NARS Soft Matte Complete Concealer

Where I got it

After much convincing from YouTube beauty gurus, I have succumbed to purchasing the NARS Soft Matte Complete Concealer from Mecca Maxima. Shannon from Shannxo and Victoria from InTheFrow loves this concealer for the undereye area. This concealer was $52 and the Radiant Creamy Concealer is also the same price. Mecca stocks 22 shades online.

What I got

This is the NARS Soft Matte Complete Concealer in Medium 1 Custard. From the Meccabeauty website: This iconic concealer has a beautiful, luminous lightweight finish that is a favourite among makeup artists. The easy to use wand flawlessly creates a softer, smoother looking complexion. It works beautifully both to conceal blemishes, as well as brighten the under eye area (just make sure you go a shade or two lighter than your face shade), and as a quick and easy contour shade (just go one or two shades darker). Coverage is buildable, long wearing and crease-proof. Formulated without parabens, sulfates and phthalates. 

How I find it

This is a solid concealer in a little pot much like the MAC paint pot style. The texture is really creamy but not super emollient. I pick the product up with my index finger because the warmth of my fingers makes the concealer very easy to apply and blend. This concealer is great for concealing dark circles and for blemishes because it has good coverage with a soft matte, natural finish which you probably don’t need to set (except when using as under eye concealer). When I use it to conceal blemishes (not the raised type, I try not to put concealer over these and just use foundation), I dot the product on with my fingertips and then use a small kabuki concealer brush to blend the edges to get a natural look.

I did a quick comparison in regards to the shade within the NARS products. I have the Radiant Creamy Concealer also in Custard, but the Soft Matte is about half a shade darker and it has more of a yellow undertone as well. I do prefer the Soft Matte over the Radiant Creamy Concealer so far because I like how it doesn’t crease so much on my under eye area and it is much more easy to control how much you apply. On the website, both descriptions for Custard is “yellow tone for light to medium complexion”

The formula reminds me of the L’Oreal Infallible Concealer Pomade (shade light-medium) that I bought in Chemist Warehouse a little while ago and I really love it, so I made a little swatch comparison down below. Both textures are really similar and packaging is similar as well (L’Oreal is slightly bigger). They are both creamy and smooth, not waxy at all and it covers my dark circles really well without looking too piled on or cakey. You can see also, the L’Oreal one matches the back of my hand much better and the NARS are lighter compared.

Overall

This is a thumbs up for me as well, I thought it wasn’t going to work for my combination/oily skin as Shannon and Victoria seem to have either normal or dry skin. As soon as I tried these in stores, I knew I will like this concealer. It does crease a little, I don’t think there are any concealer in this world that absolutely does not crease because I do have a significant crease line under my eyes, but I just made sure I apply my concealer, foundation and carefully smooth out any product that has sunken into my lines before I set it with powder or bake my undereye area.

The correct type of concealer and setting the concealer does help a lot with preventing creasing. I would say this product is suitable for most skin types unless you have really dry skin, which you would still able to wear this if you apply a good hydrating eye cream or eye gel beforehand. This concealer is also good for concealing blemishes and discolouration as it leaves a natural matte finish instead of a luminous brightening finish.

However, if you want to try a dupe, I would say give L’Oreal Infallible Concealer Pomade a try. It has a ridiculously little shade range, but if you can find your right shade, L’Oreal is about half the price.