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Pro Longwear Concealer ($28.00)** is a bestseller for MAC and is overall highly reviewed on retailer websites like Ulta, Nordstrom, and Macy’s. Listen, I know the pump and overall packaging are annoying, but the product itself is excellent. I do not experiment with concealers much, so it is very possible that there is something better out there. But for me, this is a winner.
I have dry skin and I can still get away with using this product. It does dry down to a matte long wearing finish, so I don’t have to set with powder. If you have dry skin, then you know that being able to skip powder can really help. For the most part, this doesn’t settle into my fine lines and wrinkles. I say for the most part because it does sink into my deepest wrinkle but I can’t tell unless I get real close to the mirror. For reference, the Bobbi Brown Concealer and Corrector formulas sink into lines and wrinkles on me. The formula that is in the MAC Studio Fix Conceal and Correct Palette** does not sink into lines on me, but it does need to be set with powder whereas the Pro Longwear Concealer does not.
NC42 is described as a tanned peach with golden undertones for medium to dark skin.**
NC45 is described as a deep bronze with peachy undertone for dark skin.**
Although this formula is long wearing, it doesn’t hold up under the nose pads on my glasses. It moves and collects around them. I do see an imprint of the nose pads when I’m only wearing Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation, but not the amount of product movement as with this concealer.
Back to the annoying pump, for those that are unfamiliar. The Pro Longwear Concealer is full coverage, so a little bit of the product goes a long way. While this is technically a good thing, the pump dispenses way more product than you need. You can learn to control the pump and dispense smaller partial pumps, but it takes some breaking in. The second problem with the pump is that it is impossible to get the very last bit of product out of the bottle. Even when the product is running low, it becomes difficult to get it to dispense even though there is still product left. Also when it comes to packaging, this concealer is housed in a glass bottle, so if you don’t like glass, that is something to keep in mind.
Another issue that I typically have is falling in between two shades. Even when MAC offers NC44, I’m usually still in between NC44 and NC45. Technically C shades work better for me, so I would love it if MAC offered the C shades in all of their concealers. Since they do not, I use the NC shades. Concealer shade ranges are always more limited than foundations, but I still find it surprising that there are only 16 shades of Pro Longwear Concealer. There is an even split of 8 NC shades and 8 NW shades, but for MAC, I expect better.
So as you can see, as with anything this product does have some downsides. However, the coverage, formula, and staying power outweigh the pump and shade issues for me personally. As someone with sensitive skin, I try not to experiment with my base products too much. Maybe I’ll try something new one day.
Update April 8, 2022: This was my go-to concealer until very recently. I purchased NC30 to lighten NC45 since it is a little too dark. I have been mixing NC42 and NC45 for as long as I can remember but I wanted to try something less peachy than NC42. Honestly, I still think this is a great concealer, I am just tired of mixing. If it was more of a half and half mix, it’d likely be easier. But I need more of the lighter shade and just a little of NC45 for my undereye area. It’s doable, but the pump makes it more difficult than a concealer that has a doe-foot applicator. I can get away with using NC45 by itself but I just don’t like how orange my undereye area looks when I use it alone. I can use it alone for spot concealing without issue and it sits nicely over texture, so it is still a great concealer as long as you can find your shade. I have tried the trick of decanting some of the product into a travel container, but I find that it dries out before I can use all of it. So I end up with the same amount of product waste as if I had pumped it out each time.
NC30 is described as a golden beige with golden undertone for light to medium skin.**
The MAC Pro Longwear Concealer is available for $28.00 at maccosmetics.com.**
Do you have any dry/sensitive skin friendly concealer suggestions for me? Leave them in the comments below.
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Nikki From HR 