ELF 16 Hr Camo Concealer

You know I love using this space for reviewing makeup product I have tried and one recent trial is this ELF Camo Concealer. This is a budget cult favorite so when I decided to do a full face of ELF I decided to try it. Unfortunately for me, the first trial wasn’t that great for me. But my Youtube followers gave me lots of tips on how to use it and so I decided to keep on using for the weeks leading up to this review. How do I feel about the concealer now that I have used it for two solid weeks?

ELF 16 HR Camo Concealer Fair Beige // Review, Swatch, Makeup Look

Let’s start off with something about this product that I love: the price point. At just €6 this is a concealer that is very affordable indeed. Over here, it is available exclusively from Douglas which is great. For a while the brand was a bit in limbo as the official European website disappeared for no reason and no information on where to get it. Then last fall suddenly the brand popped up on the Douglas website and I have now also found it in stores. We do not get the same range as the US and whatever products we do get comes a lot later, but still. It’s here, it is not marked up like some brands are and it is easily accessible.

The Packaging

ELF packaging is always very simple, but the outer box is always a bit superfluous. Very helpful when you buy the product in store as their display always features products hanging from little hooks, but truth be told it doesn’t add much to the overall product experience. It is simple, functional and just does what it needs to do.

The Concealer

What this concealer promises to do is give you full coverage and intense pigmentation. It should last all day and be great for all skin types. It is available in 17 different shades which for a drugstore brand is quite a lot. ELF also promises this concealer to be lightweight and matte without pulling into fine lines and wrinkles. In short, it sounds like the perfect concealer.

The Doe Foot Applicator

This concealer comes with a massive doe foot applicator like we saw on Tarte’s Shape Tape. That is also the concealer most people compare this too. That also has a large doe foot, matte, full coverage and full on pigmentation. This doe foot has a bit too much product on it for my liking. Do you see that glob of product on the end? I have to be very careful with how much I apply and only dot around the tiniest amount as this is too potent.

The Swatch

Fair beige is one of the lightest shades this concealer comes in and I think that for a concealer that you want to use as a highlighting shade this works well. However for my liking, this is a bit too much. You can clearly see in this swatch how thick the product is. This makes it difficult to blend out and it dries down super quickly. This causes you to have to work in sections: apply a dot, blend in, move on to the next part of your face and that makes this is bit more time consuming than I like. The formula dries down matte, but that make it look very noticeable on my skin.

The Application

So what does this look like on my skin? It looks okay, but I have had trouble applying this. The first time I applied it I applied it in my usual way and the product had already started to settle down making it very difficult to blend out and I could also feel it tightening on my skin. I find that if you blend it out first, you won’t have that issue, but I still had this pull into fine lines on days where I didn’t hydrate my under eyes properly. In short, this is just a little too much work for what I like my concealer to be. There is a reason why I have tendency to prefer hydrating concealers.

The Coverage

But my biggest disappointment with this was the coverage. For a full coverage concealer it never did a very good job at concealing everything. The light shade combined with the texture made this concealer to just not do much for me in the end. The shade it a touch too light for my dark circles to disappear completely. The thick texture makes this grab on to certain places, but not others as you can see in this picture above. Once all of my makeup has been applied it really isn’t too offensive and on 75% of the days I wore this it looked fine throughout the day, but I simply have concealers that look great on me 100% of the time.

My Final Thoughts

In short, while I wanted to love this ELF concealer, I don’t think the Camo Concealer is one for me. It is not a bad concealer I think but it is just not what I am looking for in a concealer. I prefer a more hydrating, easier to blend formula that is more sheer. I don’t mind layering a corrector first and then going in with a concealer if that means my makeup looks flawless all day and is easier to apply. I just felt this concealer made me work too hard for it to look nice on me and so I am not a fan. However, if you are looking for a full coverage concealer that can withstand sweaty gym glasses at an affordable price point than this is worth a try.

What sort of concealers do you prefer?