These Concealers Hid My Dark Circles & Redness (Without Color Corrector!)

I love putting on makeup and love the way that I feel in it, but I don’t often experiment or stray from my core beauty products, scared that different formulas won’t be worth it. However, I give myself leeway when it comes to affordable, reputable products, because if I don’t wind up loving them, at least I didn’t waste a huge chunk of change. So, I was very excited to try No7’s new makeup products because of their amazing under-$17 price point.

Like me, you may associate No7 more with skin care than with makeup, but the brand has a mighty beauty line — and brilliantly, most of it is infused with skin-care ingredients to get the best of both worlds. The high-quality yet affordable skin-care-makeup hybrids, such as the popular Lift & Luminate Triple Action Serum Foundation With SPF 15, provide coverage while also improving your skin’s texture. 

The newly expanded makeup line has a nice range of foundations, concealers, powders, eyelash and eyebrow products, cheek and lip shades, and more. As a no-foundation and no-powder girl, but a pro-allover-concealer girl, I chose two new No7 concealers to test if they work better than my usual go-to: HydraLuminous Dark Circle Concealer and Lift & Luminate Triple Action Serum Concealer. I rounded out my order with a milky primer base, creamy lip and cheek tints, tinted eyebrow gel, and shiny lip gloss for a full face of No7 makeup.

I always have visible dark circles regardless of how well-rested I am. The blue-tinted discoloration travels up to the inner corners of my eyes, and my veins are also naturally apparent above my eyelids. So, I usually use orange-toned color correctors to help better disguise it all before adding on concealer. But for the purpose of this review, and this under-eye concealer's promise to cover up dark circles and hyperpigmentation, I didn't apply a color corrector. And wow, was I amazed by the results.

Beyond my initial fascination with the product's round sponge applicator, I was shocked that this super-full-coverage formula was actually lightweight, buildable, and didn't settle into my fine lines (even though I used a bit too much product on my first go). I used Shade 1, the lightest shade available, and was impressed by the perfect color match, the hydrating formula, and just how much it did instantly conceal my color discoloration. (I blended it under my eyes, on my inner corners, and beneath my eyebrows to cover as much blue as possible.)

Throughout the day, I didn't feel like I was even wearing eye makeup and didn't notice the concealer move around or fade away. It had me looking bright and fresh-faced. So, with that, this product is an obvious keeper for me. But now, onto the next No7 concealer!

I was also intrigued by No7's Triple Action concealer because it incorporates the same skin-care ingredients as its clinically tested Triple Action Serum. The concealer includes vitamins A and C to reduce the appearance of fine lines, Matrixyl 3000 Plus to enhance moisture, and hibiscus to help retain that moisture. With light-reflecting particles and a blurring formula, this concealer is intended to cover up wrinkles, dark circles, and blemishes.

While I don't typically get blemishes, pimples, or acne, my skin does have a natural redness to it that makes me look flushed all the time, so I was eager to try this concealer (again, without the help of any green color corrector). I applied it liberally to the very tops of my cheekbones, the bridge of my nose, around my lips (where I also have darker discoloration), above my jaw, and on my chin. Like I said, while I don't wear foundation, I do wear a lot of concealer.

Again, I was impressed by just how full-coverage yet lightweight this formula was and how it concealed my redness in all of the places that I wanted it to. Another win for No7!

As previously mentioned, I also tried No7's new Eyebrow Gel that you can see pictured above. The brown shade easily swiped onto my brows, filling in some gaps and making them look super-fluffy and feathery, which I enjoyed. I also got the Lip & Cheek Tint in two of the three shades: Cherry Blossom and Dusk Pink. Cherry Blossom was way too light for me, and while Dusk Pink was better (you can see it on me above), it didn't look super-pigmented on my cheeks. But I added it onto my lips, which actually gave me nice a velvety, pouty finish.

When it came to the High Shine Lip Gloss, I'm not quite sure if the packaging got mixed up or if the color and shine just looks very different in person, but the shiny gold Honey Bloom I wanted to try as a lip topper turned up in a matte dark mauve shade instead (pictured above, on top of the lip tint). The color was fine (a bit lighter than my taste), but it just wasn't what I expected, so this was my least favorite of the No7 products I tried.

But alas, I forgive No7 for this because the brand's two new concealers are game changers for me, and I'm grateful that I was able to add new beauty products to my stingy makeup collection. Who knows, I may even throw out my color-correcting palette now.