Stroke of Beauty Skin Finish Concealer Review & Swatches
Stroke of Beauty Skin Finish Concealer is a new concealer that recently launched on QVC. I immediately wanted to try this out as Stroke of Beauty is actually a new brand founded by Holly Mordini who was Smashbox Cosmetics Global Artist for the past 15 years. Holly’s demo on QVC several years ago convinced me to try Smashbox’s old flat top liner brush. And it was life changing as I learned how to apply eyeliner with this brush.
Needless to say I always enjoyed when Holly presented on QVC as she always made application such a snap. I was quite excited to see her bringing out her own line of cosmetics out and was eager to try them so of course, as a concealer junkie, I started with her concealer.
As of now Stroke of Beauty is in its infancy stage so there aren’t color cosmetics available in the collection but I imagine given time that will change. Upon getting the concealer I think the thing that stood out the most for me was how similar the font styling and box was to Smashbox Cosmetics! Don’t you get a little Smashbox vibe going on here or is that only me?
The box pays home to a full size concealer (0.11) as well as a brush for application. The price was right at $26 plus $3 bucks for shipping so I ended up hauling the medium shade. You’ll also get some great concealing tips and tricks for where to apply the conceal and how to blend it out on the inside flap of the box.
The concealer formula is very appealing as it promises a bare skin or “uncovered skin” finish with the promise to cover dark circles, hyperpigmentation, etc…with sheer to medium coverage finish. The emollient formula promises a light, airy fluid that flexes so it moves with your skin and doesn’t cake or crease under eyes.
I’m all about bare skin anything lately so I was excited to check this product out. It is indeed very emollient but that doesn’t hinder the blending process. It blends very easily under my finely lined, drier eyes without an issue. The brush is soft with a pointed head that allows precise application of the concealer under and in the inner corners of eyes. The brush is very well made with soft, shed-free bristles. I swipe on with the brush and I gently blend and pat into place with my finger! The formula is great for drier eyes as it feels lightly hydrating and doesn’t drag or tug during the blending.
This brightens up the eye area beautifully. Medium looked a little too dark to me but the shade seems to go down at least one full shade after I applied it. It has a very nice brightening effect under my eyes however, that’s the extent of the pros on this formula. It sheers out considerably once applied and no matter how much I build I felt like it offered very little coverage. So although it brightened up the eye area wonderfully it didn’t technically conceal anything. My puffiness, finer lines, and the minor darkness under my eyes was still very visible once I blended. The formula also falls into my finer lines and creases rather badly within an hour of application.
The wear proves fair enough at around six hours (although I’d like at least eight hours of wear ideally from my concealer) but within that first hour of wear the creasing starts and I had to gently pat the concealer back into place every hour or two as it migrated into my finer lines.
I think the brightening is very nice here but the lack of pigmentation and the fact this creases so badly makes it a no go for me! I know Stroke of Beauty has a foundation upcoming as well and I look forward to checking it out in the hopes the formula proves better than the concealer.
Stroke of Beauty Skin Finish Concealer is available now at QVC.com.
Tried it?
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