Credit:
Reviewed / Betsey Goldwasser
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Credit:
Reviewed / Betsey Goldwasser
Reviewed's mission is to help you buy the best stuff and get the most out of what you already own. Our team of product experts thoroughly vet every product we recommend to help you cut through the clutter and find what you need.
Learn more about our product testing
Our Best Overall concealer, the Tarte Shape blends flawlessly into the skin for long-lasting, full-coverage. Read More
The Covergirl TrueBlend offers a full-coverage finish that fades slightly throughout the day. Read More
A beautiful high-end concealer that blends easily and wears well on the skin, but is not the most durable. Read More
An affordable, easy-to-blend concealer that oxidizes slightly on the skin, making shade matches harder. Read More
A great cream concealer that gives medium, buildable coverage and sits well on the skin. Read More
If you’ve ever woken up with dark circles or had a pimple pop up before a big event, you know how important having a good concealer is. Whether you opt for a full-coverage, glamorous beat or a no-makeup makeup day and simply want to cover up a couple of blemishes and throw on a little mascara, having the best concealer to help you create your look effortlessly is key. That’s why we had our staff beauty expert and a panel of four other testers assess dozens of concealers to find the best.
The best concealers melt into the skin. They work with other skincare and makeup products like face moisturizer and foundation, and they will stay put throughout the day.
Of the 31 concealer products we tested, the Tarte Shape Tape Full-Coverage Concealer (available at Tarte) scored the Best Overall honors. We love its long-lasting wear and buildable coverage. It excels at hiding skin discoloration without looking cakey or settling into fine lines.
The author wears the Tarte Shape Tape Concealer, the Best Overall, on the left side of her face.
The author wears the Covergirl TruBlend Undercover Concealer, the Best Value Concealer, on the right side of her face.
This great full-color concealer gives a hydrated, healthy look, but consider a lighter shade than you might ordinarily choose.
While stock issues prevented testing by our panel, Colourpop is our reviewer's concealer of choice.
This pot concealer was a pleasant surprise to our reviewer, who personally prefers liquid concealers.
Typically the more balmy texture of creams looks dryer on the skin than liquids, but this pot concealer from Nars, gave our tester a surprisingly strong final look.
Application takes a little longer than a liquid concealer. Going back and forth between the pot and your skin with your finger is more time-consuming than just using a wand. But that meticulous process is what makes it look so natural on the skin.
Jessica was also surprised at how much she preferred this to the cult-favorite Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer (available at Sephora). Even though this fan favorite is a liquid, it immediately creased under my eyes and stuck to some patches of skin that didn’t even appear dry.
Cream concealers generally have smaller shade ranges. The 16 options here, while lacking compared to many of our picks, are the most I’ve seen for this type of product.
Blends easily
Wears well on the skin
Limited shade range
Blends easily
Wears well on the skin
Dry applicator
Requires several swipes
Blends easily
Wears well on the skin
Limited shade range
Wears well on the skin
Blends easily
Not enough coverage
Limited shade range
Extensive shade range
Not enough coverage
Drying on the skin
We tested 31 top-rated, highly-reviewed concealers.
So much about makeup is subjective. That’s why we had a two-pronged testing approach, spearheaded by our former lifestyle writer/beauty expert Jessica. She narrowed the field from 31 options to a top five, and then a panel of four other testers weighed in. The panelists had a variety of skin tones and concealer needs, to help us find the best concealer for most people.
One of the top things Jessica looked for was versatility. For her, a great concealer should be able to carry a full glam look, but also blend well enough in small dabs to reduce redness on her cheeks or darkness under her eyes on those “no-makeup makeup” days.
Round one of testing consisted of swatching each concealer over a red dot that mimics a pimple.
Putting together a list of popular, highly reviewed products that our readers could fall in love with was a field day for Jessica. She combed through articles, YouTube, and best-seller pages. From all those choices, she pared her list down to 31 concealers. Former Reviewed senior scientist Julia MacDougall helped design a series of tests to separate the best concealers from the rest of the pack.
Our beauty experts test concealers by using each one under the eyes, measuring several key aspects that all the best concealers should be able to handle. How well does it conceal dark circles? How evenly and easily does it blend across this delicate area? How well does it stay on throughout the day?
We take the top contenders into a followup round with a full makeup routine. This means setting down each one with powder to see how it meshes with other products, then layering on other everyday staples like blush and bronzer.
Beyond what the concealer looks like, we heavily weight the shade range each concealer offers. Concealers lose points for only coming in 10 shades. They also lose points if they come in 30 shades, but only 5 are darker than light or medium. We also note whether the shades had different undertones (warm, neutral, and cool) and how easy it is to shade-match yourself when buying online.
A panelist wears swatches of the L'Oreal (left), Tarte (center left), Too Faced (center right), and Covergirl (right) concealers.
Not everyone reading this will have our primary tester’s skin type or tone—normal-to-dry fair skin with neutral undertones. That’s why we assemble a group of panelists to try the top concealers and answer questions about the following attributes:
Application: How easy is it to apply the concealer? How would you rate the comfort and functionality of the applicator?
Coverage: How many swipes or how much concealer did it take to fully conceal what you wanted to cover?
Wear: How does the concealer hold up when you go through your normal makeup routine? Does the concealer stay on and stay effective throughout the day? How comfortable is it to wear the concealer throughout the day?
