Pack Your [Under-Eye] Bags: These 10 Concealers Brightened Darkness Best in Our Testing (2024)

Our Top Picks

Why We Love It: Bobbi Brown Under Eye Corrector is the couture of concealer; it feels like it was made just for whoever wears it. Take our tester, who found its smooth, satin finish layered effortlessly over her oily skin and stayed there without slipping off. The peachy shade matched her olive-toned skin to a T (something she’d never found before) and made her feel more comfortable leaving the house without foundation. Even the packaging is thoughtful, including a small mirror for easy on-the-go application.

Who It’s For: Similar to a color corrector, this concealer designs its shades using color theory to cancel out redness and purple hues from dark under-eyes. So, even though it doesn’t carry the most expansive shade range, there’s a good chance you’ll find one that helps with discoloration while providing a full coverage, yet lightweight, finish.

Coverage Level: Full | Finish: Satin | Shades: 10 | Size: 0.05 oz | Key Ingredients: Vitamin E

Stephanie, tester with combination skin: “It feels very natural on my skin, so much that I was asked what foundation I was wearing (none at all!).”

Why We Love It: With one swipe of this concealer, our tester could get out the door and move on with her day, feeling confident. Its full-coverage finish left her under-eyes brighter and fully disguised her discoloration. Meanwhile, the hydrating ingredients, including sodium hyaluronate and rose flower water, prevented it from flaking around the drier portions of her combination skin.

Who It’s For: This concealer doesn’t sacrifice coverage for a natural, no-makeup makeup look. Despite concealing everything, our tester saw what looked like her skin in the mirror and experienced no caking. That said, using a setting powder or a mattifying primer will help prevent it from creasing in fine lines.

Coverage Level: Full | Finish: Satin | Shades: 25 | Size: 0.2 oz | Key Ingredients: Sodium hyaluronate, rose flower water

Wasimah, tester with combination skin: “The concealer feels very smooth and hydrating, and the finish is radiant. Although it's full coverage, it doesn't look cakey at all.”

Why We Love It: Rather than simply covering a skin concern like many matte formulas, this Armani concealer has light-reflecting pigments that turn up the dial on darkness. The results: Your entire look comes alive. However, our tester was most enthusiastic that the concealer didn’t irritate her reactive skin; in fact, it felt like a luxurious blanket against the sensitive area. According to her, the lush, rich cream formula is worth the higher cost of the luxury makeup brand.

Who It’s For: Even if you’re against the dewy skin movement or have an oily complexion, this formula shines a little spotlight under your eyes, brightening them without making skin look shiny.

Coverage Level: Medium| Finish: Radiant | Shades: 23 | Size: 0.4 oz | Key Ingredients: Glycerin, caffeine

Taylor, tester with dry skin: “It has a light-reflecting sheen, and it's filled with tiny, subtle sparkles that bounce light and make the skin look luminous and glowy.”

Why We Love It: Part skin care, part makeup, this multifaceted concealer contains skin-loving ingredients, like soothing niacinamide, moisturizing hyaluronic acid, and brightening vitamin C. While this helped the formula melt into our tester’s complexion with a skin-mimicking finish, she was mainly impressed by its full coverage. The pigmented concealer seamlessly paved over every fine line and masked all discoloration, all while gripping to the skin for hours.

Who It’s For: If your skin leans toward oily, this is a fail-safe option that won’t slip off slick skin. Normally, our tester always needs to set her concealer with a powder, but this long-lasting formula negated any need for extra security.

Coverage Level: Medium | Finish: Radiant | Shades: 30 | Size: 0.25 oz | Key Ingredients: Niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, vitamin C

Tiffany, tester with combination skin: “The product is very pigmented and has amazing full coverage. You can also build it up as much as you would like. It certainly covered and brightened up my eyes.”

Why We Love It: I’m super eager to give the Colourpop concealer a go after our tester reported she camouflaged her dark circles with one drop of it. Normally, she needs several layers of concealer and foundation to disguise discoloration, which usually leads to a dull, cakey appearance. However, the Colourpop formula had a breathable feel that gave her skin a much-needed brightness boost. She also loved how this formula has a slight tackiness that kept it in place (a.k.a. no dark circles peering through by the end of the day).

Who It’s For: Thanks to thoughtful ingredients like hyaluronic acid and coconut water, this concealer provides a wash of hydration to dry skin users who typically see their concealer flake away like old paint.

Coverage Level: Full | Finish: Natural | Shades: 30 | Size: 0.3 oz | Key Ingredients: Hyaluronic acid, coconut water

Michelle, tester with combination skin: “My under-eyes appeared more radiant and bright without it feeling heavy or uncomfortable on my skin. The product stays put on the skin and provides great coverage to dark circles.”

