Quiet Concealing — The Best New Concealer to buy for 2023 is Chanel's Sublimage Concealing Eye Care

This is the year to invest in better makeup and skincare. We tell ourselves that every beginning of a new year. This 2023, I’ve decided it’s going to be concealer. For years I’ve been hooked on Clé de Peau Beauté’s stick concealer — and I still bring it out with me because of its convenient form. But here’s the problem I’ve never talked about before; as my skin ages, it gets drier and fine lines take hold of my forehead and under my eyes. My dark rings and their puffiness have also become more pronounced and I’ve reached the age where more sleep can’t correct them. CPB’s concealer used to do the trick beautifully, but not so much in recent years. The thing about its cream stick form factor, is that it starts to get dry over time, especially if you only use a little bit of it each time and it takes forever to finish one stick. It loses its creaminess over the months and I find myself having to warm it up longer between my fingers to “activate” it again. It’s also a rich formula, which now isn’t sitting so well under my eyes and their newfound lines. God bless them, though; I’ve loved this concealer to death and have never spoken badly of it.

Then late last year, Chanel quietly came along with their first concealer under their luxurious Sublimage line of skincare, called the Radiance-Generating Concealing Eye Care. It’s a little pot of cream with the brand’s signature logo (in gold, of course) on the cap, and both applicator and mini brush included.

Above: Chanel Sublimage Le Correcteur Yeux Radiance-Generating Concealing Eye Care, $160 (10g).

The brush is extremely cute, with a soft, rounded head that resembles the style of the larger face brush that comes with the Sublimage liquid foundation.

Above: The mini brush and spatula that comes in the box.

If you’re already a user of Chanel foundations, this concealer follows the same shade names and numbers as the foundations, so you can easily buy this off Chanel’s online store without needing to visit the counter for a colour swatch. I use shade 20 – Beige across all my Chanel base makeup products, and this concealer is no different; the shade 20 matches my skin tone perfectly.

Above: The gorgeous little pot of cream concealer in shade 20 – beige.

The texture of this product is very creamy and feels lightweight, but not sheer. It blends so easily on skin, melting and disappearing once patted in. It also feels like nothing; which is precisely what makeup should feel like. Very little product is needed for one application across both eyes, and anywhere else on the face that needs concealing. It effectively lightened my dark eyebags, and was excellent at camouflaging redness and sun spots. When I was done, my skin actually did look more even and refreshed.

Above: the texture of the concealer is creamy and lightweight, and very little product is needed for one application.

And because this makeup is under Chanel’s prestigious Sublimage line, it has skincare properties that will improve skin over time. Just one application around my eye area already makes the delicate skin there feel more hydrated. I also spy the brand’s proprietary Vanilla Planifolia Fruit Water in the list of ingredients, and this essence is what regenerates and repairs skin. For all these reasons, I would recommend this makeup/skincare hybrid as the first product you should buy this new year.