I’m back, baby! I’m back! Where have I been, you ask? Was I mauled by a bear? Nah. Did I overdose on too many diet cokes? Nope. Did I simply become distracted with a few crazy things that have been happening in my life that are called…well…life? YUP! But I have returned with a review of a brand spankin’ review of Too Faced’s latest Born This Way Super Coverage Concealer. So buckle up, buttercup!
How to Sift Through Beauty Hype
When Too Faced launched their Born This Way foundation back in 2015, it became an instant favorite of many beauty gurus. I had watched at least a half dozen videos by makeup enthusiasts who gushed that the foundation was the best thing since sliced bread to come into their lives.
Whenever I hear a swarm of influencers praising a particular product, especially at the same time, I immediately check to see if their reviews are sponsored. In the chance that you are unfamiliar with how the beauty industry works, here’s a tidbit of information that can help you when deciding whether or not to purchase a product. Many YouTubers or bloggers are sent products for free or are paid to give reviews of products in the hopes that the makeup companies will get some good press. If the review is positive, it benefits the YouTuber because it gives the company more incentive to continue to send them free products…or even some dough.
You’ll see an endless stream of beauty guru infomercials praising a product up, down and sideways that hypnotizes you into buying a product online before you’ve even finished watching the video. You wait anxiously for your purchase to arrive at your door, only to be disappointed by an underwhelming product that you wish you had never bought.
I don’t fault reviewers for getting sent some product for free. They’re basically advertising for companies while receiving little reimbursement in return (with the exception of those YouTubers/bloggers with thousands upon thousands or millions of subscribers). If you want them to continue to create meaningful content, then they have to have products to review. And that can get crazy expensive. But I’m not so cool with gurus snagging some free products and just feeding you a bunch of malarkey to peddle a product that they know is cruddy.
However, not all hope is lost. You can find a few YouTubers and bloggers that appear to be pretty honest with their reviews. You also can find some meaningful reviews on sites such as makeupalley, reddit and on the sites where you are purchasing from. Also, you can just try the product yourself and if it turns out to be hot garbage juice, return it!
Is Born This Way Really a Magical Potion?
Ok, ok! Let’s get back to the Too Faced Born This Way line. I had scored my first bottle of Born This Way foundation for free in 2015 with my Ipsy points. A free $39.00 foundation?! Yes, please! I stared at the sea of choices of shades and began to have a bit of a panic in selecting one that would match my skin. I saved those sweet Ipsy points for so long and I didn’t want to waste them in vain. I held my breath, hovered over the shade Vanilla…and then…”click”.
When my trusty pink Ipsy envelope arrived in my mailbox, I ripped that sucker open quicker than a new bag of nachos. The packaging was beautiful. Frosted glass with gold embossed lettering, yet I was more excited for what was in the bottle. When I tested the product on my skin, it had quite a bit of yellow tones. I have very fair skin with some redness so any bit of yellow tends to make me look sallow. But I was not about to give up on this product that I had such high hopes for. So I tossed some on my face and crossed my fingers.
The formula was fantastic. As it was mimicking my skin’s texture, it was subtly hiding imperfections. It was long wearing and didn’t separate or become cakey. However, there was one major problem. It was yellow. I’m talking jaundice yellow. It oxidized so much that I looked bizarre. I attempted to use different moisturizers underneath and mix it with different foundations. Sadly, the shade did not work for me. I even tried to give it to a friend whose skin has yellow undertones and she too told me that she ended up looking a tad like a lemon.
Since Born This Way’s release a couple of years ago, I have seen a handful of reviews stating that many of the available shades listed as neutral have quite a bit of yellow in the formula. I haven’t purchased any other shades but I may do so in the future since I will be able to return it in the chance that it once again makes me look like a banana.