Why We Love It: Fenty Beauty always wins Gold in the sport of shade matching, and this concealer would get high scores at the makeup Olympics. Until trying the Fenty Retouch concealer, our tester always ended up with shades that garishly contrasted against her pale skin. Beyond finally finding a perfect shade match, she loved how the concealer dried quickly on her skin and never transferred. Although the thicker formula requires more blending, the long rectangle-shaped applicator helped her apply it even coats quickly.

Who It’s For: While matte finishes like this one are typically better for oily skin, our tester, who has a drier complexion, actually preferred how it evened out the texture under her eyes.

Coverage Level: Full | Finish: Matte | Shades: 50 | Size: 0.27 oz | Key Ingredients: Green tea extracts

Katie, tester with dry combination skin: “When I went to use a product from another brand, it wasn't light enough for how pale I am, but Fenty had quite the range of pale shades. I could hold off from using the whitest of the pale shades, which is rare with under-eye concealer products I've tried before.”

Why We Love It: I’ve been an Ilia concealer fan since my cousin told me her fellow ICU nurses love how the high-coverage formula keeps their skin hydrated in the frigid and drying hospital temperatures. Our tester also confirms it made her “super dry skin” look dewy, radiant, and bright enough to light up the dark circles she frequently brings into the office. Plus, she noticed a difference from the included skin care ingredients. Aloe leaf, for instance, helped soothe redness and decrease puffiness around the eyes, while vitamin C mitigated her dull texture.

Who It’s For: Minimal makeup wearers or sensitive skin warriors who prefer not to pile on products will appreciate how this ultrathin formula provides impressive coverage with three tiny dots. The applicator picks up just the right amount of product, and the formula blends easily, making the application much more seamless.

Coverage Level: Medium | Finish: Satin | Shades: 20 | Size: 0.16 oz | Key Ingredients: Aloe leaf, vitamin C

Lee, tester with dry, sensitive skin: “My under-eye actually felt hydrated, which impressed me because my skin is quite dry…My under-eyes looked hydrated and almost glowy…I like how radiant the finish is and how it matches the dewy look I wear daily.”

Why We Love It: Call it the Mary Poppins’s bag of concealer because this creamy product crams a lot into its lightweight formula. Caffeine and peptides minimize swelling, and humectants such as hyaluronic acid moisturize flakier areas. Our tester was shocked at how such a creamy formula could make her skin feel completely bare and remain that way as she built up layers of coverage.

Who It’s For: Even our busiest bees will find this concealer takes no time to apply. It swipes on easily without creasing or settling into fine lines and takes a second to blend in with your fingertips. One word of advice: try dabbing a bit of the concealer on the back of your hand and applying it with a separate brush because the applicator picks up more product than you’ll likely need.

Coverage Level: Medium | Finish: Radiant | Shades: 38 | Size: 0.2 oz | Key Ingredients: Caffeine, pink algae extract, hyaluronic acid, peptides

Camille, tester with combination skin: “The concealer is lightweight enough to be worn on days when it is really hot but creamy enough that it provides more coverage than a typical moisturizer or SPF product. The texture is especially great for more intense looks, where I plan to build on it; it is so nice that it doesn't feel heavy at the start.”

Why We Love It: Whether you have sensitive skin or eyes, the Lancôme Teint Idole allows you to get up close and personal without causing a reaction from either. Our tester says she applied the thin, super-spreadable formula in record time, effectively staving off a heavy, cakey finish. Despite its lightweight feel, it camouflaged our tester’s dark circles in one coat.

Who It’s For: This concealer has nonirritating ingredients, including hyaluronic acid and ceramides, that are friendly to anyone living with dryness and sensitive skin.

Coverage Level: Medium | Finish: Natural | Shades: 12 | Size: 0.34 oz | Key Ingredients: Hyaluronic acid, ceramides, peptides

Amelia, tester with dry, combination skin: “I like how thin the product is, especially because I have sensitive skin, so I try to avoid putting on a lot of makeup. Despite its thinner texture, it gave me a perfect amount of coverage.”

Why We Love It: Where many formulas creep into crevices and sit there, the NYX Bare With Me concealer glossed over our tester’s fine lines, hydrating dryness and minimizing textured skin. Additionally, she didn’t need to set the long-wearing formula with a powder, which can further draw attention to the texture around mature skin. The pump-style tool made distributing the perfect amount of product easier, but it would be hard to overdo this fluid formula. Its lightweight formula builds like thin paper sheets on top of each other.

Who It’s For: This concealer’s natural finish strikes the perfect balance between dewy and dry for those with true combination skin.

Coverage Level: Medium | Finish: Natural | Shades: 17 | Size: 0.32 oz | Key Ingredients: Tremella mushroom, centella asiatica extract, green tea

Sunita, tester with combination skin: “It did not settle into any fine lines or wrinkles, and I did not feel the need to add a powder to set it. The concealer blends well without a heavy dry texture, giving it a skin-like finish.”