So, forever ago I put up a post about how to cover a black eye and promised that I would follow up with a more in-depth post.
And good news everyone, I was hit in the face- again!
And even better, this time I took the time Saturday morning before class to do a little experimenting with some different concealers, and you all get to reap the benefits. Just in time for the holidays, hooray! I took these photos in the locker room of our gym for two reasons: First, I tried doing this in my bathroom at home and the lighting was pretty terrible and second, I was teaching class that morning- which would explain the slapdash application toward the end of the photos-I was starting to feel pressed for time and needed to clean this stuff off before teaching. I guess this is also a good time to mention I’m pretty bad at taking photos of myself: consider yourself warned. Because there are a lot of them.
And finally, eye makeup cleaning wipes are pretty clutch in situations like this.
The control:
Save some lip balm I put on that morning, there’s nothing else on my face, so you can see the bruise in all its dark purple glory.
The concealers, etc in question:
Starting from the left and going sort of clockwise we have Benefit’s Fake Up, Smashbox’s Photo Finish Lid Primer (I know it’s not concealer, more on that later) and Physician’s Formula Perfecting Concealer Duo. While the lighting in bathroom washed my face out, I actually have a more medium skin tone, in case any ladies are wondering what shade I purchased (with the exception of the yellow concealer pack-I think I was only able to find a light shade). Also, I didn’t think I would have time to mess around with foundation, in case anyone was wondering.
So what covered the bruising the best? Here are the results!
First, the Cover FX creme concealer:
Yes, that is a scratch over my left eye…it’s wasn’t that great of a week for my face. Anyway, I started off with just the creme concealer, and it did a fairly adequate job. Not exactly my first choice, but pretty high up there.
Second up, Benefit’s Fake Up Concealer:
Personally, I liked this the most; it’s not that obvious from the photo but in addition to coverage with minimal fiddling, it looked the most natural(ish).
Next up, I put on just The Photos Finish lid primer. I know it’s not concealer, but it was included in a makeup travel pack I purchased.
While it doesn’t look like much difference in the photos, there was a noticeable difference in person, with the primer being the loser. And admittedly, that’s not what it’s made for: primers are used to keep eyeshadow on the lid longer than if the shadow was applied directly to the lid. Yes, I know a few things about makeup- I’m not all about books and jiu jitsu. And nerdy/comic book references.
Anyway, since it is supposed to be under stuff, I decided to do just that and combine primer with concealer. I guess I could have combined concealers, but then again it feels like then it would become the Inception of concealers, or that Xhibit meme….
“Yo dawg, I heard you liked using concealer…”
So I used the primer and Cover FX first:
It was also getting toasty, so I ditched the sweatshirt- but anyway, the result was…meh.
next up, the primer and Fake Up:
Again, it didn’t look like there was too much difference, but in person I was pleased with the results- I probably wouldn’t usually take the time to apply both products, but for someone who has the time and patience for this sort of thing may want to consider it.
Finally, there are recommendations out there to correct purple, such as dark circles with yellow makeup which is where the duo comes into play.
Just the yellow portion:
In addition to feeling cakey, it really didn’t do much… so then I tried it with the other half of the packaging.
yellow stuff and pink in the duo:
Again, I don’t think you can tell from the photo, but this was the cake-iest, most fake looking of them all. And for Pete’s sake we’re talking about slapping makeup on in a jiu jitsu academy locker room, there’s already a substantially lowered expectation here.
So, in the name of research I used the yellow stuff with the FX concealer (we’re almost at the end, I promise):
(ps, that is a perfect snooty face… moving on)
And with the Fake Up:
And so there you have it. Some of you ladies out there may already have your go-to concealer and routine for covering a black eye, but for those who don’t, hopefully I’ve taken a little of the leg work out for you. Are there concealers out there that may cover better? Possibly, probably. I don’t get bruises like these too often, so there’s really not too much need to research the subject in depth. There may also be a better version of the yellow correcting makeup, and just the kind that I bought was not the best to use. Hell, there was probably even a better way of applying this stuff-this is definitely not meant to be taken as gospel. Also back in the day I mentioned there was a tattoo coverup pencil that may also work for people- I am going to amend that statement and advise against jabbing a bruise on your eyelid with a pencil…I won’t tell you how to live your life, but I’m just saying that may be a whole bunch of unnecessary pain you could be inflicting on an already sensitive region of the face.
Or hey, just go au naturale and tell your family and friends at the Thanksgiving table all the cool stuff you were doing on the may that led to the bruise.
Do what works best for you, truth be told. Ladies, do you have a go to makeup for these kinds of bruises? Let me know!
A Skirt on the Mat 