You may or may not know that I am an ex-acne sufferer, and am currently plagued by the remnants of scars and pigment on my skin. I’m not too bothered by them, but it’s nice to go out not looking like I could be suffering from measles so I’m on the constant hunt for the perfect cover up.
I was recommended Vichy Dermablend, they specialise in camouflage makeup for covering the multitude of sins hiding in your skin. I popped into Boots to get my match (Opal 15) before buying both the corrector stick concealer (£12.75 for 4.5g) and the compact crème foundation (£19.50 for 9.5g) in the French pharmacy sale on Escentual. Around the same time, I got offered to try some makeup from Monu, and picked their JVG camouflage cream concealer*. At only £6.95 for 2.5g, this concealer is considerably less money to pay out, so I was interested to see how they compared. I picked Honey Beige, taking a stab in the dark as always with online products!
I’ll start with Vichy. The packaging is nothing special, black and simple. Minimalistic, I would say. The first thing I actually noticed is that, despite being the same shade, the corrector stick is a completely different colour to the compact crème! The stick is a more beige coloured, and the crème is more sandy coloured. The stick is a good match for my skin so no complaints there, but the crème is a bit too light and makes me look a bit too pale, so I’ve taken to blending it out and doing a quick layer of sheer foundation over.
They do both a pretty good job of covering my scars, although some of the darker pigment comes through, the light marks are covered quite well. The concealer is a creamy consistency, and melts in the skin pretty well. The crème foundation is a bit more chalky and takes a bit of work to work into your skin. The first time I tried it, it was too drying and just looked patchy and awful and not remotely natural! I made sure I did a thorough exfoliation, serum and heavy moisturise the night before and a re-moisturise in the morning, and that made it go on a lot smoother. I definitely wouldn’t recommend this if you had dry skin!
I lost my Vichy stick concealer before I had a chance to take pictures, so you’ll have to do without for that one I’m afraid.
The Monu camouflage cream magnet concealer is only a 2g, and is designed to be stored inside one of the JVG magnet palettes, which is quite good if you have a few of their products and don’t want them rattling around. The packaging isn’t particularly nice, and the lid is a little bit stiff to get off at first. I picked honey beige, but it turned out to be too dark for my skin, which is annoying but often a consequence of online beauty shopping. I’d suggest maybe going a shade lighter than what you think you are.
I’ve been applying this with a makeup sponge, and it is a similar texture to the Vichy compact crème. It is slightly less drying though, and blends in to my skin texture a lot easier. Again, it does a pretty good job of covering any marks on my skin, with the darker few still peeking out but most of them covered.
I honestly don’t think there is a huge quality difference between the Vichy compact crème and the Monu camouflage cream concealer. Neither completely covered my scars, but both did quite a good job. I personally found the consistency of the Monu camouflage cream less chalky on my skin. The Vichy Dermablend corrector stick concealer is my favourite, just because it is a lot easier to apply when it’s in stick form. None of the products are really capable of covering my skin on their own, although when applied with each other and foundation, they do a decent job.
I won’t be buying the Vichy compact crème again. If I’m paying £20 for a foundation, specifically a camouflage foundation, I don’t want any hint of spot or scar coming through. I also don’t think I will be buying the Vichy corrector stick again, it is quite good but I think I will be able to find something better for a similar price. I probably will buy the Monu again (albeit in a lighter shade) as £6.95 is around your average drugstore concealer price, and it does a better job of covering my scars than any drug store concealer I’ve tried.
I am still on the hunt for a perfect foundation and concealer! What do you use for your heavy coverage days?
