Review: MAC Studio Finish Concealer

I'm home!!!  It only took 12 hours of traveling (American Airlines, I sincerely hate you), but I am home, where the weather is actually worse than in Boston.  Nice.  In the midst of my Xmas shopping for other people today, I managed to pick up a MAC goody for myself: the Studio Finish Concealer.


It looks like this, in a flip-top container that's the same as the MAC eyeshadow pots, but just a little taller.  I would totally take pictures myself, but my camera is hidden somewhere in the deep, dark recesses of my duffel bag.  Which I am currently avoiding in my procrastinating of unpacking.  So.  It's $14.50 for a good amount of concealer, which is a nice deal, and it has SPF 35.  The SPF is both a pro and a con--it's great for your skin, but it can flash white in photography, which is definitely not cute.

Now, I still love my MAC Studio Sculpt concealer.  I use it for all my blemishes, and it's fabulous.  But the problem is, it's way too thick and drying to use for my under eye circles, which are not pretty.  What I've been using for my dark circles was this great pink pencil by Anastasia that I got from Sephora for free years ago, but it finally died and it's been discontinued (crycry).  All of my favorite YouTube makeup gurus use this for their dark circles, so I thought I'd try it out.  

I like the packaging.  The flip-top is easy to use, and harder for me to lose than a twist on cap.  I've heard that it will make you break out more if you put it on blemishes, so I haven't even tried that (break out more?  No thanks).  Most people apply it with a blending brush (like a 217), but I don't have a spare one, so I've been using my fingers.  It feels very solid in the pan until you warm it up a bit with your fingers, and it goes on very smoothly and very, very opaque.  I've had no issues with drying or it settling into fine lines (but I have no fine lines, so I can't say if it would or not).  I'm in between a NW15 and NW20, so I went with the lighter shade because I feel like lighter under the eyes is always better than darker.


I hadn't been using anything under my eyes for a long time, and I hadn't realized how tired I'd been looking until I used this.  It makes me look so much brighter and more awake and just plain alive.  It's fantastic.  I don't have terrible under eye circles, so I'm not really putting it to the test, but I definitely have visible darkness and veins from my chronic insomnia, and it makes me look bright-eyed and bushy tailed.  I highly, highly recommend it.


Awkward Chic rating: A+.  The price is right, it's so opaque that I don't have to use a lot of product, it really covers my dark circles, and it wears really well (I'm at 8 hours now and there's no visible fading).  The only cons I have are that it has so much SPF and that the pot container isn't the most hygienic, but I'm willing to forgive those for how well it performs.