How Concealers Became The Magic Wands Of Makeup

Sometimes, blemishes can’t be avoided. And for any Skinlover, this means that always looking your best gets a little more complicated. We all have our off days, but that doesn’t mean the fab needs to stop there! There’s plenty of stuff we can use to make sure we’re at our most beautiful, but one thing stands head and shoulders above the rest.

We’re talking about concealers: that magical stick in every makeup bag that can make all those nasty blemishes fly away. Here’s a couple of interesting things that you may not have known about concealers.

It was known as camouflage makeup

Before the term “concealer” was coined, there were several brands of makeup that were being used to hide blemishes such as birth defects, scars and suntans. Coming in either cream or liquid forms, the earliest concealers were pasty, caked on and functioned more like thin masks rather than the subtle streaks we know today. Unfortunately, the earliest concealers limited their market by just advertising them as “skin concealers” – what a wasted opportunity!

Thank your TV

It wasn’t until the era of TV and video media that concealers started to become more refined and turned into the portable wands we know. “Stick concealers” were created after one of the biggest backers in cosmetics around the 1950’s – the Charles Antell company – capitalised on the huge funds generated from television advertisements to promote their product: The Touch-Up Stik.

The decision to partner with TV was obvious – it was the hip new thing, everyone was into it, and now they had the burden of proof taken care of. “As seen on TV!” became the new slogan of cosmetics – and the sales of concealers jumped up from thousands to millions.

Helping you look your best (and younger)

One of the biggest leaps that concealer manufacturers made was marketing the concealer as more than just a tool to hide blemishes – it became something that could actually make your face look younger. For the earliest television hosts, that meant always looking fresh underneath the hot stage lights and stuffy clothes, or recovering from a long and late shoot the day before.

As ice cream socials and soirees became increasingly popular around this time period, stick concealers became the fashionable accessory carried in bags and purses – allowing anyone to look their best whenever, wherever.

For the guys

Surprisingly enough, concealer wasn’t considered as an exclusively female item back then – males got to use it quite a lot, too. Commonly seen on disfigured or scarred veteran fighters or duelists, the concealer came into more prominence with the advent of male television hosts, who often had to look fresh even in the middle of the program. After all, who’s to say that being fabulous is only for the ladies?

While concealers are more or less straightforward in terms of their applications, there’s no denying that they’ve come a long way since then. There are now concealers for all skin types and skin tones, and some that even treat your skin and provide additional benefits, like Skin O2’s Perfect Skin Concealer and Highlighter.

So there you have it, Skinlovers- the history of that small stick in your purse that helps you look fab when you need it the most. You can check out other products like it here, or check in with us for more advice and history about all your favorite makeup needs.