On 6 October 1883, the stakeholders of the Air Brush Manufacturing Company met and formally adopted the name Air Brush for a new tool. The name is credited to Phoebe Walkup, whose husband Liberty, of Mt. Morris, Illinois, had patented the device. Some sources date the airbrush later, to 1893, so treat the exact day loosely. What matters is what came next: a word for a fine mist of pigment that would eventually move from paper and photographs onto faces.

The Hourglass concealer is a good example of that migration, and I think it earns the word more honestly than most. Hourglass was founded in 2004 by Carisa Janes, who trained at Parsons and began at Urban Decay in 1996, and who set out to bring active ingredients, modern design and real function into makeup. Unilever bought the company in 2017, and Janes remains its CEO. Its concealer is called Vanish Airbrush, and the brand says it is a weightless liquid with full, undetectable coverage, up to 16 hours of wear and a crease-resistant finish. The formula includes squalane and Centella asiatica extract.

The trick is to treat the first grid as a base, not just a bottle. Vanish Airbrush is the concealer. The Vanish Seamless Finish Foundation Stick is the foundation that shares its name, and Ambient Soft Glow Foundation is the softer, lit-from-within alternative. Veil Translucent Setting Powder, the talc-free one, locks it in, while Ambient Lighting Powder and Ambient Strobe Lighting Powder finish with a glow. The Illusion Priming Moisturizer goes on first, and the Vanish Seamless Finish Concealer Brush is the tool I would use to blend a small amount at a time.

Matching a shade to your depth. Vanish Airbrush Full Coverage Longwear Concealer is sold in 32 shades, and each name carries a depth number. Crème 1.5 is fair with a cool pink undertone, Fawn 4.5 is light medium and warm golden, Dune 7.5 is medium and warm golden, and Teak 9.5 is deep and neutral. If you sit between two numbers, take the one that matches your undertone, since the tone words do more work than the digit.

 

Vanish Airbrush. Vanish Airbrush is the Hourglass concealer most people mean. Its Sephora page shows about 1.1 million loves and 4.4 thousand reviews, and customers rate it highly for coverage, everyday wear and no creasing. The brand also sells a mini, which is handy for testing a shade before committing to the full 6 mL tube.

 

Reading the shade names. Every shade pairs a name with a number and a short description, such as Cotton 2 (fair, warm golden) or Sepia 5 (light medium, neutral). Cool Pink and Cool Rosy shades suit skin that flushes easily, Warm Golden and Warm Peach suit skin that tans, and Neutral sits in between. Swatch on your jaw in daylight and wait a minute, because liquid concealer settles a shade as it dries.

Here is a habit worth borrowing: put concealer on after foundation, and use less than you think. Two small dots are usually enough. Add more only where you actually need it.

The creamy family is big. Charlotte Tilbury's Airbrush Flawless is a crease-proof long-wear blur concealer, Bobbi Brown's Skin Cream Concealer Stick is the stick version, and Jillian Dempsey's Spot Stick is small and precise, made for a blemish rather than a whole face. Glossier's Stretch Concealer promises dewy, buildable coverage, and Makeup by Mario's SurrealSkin Awakening Concealer is another soft option. Dior's Backstage Concealer brings a professional feel to the makeup bag, Marc Jacobs' Nude Awakening is a hydrating medium-coverage concealer, and Tower 28's Swipe Serum Concealer is the lightest of the group.

A pairing I like: a fuller-coverage liquid on the areas you want smoothed, and a stick or serum concealer for a spot or two. Two textures cover more ground than one, and you keep the heavy stuff away from the places where it would settle.

What I would skip: a very full-coverage concealer on a dry day without a moisturizer under it. It will show every line.

One rule for dark circles: choose a shade that matches your skin, not a shade that goes lighter, and only brighten the inner corner. Too pale and it looks like a mask.

Kosas Revealer is the super creamy, brightening one, and NYX's Wonder Snatch is a 24-hour lifting and brightening concealer. Sisley Paris' Phyto-Cernes Eclat is made for the eye area, as the name says. Sarah Creal's Face Flex has caffeine, a favorite ingredient of the under-eye world. Make Up For Ever's HD Skin Smooth & Blur is an undetectable under-eye concealer, tarte's maracuja concealer is a full-coverage, creaseless one, and LYS Beauty's Bright Start is creamy and buildable. Iris&Romeo's Best Skin Days is billed as a brightening dark-spot concealer.

A pairing I like: a thin layer of a brightening concealer under the eye, then a fuller, matching concealer around the edges. The two layers together look much better than one thick coat.

What I would skip: a heavy under-eye concealer on a day you plan to be in strong sunlight. Go light, set it lightly too, and check your face in a window before you leave the house, since daylight tells the truth.

Try this: press powder on with a small, damp sponge or a soft brush, and only where your concealer tends to move, usually under the eyes and around the nose. Everything else can stay skin.

Huda Beauty's Easy Bake is the classic baking powder, and ONE/SIZE's Ultimate Blurring Setting Powder is the blurring one. Laura Mercier's Ultra-Blur is a talc-free translucent loose powder. Fenty Beauty's Bright Fix is a brightening powder that also sets, and Milk Makeup's Pore Eclipse is a matte talc-free option. Prada's Reset is refillable, caliray's Magic Hour is a 16-hour blurring loose powder, and Natasha Denona's HY-GLAM is the glam one of the group.

A pairing I like: a plain powder on the T-zone and a luminous one on the cheekbones. The Hourglass Veil and Ambient powders from the first grid do that job inside one brand.

What I would skip: baking under the eyes for an hour before you go out. It works well on a night out and looks heavy at a desk, so match the method to the occasion, and keep a clean sponge in your bag to lift any excess at lunchtime.

I think the best Hourglass concealer story is about restraint. Buy Vanish Airbrush, use two small dots, blend it with the brush, and add a powder only where you need one. That is the whole airbrush idea, done on skin.

Phoebe Walkup gave a tool its name in 1883. Nobody needs a heavy hand to look awake. A small amount, well blended, is the difference between a face that looks finished and a face that looks decorated. Start there today, and let the airbrush do the rest of the talking.

If you want a lighter feel under the eyes, I also wrote about water based concealer, with water listed first on every label.