Shut Up, Sam and Talk About the Concealer
So! You can see my cautiousness when I saw the buzz surrounding Too Faced’s launch of their Born This Way Super Coverage Concealer. It hadn’t yet been released to the masses yet but I saw it popping up on some of my ol’ trusty YouTuber’s videos. I had heard a couple of reviewers stating that Too Faced’s new concealer outperforms the masses’ beloved Tarte Shape Tape Concealer.
Ever since Tarte launched Shape Tape, it’s become a holy grail concealer for so many people. It is pretty fantastic. It covers imperfections yet isn’t cakey. However, I have dry skin and I do find that it sometimes tends to become a bit dry under my eyes and can end up having some creasing. But it was the best concealer that I had found to help cover my under eye imperfections.
My two main reasons I use concealer are to spot conceal some redness and to camouflage my undereye hollows. As people age, they lose collagen and volume in their face. Underneath my eyes, I have been losing some of the fullness. This creates a shadow, similar to a dark circle, that can make me look tired. It drives me crazy! So I break out my arsenal of secret weapons to try and combat this affliction. Shape Tape has been doing a pretty good job hiding my sad signs of aging (can you hear me softly sobbing?). But could there be something better? Did Too Faced create the most magical potion to solve any skin problems? The beauty junkie in me had to find out!
Some tidbits about the concealer from Too Faced:
I happened to score a 20% off coupon which helped soften the blow of the $29 price tag for the Born This Way Concealer. I was purchasing the concealer as soon as it was available online so as soon as the clock turned to midnight, the “Coming Soon” box on Too Faced’s website turned to “Add to Cart”. I was super stoked to be able to grab the anticipated magical potion as soon as it hit the markets.
Their shade range for the new concealer has 20 available colors to choose from. Gulp. Not again. What shade do I choose??? Certainly not jaundice Vanilla. I spent about ten minutes deciding on a shade when I finally chose Porcelain with claimed to have neutral undertones.
My packaged arrived within a few days and once again I ripped that sucker open so fast that it would make your head spin. The first thing I noticed is that the packaging seemed huge for a concealer. I remember the Shape Tape 0.33 Fl. Oz. tube seeming crazy large when I first started using it. But Too Faced’s 0.50 Fl. Oz. bottle almost appears to be the size of many drug store foundation bottles. It pretty much looks like a smaller bottle of their foundation.
The doe foot applicator is pretty much the same as Shape Tape’s. I like to add a bit of product to the back of my hand and dip into the concealer with a brush as needed and apply it to my face.
Since this states that it is full coverage, I tossed on some undereye primer and then applied a very small amount under my eyes. People! You do not need to cake on tons and tons of concealer under your eyes. I know that you’ll see people all over YouTube and Instagram applying concealer to nearly half of their faces, but that often looks good on camera but not in person. Less is usually more. You’ll find you have less creasing and less texture.
The very first thing I noticed about the concealer that it had some yellow to it. No! WHY?! Too Faced, why must you toy with me in this way?! However, since it was far less yellow than the foundation and I was only applying it to parts of my face.
It blended easily and took its time drying down which gave me time to completely blend it into my skin. It didn’t end up oxidizing or turning my skin into a lemon peel. There was zero creasing and it did not emphasize any texture. My undereye hollows were camouflaged much easier than with the Shape Tape. Although it had a slightly yellow tone, it worked with my skin.
As I wore it throughout the day, I have to say it was much more hydrating to my under eyes than the Shape Tape. It did not crease whatsoever and photographs beautifully. It really does mimic your skin without breaking down or fading. And what I particularly like is that even though it says full coverage, it’s not like you’re wearing a mask. It has full coverage that looks natural and is buildable.
All in all, I love this concealer. My only gripe is that I wish Too Faced’s Born This Way Line tweaked the shades to have more true neutral or pink tones without pulling yellow. If I could mix the shades of the Tarte’s Shape Tape Concealer with Too Faced’s Born This Way’s formula, it would be almost as good as nachos.
Lipstick and Nachos 