3 Women with Different Skin Tones Give Their Honest Thoughts on The Ordinary’s New Concealer

Between the shiny, millennial-centric brands delivering fresh drops through your letterbox, the more established, cult buys and the indie outfits selling a fine line in ‘natural and organic’ products, the beauty landscape has never felt more cluttered.

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The Ordinary have launched a high coverage concealer to their beauty offering. Here’s what three women really think of the new complexion cover-up.

To help you to navigate this brave new world of retinol, AHAs, jade rollers and double cleansing, WH beauty editor, Perdita Nouril, is here to try and test the new drops that are making their way into her (very full) bathroom, via her new column, Beauty Dispatch.

Here, she’ll share the freshly released heroes that she loves: ready to let you know where to spend your skin and hair care cash.

This time around it’s The Ordinary Concealer. Oh, and she’s roped in two other make-up junkies so you can see how the new drop fares on different skin tones.

Let’s face it, The Ordinary is one of beauty’s biggest success stories. The brand found fame for taking previously pricey ingredients – from salicylic to squalane– stripping away all the fancy frills, and delivering effective formulas without the triple-figure price tags. As a result, pretty much every woman in the country has at least one Ordinary product in their bathroom cabinet or beauty bag of tricks.

It was therefore only a matter of time before the brand revisited their make-up line to give it a much-needed bolster. Now, four years after launching ‘The Serum Foundation’, the brand is now finally releasing the eagerly anticipated concealer to go with it.

Priced at £4.90 and available at Deciem from the 19th Jan, here’s everything you need to know before you pop yourself on the waitlist.

What is The Ordinary Concealer?

Formulated with ‘high-spreadability suspension technology’ (to non-sciency folk that means it’s thick enough to offer a very high level of coverage but crucially, won’t gather in fine lines) the idea is that you don’t have to worry about it looking caked on.

As for the packaging? The formula sits within a small tube that has a thin nozzle applicator for precise and easy application, so you can dab it directly onto your finger or the tip of a brush.

When it comes to shade range the line has 36 colours, which correspond to the foundation collection, making it easier to find the perfect one for you, if you’re already on The Ordinary train. A further 15 shades are set to launch later in the year.

Each shade is also divided into four categories: 1 for lighter tones, 2 for medium tones, 3 for dark/deep tones, and 4 for deeper tones. Each category is then classified further by a second digit from 0 to 4 to indicate depth within each category. Finally, a letter is added to the shade code to identify the undertone. P (Pink) and R (Red) indicate cool undertones; N indicates a Neutral tone; Y (Yellow) indicates a warm undertone.

Can you wear the concealer by itself?

Yes, because the coverage is quite thick it works well as a go-to skin enhancer. Equally though, it works brilliantly atop or under your foundation.

So, is The Ordinary Concealer any good?

Below, three women with different skin tones reveal what they really thought, after trialling the new product.

Perdita Nouril, Beauty Editor

Before (left) and after (right)

I’m a big fan of The Ordinary, with it’s cheaper than chips pricepoint and results-driven formulas that cater to all skin types, there’s so much to love about this brilliant brand. However, when I first tried the foundation I wasn’t blown away. Sure, it was good and the cost was appealing, but I felt there were better formulations out there that were worth forking out for.

Pleasingly I don’t think that about the concealer. I found it easier to blend in with a brush as it sets quite quickly, so you don’t have lots of playtime. However, once it sets, it’s budge-proof and it saw me through an entire day without any touch-ups, which is a genuine miracle.

I would say if you prefer sheer coverage, this may not be the product for you. But, if you’re looking to conceal acne scars, pigmentation, dark circles, or imperfections, then look no further.

Keisha Reid, Freelance Beauty Writer

Before (left) and after (right)

I’m not someone that worships at the altar of The Ordinary. Don’t get me wrong, when I have tried products from the cult brand, I have generally liked them – but I don’t reach for them often.

This concealer though, whew – I’m impressed. The formula is light but covered up my dark circles really well – it even worked on my eyelids without creasing throughout the day. I used the shade 3.2 N and love the fact the range has so many shades and undertones too, something that’s often overlooked in deeper shades.

Morgan Fargo, Digital Fitness Writer

Before (left) and after (right)

I’m not sure if it was my cold bathroom but the consistency of the concealer was thick straight out of the tube. On first impression, I feared it wouldn’t move too far once applied – a pet hate due to my absurdly dry skin. But it blended easily with high coverage. A biscuity-medium shade it matched well, slightly warmer than I would normally go for but the yellow tones were true to colour.

A tinted moisturiser gal at heart, I was surprised at how full coverage the concealer was, even using small dabs and a big beauty blender. It lay smooth on my skin, didn’t take too much buffing out and dried semi-matte with only a little dew.

For me, it’s too high coverage for day-day – even during breakout season (read: all of lockdown) I prefer lighter more buildable products – but, if I had a Zoom presentation or some other virtual even to doll up for, it would be a shoo-in. Some liquid bronzer or cream blush on top and we are GTG!

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