Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer in Ginger - Review

I’ve had this concealer for a very very long time, I bought it the same time I had bought my Nars Sheer Glow Foundation but I’ve barely used it. Reason being I’ve struggled with the texture and shade, I wasn’t sure how to use it and to my surprise I found it quite thick. Recently I’ve been forcing myself to use the stuff in my makeup stash since I’ve been neglecting a lot of it. I’ve been reaching for this quite a bit since it’s such a cult favourite and I really wanted to love it how so many others have loved and raved about it. I think I’ve finally figured out how to use this on myself and have definitely found a beneficial purpose for it now. I’m actually really enjoying it for a certain look I like to do which I’ll mention below and am overall impressed with the results that I get.

Description from Nars website:

Coveted by artists for its’ luxurious texture and luminous finish, new Radiant Creamy Concealer evens skin with lightweight medium to high buildable coverage. Enriched with hydrating, multi-action skincare benefits and light diffusing technology, it creates a softer, smoother complexion while instantly obscuring imperfections and diminishing fine lines and signs of fatigue. Long wearing and crease-proof. Paraben-free, Alcohol free, Synthetic fragrance free, Non comedogenic

The packaging is a simple rectangular lip gloss like tube with a doe foot applicator, so no qualms here. When I try out new concealers I anticipate the texture first rather than shade as I’ve had plenty of trouble in the past with unforgiving formulas on my dehydrated textured skin, they’ve just caked up most of the time and made my under eyes look very aged or worse than I had actually started off with, so I’ll discuss the texture first.

The Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer was a lot thicker than I imagined, I heard it was creamy, which it definitely is, but I couldn’t quite get over how thick it was, I was expecting something a lot thinner for some reason. I did initially find it hard to blend at first because I was applying way too much and it just ended up looking very obvious and cakey. I kept making the same mistake over and over again because I’d seen so many You-Tubers literally paint their under eyes with this stuff and I was literally painting my under eyes with plenty too! I also noticed that the Beauty Blender wouldn’t shift or blend the product out nicely under my eyes, it just wasn’t budging or blending nicely into my skin, it was looking so obvious and horrible on me. I’ve tried it around my mouth too and that was a big no no, it wasn’t concealing the discolouration properly at all and was picking up all the texture I have there and exaggerating it more.

I find that you can get medium to full coverage with this. I apply a smidgen under each eye and it disguises them just enough for me, my under eyes aren’t severely dark but over the past year or so I have felt the need to conceal them. It’s only when I’ve taken my makeup off that I notice the difference that it makes on me. I remember when I first used this successfully and went to the bathroom to wash my face at the end of the day, I reacted to my uncovered and bare dark circles with the remark: “aaand they’re back!” so that was proof for me that it did actually work, I was really surprised! I have some redness around my nose and a little bit of concealer covers this well for me. I also use this on my post pimple dark spots/marks and find that it covers those well enough too. If you have severe blemishes you may want to go with something a little more heavy duty that has better longevity than this.

The finish of the Radiant Creamy Concealer is as the name implies, radiant, it almost has a slight dewy glow. I’m not too sure but I think this may have light reflective particles in it which gives it this “radiant glow”, I could be wrong but there is definitely something that gives off the radiance. I like how radiant it makes my under eyes look, like I’ve had plenty of beauty sleep or as if I’ve been having all my vitamins and I’m a very healthy human being -hah- not!

The Radiant Creamy Concealer feels creamy to the touch even though it’s thick, it’s not a fluid concealer nor will it run down your hand. Though when I apply this under my eyes or on my blemishes it doesn’t feel heavy on me at all, this may be because of the amount I use. I feel this does ‘set’ a little or dry down.

Longevity-wise I feel this can last a decent time on me, especially when I set with my Soap & Glory Kick Ass powder nor does it crease too badly on me, I don’t have major issues with creasing in general, but I do have this one line that likes to collect any foundation or concealer that I have there, but with powder it stays relatively smooth. I also sometimes leave it without setting with powder and I get a more luminous and radiant look, it obviously doesn’t last as long but I do like the finish.

The shade I picked was Ginger, which is described as “Golden undertone for medium complexion”. I chose this shade since so many others close to my skin tone had this shade. The shade was something I was a little surprised about when I first tried it, it was a lot deeper than I expected. When I first applied this onto my under eyes, apart from the thick texture I was a little disappointed, I was expecting something lighter to give me a more brighter almost highlighted under eye. In fact Ginger is incredibly close to my skin tone, just on the peachier side. This is not the shade I’d use to highlight, I’d have to use something like Custard or a mix of the two to achieve a lifted and highlighted look as there is a rather big jump between the two shades. But like I mentioned at the beginning I’ve found a very useful purpose for it now and the peachy tone works perfectly for me.

This is all I use and it's enough for both eyes!

I’ve experimented enough with this and have given it enough trials, so I first make sure I have a well moisturised under eye, just like when you're applying foundation you need to make sure the skin under your eyes is hydrated and supple with a certain level of emollience, your concealer will glide on and blend with ease and you'll have a much more beautiful finish. I’ve realised that I need to use just a smidgen of the Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer, this is pigmented so I actually don’t have to use a lot for the “natural” look I usually go for, literally a dot under each eye just over the darkness and I blend it out with my finger, then build it up with a tiny bit more if I need more coverage, the warmth of my fingers really helps to melt the concealer in and manoeuvres the product nicely around under my eyes. When I don't want to get concealer on my fingers (we all have those days) a small concealer brush is lovely to use as it fits nicely under the eyes and in the inner crevice and I gently pat and blend it in.

Nars Sheer Glow in Stromboli and Concealer in Ginger WITH FLASH

Because of the depth and peachiness of the colour it doesn’t make my under eyes go ashy, it seems to correct them and conceal them in one step and blends in with the rest of my face. It doesn’t highlight my under eyes but it brightens and banishes the darkness to match my skin and this alone makes me look a lot less tired. For the blemishes around my face I use the small flat concealer brush and pat it on then diffuse the edges (pin point concealing) then set my face with powder and that’s my base done, I apply a few dabs of lipstick and a coat of mascara and this is my makeup for the day, my no makeup makeup routine.

I love how doing this routine makes my skin look naturally blemish free, even and healthy without having any foundation on, since the concealer is so close to my skin tone, it really unifies my face without any tell-tale lines. The balance of golden peachy tones works really well to counteract the darkness of the dark spots scattered on my face. Using it under my eyes just makes me look so much more awake it's like magic!

I don’t use this for the hyper pigmentation around my mouth, it’s too heavy for that, but when I go for a full face of makeup I do use two swipes on either side of my chin after colour correcting with orange and blend it out with a damp beauty blender and it helps counteract the unwanted ‘goatee’ look I can usually get due to my discolouration. Using it all around my mouth makes that area look too obvious and unnatural on me so I avoid it.

This is definitely a quality concealer and I can understand why people like it so much, it took me a while to understand it but I found a beneficial use for it in the end! As usual I hope this review was helpful, if you have any questions or comments do leave them down below. Peace and love. X