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KIKO 'Skin Evolution' Concealer in Shade 07 Review

Let's ease into this marathon reviewing session with a concealer. Sounds good, right?

This is the third darkest concealer shade in Kiko's 'Skin Evolution' range. Nine shades, all numbered. I was actually really impressed with how good a match this is for my skin, as I usually struggle to match my undertones with high street brands.

It's very reasonably priced at £5.50. I ended up paying less than that for it as I was shopping during their Black Friday sale, making it even more of a bargain. Also, Kiko do some weird thing where you essentially have a loyalty card app on your phone, but you rack up points fairly quickly. You seem to get them for social media interactions (i.e writing reviews or liking their page) as well as in store/online purchases which is pretty decent, and the discounts once you reach 2,000/4,000 points aren't bad at all.

This concealer matches my skin so well that I don't even need to powder on top (obviously I do for longevity reasons, but not for colour match reasons). So I really, really wanted to like it...

Admittedly, poor Shade 07 (aka 'Cognac', didn't realised Kiko gave it's concealers names as well as numbers) has a tricky job. About two months ago, I cracked the side of my mouth really badly, and now have a grim black (hyperpigmentation) mark at the side of it which I refuse to leave unconcealed if I have to leave the house. While I work on various skincare 'fixes' to even out the marks, I need a reliable concealer to maintain the illusion of evenly pigmented skin.

Still, even application is a bit tricky with this concealer. Too much concealer and it all pills up and looks very obvious as soon as powder is dusted over the top. But any less and the marks are still visible. Doesn't really set once applied, so isn't the longest lasting concealer. It certainly can't handle a 9-5 uni day with lunch, and I have to take it with me to reapply throughout the day - not a problem I had with my previous concealer, which was ironically a a highlighting one designed for the undereye area!

As always, your mileage may vary with this. It's cheap, gorgeous colour match (and fantastic colour range - nine shades is nothing to be sniffed at) but unfortunately can't live up to expectations, performance wise.

Has anyone else tried this concealer?

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concealer, fail, serious fail, sleek

Sleek Luminaire Highlighting Concealer, Shade Four

This concealer is very, very, very thick. That was the very first thing I noticed about it.

Also, go easy on the clicks. I clicked about fifty times just to get it started, and nothing happened for ages before it all spewed out at once. Gross.

It dries too quickly to ensure adequate blending and it's really quite dry considering where it is meant to be used (the delicate under eye area). You need a wetter product to be able to blend it well so you can avoid the reverse racoon look, and this doesn't cut it. I like to add a spot of moisturiser to it when I'm using it, just to give me that time that I need to blend and to soften the reflectiveness a little, but I shouldn't really have to do that.

Spread out:

Just for the product consistency, and the price (it's not cheap at about £7) I won't be repurchasing.

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cheapass, concealer, e.l.f

E.L.F All Over Cover Stick in 'Toffee'

The second makeup item in my E.L.F order, I was pretty curious as to whether this would actually resemble the website's photographs at all. That's the problem with E.L.F not having a physical store presence - you have to, for the most part, rely blindly on online swatches. Luckily, this fit me really well.

For a physical colour comparison that you can actually swatch in store, I'd suggest Sleek 'Hide It' concealer in shade 4. I own both and the colours are almost dupes (I'd say Sleek has ever so slightly darker red undertones) but the E.L.F is a lot cheaper and the mechanism is less prone to breaking. On the flipside, the Sleek is unscented, whereas the Cover Stick has a sort of orangey, sugary smell? Not sure how to feel about that. It's not unpleasant, just an interesting choice for a face product.

The way I like to use this is as a concealer. I dip my finger in and just put it over some dark spots on my face, rubbing slightly. I then go over with powder, and it stays all day. I think this is a bit too thick to use under the eyes, but for concealing blemishes it's great. It's quite creamy, so blends well, and doesn't dry your skin out.

Recently, this has been my 'go to' face makeup. Conceal with this, light dusting of powder, and I'm off to school. Takes almost no time in the morning and looks effective. Another winner from E.L.F, in my opinion. I like it when you can finally understand the hype about a company.

Applied thickly.

Blended in - you can barely see it!