NARS Concealer

NARS
Radiant Creamy Concealer
8/2/13

Just when I thought I'd settled on a favorite under-eye concealer, my NARS guru and skincare bestie insisted I try theirs. Needless to say, it doesn't take much arm twisting for me to try new, high-quality beauty products. I think most women over 30 are more aware of their eye area, particularly the under-eye area. The good old days of staying up all night and simply needing some mascara and lipstick to look refreshed are over. Our eye area is the first to show signs of aging and those telltale late nights, hence my lifelong obsession with eye treatments to keep wrinkles at bay. I've suffered from poor sleep for years, usually getting no more than 90 minutes of consecutive sleep at a time. It's recently had me up my game with both eye creams and concealers, one of which I'm sharing with you today. 

(click photo to enlarge)

I loathe showing my "before" photos (the scary one on the left). My blonde lashes are nearly invisible sans mascara and it's rather embarrassing to reveal my under eye circles, but I felt it necessary to show how well the product works. Clearly I'm quite excited about my new concealer, and you can see why. My goal using under-eye concealer is to hide those dreaded dark circles from lack of sleep, and to even out and brighten up my eye area. I used exactly one dot of this concealer under each eye. That's right - one little dot. The wand is simply an applicator; a means to deliver those small dots of product to your skin. Many concealers have a brush or require a separate concealer brush for application, which takes a fair amount of time and skill. It also seems more sanitary since I'm not sweeping the applicator around my skin, and makes it less abrasive on our thinnest, most delicate skin. I simply used my ring finger to blend the concealer around my entire under-eye area. It spread and blended incredibly easily, and I still can't believe I only needed one small dot per eye. 

As you can see from the "after" photo on the right, my dark circles have vanished, my skin tone is evened out, and my entire eye area is brightened, thanks to the concealer's light-reflecting properties. It actually feels more like an extension of my skincare rather than makeup. I made it through the day without any creases or need for reapplication. Better still? It's Paraben-free, alcohol-free and fragrance-free. 

My verdict? I've found my new under-eye concealer. I still use YSL Touche Éclat to highlight certain facial contours around the nose and mouth, but nothing else I've tried has made my eyes look brighter and more refreshed than this product. Sold!

NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer is $28 per tube. 

Available at Nordstrom, Sephora, & Neiman Marcus.

note: The shade I'm wearing is Vanilla, for fair complexions with a tiny cast of pink (i.e. Irish redheads). This is 1 of 10 shades offered by NARS. You'll definitely find a match for your skin tone.