Watching someone apply three shades of eyeshadow on TikTok is perfectly normal — but three colors of “concealer” is another story… until very recently. There’s a new TikTok makeup trend that encourages you to dab on a rainbow of concealer and blush to brighten your undereyes. Known as ombré concealer, the trend is making its rounds on the internet (with 6.8 million views and counting). As both a curious beauty editor and soft glam makeup enthusiast, I had to try it.
The technique starts with dots of makeup stamped under your eyes: first with the lightest shade of concealer near the inner corner; followed by a darker shade in the middle; and lastly your blush of choice in the outermost corner. (It takes last spring’s viral makeup trend where Tiktokers were adding blush to their concealer one step further.) “This trend multitasks by brightening the undereyes and lifting cheekbones, all in one blend — without having to use separate brushes,” says makeup artist J Guerra.
Seasoned pros will recognize this as a combination of two tried-and-true tricks: color correcting and draping. Using a peach tone (or color corrector) under your eyes has been used for years to help brighten and neutralize dark circles, and “this blush placement is known as draping and has evolved over the years, but was very popular in the 70’s,” says makeup artist Randi Orlinsky, who is an ambassador for Make Up For Ever.
Meet the experts:
- Elizabeth Seropian is a Los-Angeles-based makeup artist
- J Guerra is a New York-based makeup artist
- Randi Orlinsky is a New York City-based makeup artist and a Make Up For Ever Regional Manager of Education and Artistry
Before grabbing my current favorite concealers and blush, I spoke to Elizabeth Seropian, a Los Angeles-based makeup artist, to help me curate my palette in the correct shades. “Choose a concealer that is two or three shades lighter than your foundation, then choose one that is one shade lighter than your foundation,” says Seropian. You can even add a third shade, following the same pattern.
To avoid a muddled, patchy finish, Guerra recommends sticking with formulas of the same texture. He finds that liquid concealer and liquid blush work best for this technique; thicker cream products tend to dry down quickly making them hard to blend.
With this in mind, I dotted the Hourglass Vanish Airbrush Concealer below my tear duct, followed by a slightly darker shade of the Kulfi Main Match concealer in the middle of my under-eye. Lastly, I applied the Juvia’s Place Blushed Liquid Blush in Sweet Berries on the outer corner of my undereye area. At this point, I had a pretty cascade of color under my eyes.