Shade range: How would you rate the range of skin tones that this concealer comes in? Does the concealer shade you received match the one you picked online?
You can apply concealer using your fingers, a brush, or a sponge.
When looking for a concealer, keep in mind where and why you want to use it—under your eyes, on blemishes, or to accentuate the high points of your face—and how much coverage you want. If you want a well-rounded concealer that looks great doing it all, you’ve come to the right place.
Our favorite concealers are versatile enough to blend smoothly over your under-eye area without settling into fine lines. They should also be able to cover up a pimple without clinging to any dry patches around it.
Regardless of how much coverage it offers, a great concealer should blend seamlessly for a natural finish. Finally, it should look equally amazing whether you’re doing small spot concealing or creating a blank canvas for a full face of makeup.
Concealers come in two formula types. Liquid is more common, and typically comes in a tube with a doe-foot applicator. Cream concealers are thicker and come in a pot for dabbing onto skin with a finger, a sponge applicator, or a brush. (You can use those with liquid, too).
You tend to get more coverage and faster application with a liquid concealer. However, a cream is great for lighter coverage. You can build it up with each dab, instead of having to swipe it on and quickly blend before it dries.
Concealer works best when it’s applied sparingly and subtly. Too much, and it will stand out from your skin in a way that draws attention to the exact things you’re trying to, well, conceal.
Using the applicator (or your finger) put small dots over anything you want to hide - blemishes, dark circles under your eyes, maybe a little facial hair you want to minimize.
Then, gently blend it out. That is, work the concealer into your skin with an applicator sponge, a brush, or even just your fingers. Unless you’re using a brush, the trick is to sort of dab or pat the concealer until it blends into your skin as seamlessly as possible.
Don’t rub or smear it. That can cause all sorts of problems, from rubbing concealer away, pushing it down into fine lines, or even leaving excess concealer on your face that will look cakey as the day wears on.
Color-correcting concealers come in colors like green, yellow, and pink. These work to hide blemishes, age spots, or dark circles by covering them with a color that offsets them.
We opted not to test these, since you’ll usually use them alongside another product. Typically you need to layer color-correcting concealers under your foundation or use them in conjunction or a more flesh-toned concealer, anyway. That said, they definitely have times when they come in handy.
The best concealer for dark circles varies depending on your skin type and tone. That said, there are some general tips to help minimize those dark circles.
First off, brighter is better for those pesky under-eye areas. You want a color that’s just a shade or two lighter than your skin tone. Something that’s a little peachy or pink can help off-set those dark bags the same way that a color-correcting concealer might.
Apply your concealer lightly and subtly to just the inner third of those dark circles and a bit at the outer corner of your eye. Smooth it out by tapping it gently with your fingertips. Pat it in, don’t rub it, just like any other concealer application.
If you’re using foundation, consider applying that first! It’ll help lighten the area up without an abundance of concealer, which can help the overall blend with your complexion. Remember, too much concealer can draw attention to the very things you’re trying to hide.
Both the E.L.F. Cosmetics Hydrating Camo Concealer (available at Target) and the E.L.F. Cosmetics 16HR Camo Concealer (available at Target) felt heavy and looked dry on Jessica’s skin, though the Hydrating Camo was a tad better. (That said, several people at Reviewed love E.L.F. and use it as their daily go-to concealer.)
The Neutrogena Healthy Skin Radiant Cream Concealer (available at Target) clung to dry patches that our writer didn’t know she had and only looked decent on her skin from far away.
The Wet n Wild Photo Focus Concealer (available at Target) has an incredibly limited shade range of just 14, majority being light colors. The applicator felt dry on the skin and didn’t hold a lot of product.
The Milani Cosmetics Conceal + Perfect Longwear Concealer (available at Target) looked dry on our skin, clung to patches as we tried to blend it out, and faded away throughout the day.
The Maybelline Fit Me Concealer (available at Target) offers light to medium coverage that looks fine on the skin, but has a scarce shade range of just 18. Still, our tester liked the Fit Me better than their Instant Age Eraser.
Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser (available at Target) comes in a tube with a sponge-tipped applicator. That makes application messier and seemingly less hygienic.
The Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay-In-Place Flawless Wear Concealer (available at Sephora) was not a standout in any of our tests. It faded throughout the day, took a little more concealer to cover everything, and has an unimpressive shade range of 22.
The Laura Mercier Flawless Fusion Ultra Longwear Concealer (available at Sephora) creased right away and settled into all of our tester’s fine lines—hardly “flawless.”
The MAC Cosmetics Studio Finish SPF 35 Concealer (available at MAC Cosmetics) has light coverage that settled into fine lines and wears off within hours.
The RMS Beauty Un Cover-Up Concealer (available at Sephora) certainly was lightweight (as promised), but that meant it didn’t cover anything despite multiple layers. It was also too emollient to stay in place.
Jessica writes and edits beauty content as a member of Reviewed's commerce team and manages a beauty TikTok called Beautorial. She's spent four years testing makeup, skincare, hair care, and body care products, and she acts as Reviewed's beauty expert.
Jessica represented Reviewed's beauty section at CES in-person and virtually for four years, and she was nominated for and graduated from the Gannett Emerging Leaders 2021-2022 program.
Jessica holds a Bachelor's degree in journalism from Emerson College, and she's written for Scary Mommy, 7News, Boston.com, Citizine, and Boston Common Magazine.
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