I finally took the plunge and tried something from the Makeup By Mario brand. I went into the store to check this out very soon after launch so that I could pick a shade (380 Medium Golden). The only thing I really heard about it before trying it for myself was that it was self-setting so I didn’t have many expectations for the formula. I avoided watching other reviews of the SurrelSkin Concealer because the Makeup By Mario brand does get a lot of hype so I didn’t want to be influenced by what others were saying. The brand promises a natural finish with medium coverage that is buildable, creaseless, self-setting, and long-wearing.
Makeup By Mario SurrealSkin Awakening Concealer, 380 Medium Golden, $29
I think this is a nice concealer formula. Although it does look a little dry on me by the end of the day, it wears well for my dry, eczema-prone skin type. The shade range is a little hard to navigate, but that was also true for me with the SurrealSkin foundation formula. When I went to the store I was expecting to get 360 Medium Peach but after swatching the shades, I ended up landing on 380 Medium Golden. After my first impression, I was concerned that I needed to buy the shade 420 Medium Dark Golden to mix but 380 has turned out to work fine. I do wish it was less peach on me, but it is workable. It is VERY common for me to mix shades, so I can’t say that everyone will have an issue. I just want to point out that in my opinion, the 22 shades available are limited especially in undertone. My issue with shades is both undertone and the fact that I’m typically lighter than the medium deep range but I’m also typically darker than the next lightest range regardless of whether the brand calls it medium or tan. I should also mention that I don’t like the brighter under-eye look on myself, so I’m always looking for a skin tone match or something that is only slightly lighter.
I often skip powder, but since the brand specifically claims that this is a self-setting formula, I have not tried it with powder. As I mentioned, it does look a little dry at the end of the day, but it does look better than the matte concealers that I have used. For a point of reference, this works as well as both the MAC Pro Longwear Concealer and the NARS Soft Matte Concealer at wearing well on me throughout the day without needing to powder it. I do agree with the brand that this gives medium buildable coverage. I think that the creaseless claim is hard to judge because I think we all have different ideas of what creasing is. Everything will settle into lines to some extent, that’s just what happens. But when the product collects in my lines so much that from a distance it looks like stripes, that’s when I call out a formula for creasing. So based on that, this doesn’t crease much on me at all. I agree with the long-wear claim, but as I’ve mentioned in the past since I have dry skin, I basically never have wear time issues.
Update December 27, 2023 (From my 2023 Year In Review (Best and Worst Makeup Products of 2023) post: Remember that I have dry skin, so this won’t necessarily be an issue for other skin types. Technically, the Makeup By Mario SurrealSkin Concealer is marketed as a natural finish, but on me it is matte. I like matte concealers because they provide better coverage than other finishes and have the added benefit of often providing some blurring. However, over the last year especially, I’ve discovered that matte finishes dry me out if I wear them continually. I may be able to get away with wearing them for a day without much issue, but if I wear them for two days in a row, I do experience more dryness than usual.
I will say, that I get along better with the Makeup By Mario SurrealSkin Awakening, NARS Soft Matte Complete, and Estee Lauder Double Wear concealers over the Huda Beauty #FauxFilter Luminous Matte concealer in terms of wear. I have to finesse the Huda Beauty concealer a lot to keep it from drying out and cracking when I wear it. On the other hand, I had no issues applying the Makeup By Mario and Estee Lauder concealers. I only get minimal creasing with the Makeup By Mario concealer and no creasing with the Estee Lauder concealer. The NARS concealer also wears without much creasing, but I do have occasional issues applying it with my fingers so it isn’t as foolproof for me as the Makeup By Mario and Estee Lauder.
Shade Comparison (Makeup By Mario 380 Medium Golden vs Dior Forever Skin Correct 4W)
This comparison is only for shade reference, there is nothing similar about these formulas. If you are curious about the Dior Forever Skin Correct Concealer, I do have a review posted for that one (click here).
Are you considering giving the new Makeup By Mario Surreal Skin Concealer a try? If you’ve already tried it, let me know in the comments what you thought.
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Nikki From HR 