How to Make Your Concealer Last All Day

Let your shadow primer do double duty.

I have light to medium dark circles under my eyes (and lots of veins that show up pretty clearly beneath my fair skin) so concealer is pretty much a must for me.

And nothing bugs me more than when I check my makeup halfway through the day and see that my concealer has faded or creased so my under eye area actually looks worse than when I woke up. 

It’s a bummer.

Enter this fabulous little tip that’s kind of one of those ‘It’s so obvious… why didn’t I think of that?’ things.

Sometime last year, I was watching a makeup tutorial on YouTube. Now, I don’t remember whose video it was (I am subscribed to so many people that it’s almost impossible to keep track) or what the video was actually about, and the tip was only mentioned in passing.  I was intrigued, but I didn’t actually try the tip out right away.

But it obviously made an impression somewhere in my crazy little head because I remembered it all these months.  And my sincerest apologies to whoever it was who passed on the tip for not remembering your name - and thanks for sharing such an awesome little nugget with the world.

If you have trouble getting your concealer to last all day without fading or creasing, smooth a little bit of your favorite (translucent) eye shadow primer beneath your eye before applying the concealer. I think that Urban Decay Primer Potion was used in the video, but I’ve been doing it with my Too Faced Shadow Insurance and it works like a charm.  Not only does it help my concealer last longer, the concealer actually looks smoother and less cakey. I still add a light dusting of Benefit’s Powderflage (which is ridiculously overpriced if you ask me, but works beautifully and has lasted me for over a year) to keep the concealer in place, though.

As I said, I saw this tip almost a year ago but I never tried it until recently.  It was an accident, actually – I squirted out a little too much Shadow Insurance and I hate wasting stuff, so I thought, What the heck , and patted it under my eyes.  It worked like a charm.  Sometimes I forget to do it – because my usual routine is foundation, concealer, then primer and shadow so it necessitates doing things slightly out of order – and I always regret it later in the day.

Have you ever tried this nifty little trick?  If so, how did it work for you?  Do you have other tips for making your concealer last all day?