Though my days of wearing a full face of makeup have been numbered since COVID—I know many of you can relate—one product I still rely on regularly is concealer. As a new mom with zero quality sleep to boot, my dark circles would basically jump through the screen during Zoom meetings if they weren’t camouflaged with concealer beforehand. But, when I’m not wearing makeup on the rest of my face, I want something that still looks like my skin, not a cakey mess. And if it comes with skin-care benefits, that’s a plus. Hence, my excitement for Annie Lawless’s announcement of her new Lawless Beauty Conseal the Deal Full-Coverage Concealer ($25), the sister product to her beloved Conseal the Deal Foundation that has won over the hearts of many since its launch last summer. I recently spoke to Annie about the new launch, and here’s the inside scoop.
I’m a big fan of the Conseal The Deal Foundation (like thousands of other people out there!). Tell me everything about the new concealer.
“The Conseal The Deal Full-Coverage Concealer has been such a labor of love. It is an incredibly unique formula in the sense that it is clean, but it’s still SUPER high-performance. I’m a makeup junkie and I need my products to work, but I don’t want any silicones or questionable ingredients sitting on my skin for eight hours or more. That’s why I created CTD Concealer! It brightens, blurs and perfects with buildable, medium-to-full coverage. I can easily cover blemishes and correct darkness under my eyes, or I can layer the product for a full-coverage glam look without it creasing or getting cakey. The best part is that it’s self-setting and has an amazing skin-like finish that is undetectable when blended into the skin. It’s also a really good eyeshadow base because it has a soft-focus setting effect, and it’s great for someone with acne or blemishes, too, because it will blend right in and look like skin on textured problem areas.
We also have a new Concealer Brush coming next month that has a finger print–like tip that sort of mimics your fingertips when you press or stamp the concealer into your skin, but gives the product a more blendable finish than your fingers would.”
What are the key ingredients?
“I also believe that if I’m wearing makeup all day, it has to do something good for my skin. That’s why the concealer includes some superstar skin-care ingredients. It is packed with caffeine, which is known for its ability to depuff and energize the appearance of the skin. It also has a special antioxidant complex to help protect the skin’s surface from environmental aggressors. Finally, it features nasturtium flower extract, which is known to limit the appearance of free-radical damage to the skin caused by blue light. I cannot put this concealer down, and it has replaced all of my other eye brightening and concealing products!”
How does the concealer complement the foundation?
“We took everything we loved about the foundation formula—the lightweight, serum-y consistency; it’s basically pure pigment but feels skin-like—and amped it up. The formula was designed specifically to work seamlessly on top of our CTD Foundation, but it also works beautifully on bare skin or with other foundations.
How do you personally use them together?
“I currently use two different shades: one is Goldie, which is very similar to my skin tone, and I use that to cover any imperfections, and then I use Cashew to brighten under my eyes and T-zone! Cashew is my everyday shade—it’s similar to NARS Custard, which I used to use. It cuts the blue in my under-eye circles so quickly—I have a one-year-old and I’m always tired. I also have a lot of redness around my nose and the center of my chin. I pair it with Conseal the Deal Foundation and I get an absolutely perfect finish every time.”
What can you tell me about the shade range, and how it matches the foundation if someone already uses that product?
“There are currently 20 shades ranging from very fair to ultra-deep in a variety of undertones that help conceal and correct. The range was designed so that anyone wearing the foundation will have the ability to find a concealer shade that matches their skin tone, as well as a shade that brightens their T-zone and under their eyes. Because the formula is medium-to-full coverage, the shades are relatively flexible, and multiple shades of foundation can actually work with the same shade of concealer and get absolutely gorgeous results.”
