I Tried Red Color Corrector On My Undereye Circles — & Now I'm A Believer

While I was scrolling through Instagram one day, I came across an influencer wearing a pink sweatshirt that read, "my skin is not a trend." I immediately wanted one for myself. As a Latina with olive skin, I've often felt overlooked by the beauty industry, and now, as many brands are expanding their foundation shade ranges, it sometimes feels like diversity is a marketing move or sales tactic. So, "my skin is not a trend" is something I truly identify with. When I went on the hunt for the sweatshirt, I landed on Live Tinted's page — an Instagram feed ran by influencer Deepica Mutyala that is dedicated to representing "every shade in between."

If you haven't heard of Deepica, the 29-year-old rose to viral fame when she posted a video on YouTube using a bright red lipstick to cover her undereye circles. (The color-correcting technique uses red to cancel out green or blue undertones.) The video, which was posted in 2015, has since generated over 10.7 million views. Mutyala would go on to create more videos on her channel, and eventually, the Live Tinted platform. Now, four years after the viral video that started it all, Mutyala has launched her first product: a multi-use color corrector.

The idea for the product wasn't just based on Mutyala's viral moment. Her Live Tinted audience also had a lot of input. "We asked the community directly, and it turns out color correction is still a number-one beauty concern. That's when we decided to create a solution," Mutyala tells Refinery29. The Live Tinted Huestick comes in three shades — Origin (an orange-red), Rise (a terra-cotta), and Perk (a peach-pink). The product isn't just a color corrector. It also serves as a pigment for the cheeks and lips.

Color correctors have never been apart of my makeup routine, but I'm always applying concealer twice to disguise the my blue-gray circles (thanks Netflix), so technically I'm the perfect customer for the Huestick. I swiped the shade Origin under my eyes and blended it in with a concealer brush. I was frightened at first because the red was still very visible after blending, and I wasn't sure that my concealer would cover it. But it did — and with just one application, not the usual two. I then swiped the same shade on my lips.

I immediately saw a huge difference in my undereye area. The product glided on smoothly without tugging the skin and balanced out the darkness. Plus, as someone who always felt like color correcting was exclusively a trick for the pros, the process was a lot quicker and easier than I expected. On my lips, the Huestick left a bright orange-red shade that took a few swipes to achieve, but that buildable factor lets you wear it more sheer or fully pigmented.

Overall, my favorite part of the Huestick is the functionality. I needed to touch-up my makeup for an after-work event, and I used this product on both my cheeks and lips. It reminded me of the age-old trick of using lipstick as blush when you're in a pinch. According to Mutyala, that was her vision when conceptualizing the product. "People are busy, and they want to consolidate and streamline all aspects of their lives," she says. "By making this a versatile product that also functions as a multi-stick, we're making a beauty concern more accessible to the everyday person."