MAC Pro Longwear Concealer Review
Is it worth the hype?
Colors here L to R: NC15, NW20, NW25, NC35, NW35, NW40
It gets rave reviews online and was voted as the top high end concealer in Allure Magazine’s Readers Choice Awards for 2015. Must be awesome, right? Let’s see!
What it’s all about:
- 16 Shades
- Medium to full coverage
- Natural, matte finish
- Lasts for up to 15 hours
- Good for under-eye circles and other discolorations
- Comes in a glass vial with a pump dispenser
- 0.30 US fl oz
- $20.00 at MAC stores and http://www.maccosmetics.com
I feel like I have been on a never ending quest for the perfect concealer. Many formulas have let me down in the past, so it’s a little frightening introducing a new one into my professional makeup kit. I decided to take the plunge and buy a range of shades of the MAC Pro Longwear Concealer. What initially intrigued me about the product was that it was a long wearing formula and it was a liquid, not a thick cream.
Will it cover dark circles? Erase blemishes and discoloration? Will it crease horribly? Is it worth all the hype?
After testing on myself and clients, here’s what I discovered:
What I like:
- It has a good amount of coverage. I like it for more of a medium coverage concealer, but it can be layered or applied on top of another concealer to make it full coverage.
- Nice range of colors.
- The matte finish is great. Depending on how oily your skin is, you may need to set it with a translucent powder.
- Application for under the eyes is best with clean fingers or a concealer brush. For a larger area of coverage, use a damp Beauty Blender sponge or synthetic foundation or concealer brush.
- It mixes well with other products. Mixed with a light weight foundation, like MAC Face and Body, it makes a lovely medium coverage foundation. Blended with face lotion, it makes a nice tinted moisturizer.
- Stays put. Once it’s set, it holds. Even survives sweaty situations.
- The bottle is pretty small, but only using a small amount, it will last quite a while.
As you can see, quite a lot comes out with one pump.
What I don’t like:
- With as concentrated as this formula is, the pump dispenses way too much at a time. Great for concealing a large area, but wasteful for small areas like under the eyes. The solution to this is to use a little sample container to pump a full pump into and use that for a few days. Ask for a sample container when purchasing if you go to the MAC store. Or, you can try to dispense it very gently and slowly so only a little comes out.
- It can look a dry on some people, especially in the eye area. If that’s you, prep with a good eye cream.
- It may crease unless set with a light dusting of a translucent powder.
Top row L to R: NC15, NW20, NW25. Bottom row L to R: NC35, NW35, NW40
The MAC Pro Longwear Concealer can definitely stay in my makeup kit for now. I think that it has mostly lived up to all the hype. I would give it 4 stars out of 5. I hope you like it if you decide to try it out!
