Run For Cover: Make Up For Ever Full Cover Concealer Review

Stress for me this year meant having less than one month to 1) pack four years of NYC living into 16 boxes and three suitcases, 2) find subletters to take over the rest of my lease, and 3) frantically squeeze in and check off as many "bucket list" items as I could...then moving cross country and now daily prepping for recruiting and interviews in CA. Ack! My skin's exhibiting symptoms of stress and while I'm using some trusty acne fighters (Mario Badescu Drying Lotion and Acne.org regimen), there's no replacement (yet) for a great concealer to mask newly-popped or old scars.

Who knows when I'll finally win the war against breakouts and acne, but for now, I at least have a new weapon to fight my battles with - Make Up For Ever Full Cover Concealer. I was strolling around SF's adorable Union Street in the Marina district and walked into Sephora, intending to get a replacement for my Nars concealer, but was open to seeing if I could get a recommendation for other products. Nars did a good job color matching to my skin (I used Ginger btw, which is fairly yellow) but after they switched to a new, slimmer packaging, I felt the formula also slightly got tweaked to a drier, more chalky finish = not blended in super well. Meh.

My first stop was the Make Up For Ever (MUFE) counter since I use their HD Foundation, really like how it feels/looks on, and haven't broken out from it. Why not try something else from the line? It'd been good to me so far & I reward performance with loyalty =P I was looking for some heavier coverage to hide fresh breakouts so the Full Cover concealer looked attractive. A rep helping me also suggested Stila but after we did some cheek to cheek comparisons, she said the Stila felt oilier and slid around during application which wouldn't be good for my already oily skin. The MUFE stayed on better - probably due to it being waterproof so it's drier.

#7 was a color match for my skin and I've been using it now for the past 3 weeks to very good results! No adverse reactions from my skin, and great coverage of dark spots, especially older, flat scars. It's oil-free, waterproof, and doesn't feel heavy. As far as long-lasting, it holds up for least ~4 hours but I do see that I would need to reapply in the late afternoon. However, this could be because I don't finish with a powder on top to fully set the concealer (train case is still packed away somewhere!).

One negative is that it oxidizes a bit and gets darker, but I can deal with that. Also, after a few sunny afternoons I've tanned a little and will probably need to go a shade darker for my "summer" tone. The shades don't go in order (ex. #8 is too peachy instead of yellow-based) so I would likely need #10.

Some "after" pictures for results after application - not willing to post "before" pictures, but I definitely have visible dark spots and pitted scars on both cheeks, near forehead, and a few live ones near the eyebrow that are still visible since concealer unfortunately can't magically make the larger 3-D bumps go away. It doesn't make everything perfect - I have no disillusions that any product can actually make you look airbrushed with active acne going on - but as of now, this is my new go-to concealer. At $30, it feels like a good value as a little goes a long way and well, it works! Just wanted to share if you were on the lookout for a promising product =)