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When Westman Atelier announces a new drop, we all listen. But when Gucci Westman shares exactly how to use the product in question, that’s when you really want to pay attention. My note-taking pencil at the ready, I reached out to the acclaimed makeup artist’s team to understand more about the Westman Atelier concealer that the beloved beauty brand had just debuted.
As a fan of anything Gucci Westman creates, I’ve come to learn that each product’s wear is enhanced not only by thoughtful ingredient compositions but by one’s deft, and often airy application—one that leaves skin looking like skin, while managing to address all your complexion qualms. Fine lines and wrinkles are less visible. Blemishes have faded. Pores are minimized. One might think that applying the new Westman atelier concealer is as simple as swiping it on until dark circles are erased, but turns out; there s a true methodology to it. Your desired finish lies in one simple step: skin prep.
“The layering of the proper skin care underneath is important,” she tells Vogue. “The skin-care prep that you do in advance of concealer helps prepare the skin.” Her personal routine involves layering Westman Atelier’s Skin Activator—a skin barrier replenishing and fine line-smoothing serum—and Supreme C—a 100% pure vitamin C serum, which both effectively prime her skin for makeup to follow. Settling the concealer or foundation first debate, Westman next applies her acclaimed Complexion Drops. With its featherweight tint blended in with a brush, it’s time for concealer—applied with precision exactly where you need it.
For Westman, the concealer you choose matters just as much as skin prep. “You want to make sure it’s not too liquid-y and make sure it self-sets so that you don’t need excessive amounts of powder,” she instructs. “You want to trust that it’s not going to sit in your pores or fine lines and you want the shades to be good and want to fix texture as much as possible.”
Enter: the Vital Skincare Concealer. As Westman describes, a leading feature of her label s latest launch is its self-setting capabilities via soft-focus pigments that deliver a gorgeous blur to the skin—veiling pores and fine lines without settling into them. This blurring feature was her number one priority in making a concealer. “I am always concerned about pores and I know that [texture] is more of a concern for mature skin,” she continues. This sinks into skin like a face moisturizer, eye cream, or primer would so that “The skin still feels alive without feeling like it’s being masked.”
It’s a factor that s gotten me hooked on the formula since its launch several weeks ago. The doe foot applicator is just the right size to spot conceal zits, dark spots, or swipe along the under-eye. Blend with your fingers or a tiny, dense makeup brush. Incredibly creamy, this delivers buildable, medium to full coverage for a sort of airbrushed finish that diminishes the need for setting powder. That s not to say you cannot apply powder afterwards to lock in your look—Westman and I both do, but it s nice knowing you have the option. She applies a “delicate”, featherweight dusting of the Vital Pressed Powder which she says “absorbs excess oil without removing the skin’s pleasing radiance—it’s almost like a filter.”
Blurring aside, I’m fond of the concealer’s shade range. 16 in total, shade T4 is my perfect hue—expertly matching my neutral undertones. T2, however, offers a warm, golden undertone great for illuminating and correcting under-eye pigmentation. Dark circles are also tackled via its potent blend of skin-care ingredients: hyaluronic acid, peptides, coffee leaf extract, plus licorice and gentian root which come together to brighten, depuff, hydrate, and soothe all skin types with consistent use.
“If I was blindfolded and compared it to some of my favorite concealers of all time, I would choose this one without knowing all of these factors just because of the performance and instant dry down and the ease of the application,” Westman admits. It’s one of those concealers that’s hard not to love—one of the best I’ve ever tested—delivering a skin-like, beauty filter IRL blur across all skin types. We’re always impressed by a Westman Atelier launch but this one has managed to set the bar even higher.
