautiful and works so well. I also stole this.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.