Hi guys! Today I'm going to be comparing 4 drugstore/budget concealers that are all under £5!
I'll be using my intense dark circles under my eyes as the test for the coverage and consistency of these 4 products! I can't wait to share the results with you!
The products I'll be comparing today are:
P.S. Concealer Palette (In stores only)
As I mentioned before, all of these products are under £5, which is a great price, but let's put them to the test and see if they're worth buying!
First... Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in Fair 1!
This concealer has been raved about by everyone, from NikkiTutorials to your average Joe... But is it really worth the hype? This is one of the more expensive concealers I'll be featuring today, retailing for around £4.99, which is still a great price! People have specifically recommended using this concealer to cover and brighten the under-eye area, so that's why I picked it up... But, does it work?
I'll start off with a swatch of the concealer...
Top: With flash
Bottom: Without Flash
I'm impressed with the pigmentation of this concealer, just one swipe with the applicator gives amazing coverage! I'm excited to see how this works on the eye area...
Here's my eye with absolutely no makeup on it. The dark circles don't translate to photos that well, but trust me, they're there.
Here's me with the concealer applied before blending it in. I'll note here that the consistency of this concealer is very lightweight but the pigmentation is definitely there. I only applied the tiniest bit but the colour payoff it clearly visible! So far, so good...
I used a flat-top blending brush to buff the concealer in and blend it out, and I think this was a really great way of doing it, because the result is this really natural looking finish! As you can see, it's covered my under eye area really well, and I'm so impressed with how lightweight it feels!
I would definitely recommend this concealer for the under eye area, I've found that it doesn't crease at all, it's lightweight and natural looking, and it gives amazing coverage! I'm in love with it!
Brush rating:
Next up is... Freedom Pro Correct Palette!
The most expensive concealer option here is the Freedom Pro Correct Palette, which retails for exactly £5! In this palette, you get 6 colours, so the price is well worth it! I know that Freedom actually now makes a 'Pro Conceal' palette and they have several versions for different skin tones, but unfortunately this wasn't around when I picked up this palette, as I've had this for quite a while!
Technically, I already know how this palette performs, but I've never actually tried it specifically as a concealer, I've always used it under my foundation & concealer... So, in that respect, this is kinda a first impression!
Again, I'll do swatches of each colour in the palette first!
Top: Without flash
Bottom: With flash
As you can see, these are all pigmented and the palette even includes a cream highlighter, which I absolutely love because it's really intense! The critique that I have for this palette is that all of these are really oily, like the kind of oily texture you find in a kids makeup set with the 'lipgloss' or something. The texture of these really isn't great, but the positive of this is that they're really lightweight, so it won't weigh down your face using these!
Here is the lightest colour in the palette when it's completely blended out! I forgot to take pictures as I was applying this, but I used the same method as the Collection one, I spread it out into thin lines and then blended it out with a flat-top brush! I'm actually quite impressed with the brightening effect that the palette gives! I've never used the lightest shade before, as I tend to use the salmon colour under my foundation to colour correct my dark circles, but I think this shade could also be quite interesting to use under your concealer as a brightener!
I wouldn't recommend only using this as a concealer, though... Because of how oily it is, it starts to separate and crease after about 10 minutes.
Brush rating:
The next product is... P.S. Concealer Palette!
For those of you who don't know, P.S. is actually the makeup brand owned by Primark! And for those of you who don't know what Primark is, it's an Irish clothing retailer, but they also sell homeware, cosmetics, etc. And they're known for being very inexpensive! Their cosmetics, of course, are hit or miss, as is the case where clothing stores start their own makeup brand. But you can occasionally find something that works really well! (Also, for those of you who are worried, P.S. is actually cruelty free, they don't sell in China either, so you're all good!)
This palette contains 3 cream concealers and a setting powder with light-reflecting particles. It retails for £3.50, which is amazing value!
Let's swatch!
Top: Without flash
Bottom: With flash
What I love about this palette is that I was really expecting it to be oily and greasy like the Freedom palette, but it actually isn't! These shades are really pigmented and have a nice consistency, they're matte when you apply them, and the setting powder is actually really high-quality!
This palette probably wouldn't be amazing for really pale people, as the lightest shade in the palette is still quite salmon-y and isn't the palest concealer out there, but I find it just about works for my skin tone, and I use the two darker shades for cream contouring! I find they blend out really well when used for this, so the whole palette gets used!
I blended the concealer out with my flat-top brush again, and I love the texture of this concealer! It looks so natural, I think this would be a really good concealer if you're not planning on wearing a lot of makeup and you just want to touch up the duller parts of your skin! I didn't set the concealer using the powder, because I wanted to show you what it looks like on its own, but I would recommend using the powder to set it, because it does crease after a while if it's left like this!
Brush rating:
Finally, the Collection Cover Up Stick!
This is the cheapest option, costing only £1 for the tube! (Mine is quite old, so I barely have any left!)
Back when I barely knew anything about concealing dark circles, I just used to chuck this on for school and barely blend it in, not set it, etc. Basically, it was a hot mess! But, that's not to say that this isn't a good product, I just didn't know how to use it back when I first picked it up.
Truthfully, I should probably throw this away, simply because I think it's a bit too old now, but I probably wouldn't use it now anyway, just because I do have better quality concealers at my disposal these days.
One thing I will note about this is the smell. This concealer has a really weird smell, and it isn't pleasant. Most cheap stick concealers have the same sort of smell going on, but I have one from MUA and one from Miss Sporty and neither of these have this weird smell, it's only the Collection one, and their Lasting Perfection Concealer doesn't have it either, so I'm not sure what it is... Either way, I don't like it, it really puts me off using the product.
But anyway, onto the swatches!
As you can see in the swatch, the concealer goes a bit chunky in places, and this makes it quite difficult to blend out, but it isn't oily and it does have a matte effect which is good for such a cheap product.
Again, I forgot to take pictures of me applying this concealer, but I used the exact same method as the P.S. one. I blended it out with my flat-top brush in the top image, and hated the way it looked, so I tried again and blended it out with my finger in the bottom image, which looks slightly better but it's still not really an acceptable texture for an under-eye concealer.
I just wasn't really wowed by this concealer, and I don't know why I used to love it so much (most likely because it was so cheap), but it's just too dry, it's almost impossible to blend, and when you do blend it out it leaves your skin somehow looking older... I'm not really sure how I could make this work, so I think it's time to let him go now.
Brush rating:
So, that concludes my comparison of these 4 budget concealers! I hope you guys found this useful!
Let me know if you want me to do more comparisons like this!
Thanks for reading!
