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Concealer

Concealer and smile lines

A smile line is a fold, not a shadow. Filling it with concealer is the most common way to make it more obvious.

See the picksHow we choose
A black and white close-up of a smiling senior woman's face with her eyes closed

Short answer

The Trinny London Eye BFF is the pick, because a serum-textured concealer used in the smallest amount is the only kind that will not pack into a fold. But the honest answer first: most smile lines look worse with concealer in them, not better. A thin flexible base and nothing in the crease beats any concealer.

By Brijon M. · Last updated October 5, 2026

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Our picks at a glance

Our picks at a glance, ranked. Select a row to read that product's full write-up.
#ProductBest forPrice
1
Cosmetic products arranged in a simple display in neutral tones

Trinny London Eye BFF Serum Concealer

The pick because it is the thinnest texture here.

Best overall
Check price on Amazon — Trinny London Eye BFF Serum Concealer

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2
Cosmetic products arranged in a simple display in neutral tones

L'Oréal Paris True Match Radiant Serum Concealer

A fluid serum concealer at a drugstore price, which makes it the cheapest way to get the thin texture this job needs.

Best budget pick
Check price on Amazon — L'Oréal Paris True Match Radiant Serum Concealer

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3
Cosmetic products arranged in a simple display in neutral tones

e.l.f. Cosmetics Hydrating Camo Concealer

Here for the correct use of concealer on this page: evening the tone of the skin *around* the smile line rather than filling it.

Best for the area around the fold
Check price on Amazon — e.l.f. Cosmetics Hydrating Camo Concealer

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4
Cosmetic products arranged in a simple display in neutral tones

Clinique Even Better All-Over Concealer + Eraser

Light-to-medium coverage with a hydrating natural finish is the safest combination near a moving fold, because a natural finish is the one that does not add either shine or flatness to a shadow — both of which make it more noticeable.

Best for a natural finish
Check price on Amazon — Clinique Even Better All-Over Concealer + Eraser

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5
A plain white cosmetic jar photographed on a neutral studio background

Hourglass Veil Translucent Setting Powder

If any product is going near the fold it has to be set, or speaking will move it within the hour.

Best for setting it, carefully
Check price on Amazon — Hourglass Veil Translucent Setting Powder

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Prices live on Amazon and change constantly, so this site does not print a number it cannot verify. Every button goes to the current listing.

Why this is hard over 50

This search gets made by a lot of people who are about to make their smile lines more visible, so it is worth being direct about the mechanics before recommending anything.

A smile line is a fold, not a shadow. The under-eye problem that concealer was invented for is a color problem: the skin is thin, the vessels beneath show through, and a lighter opaque product cancels the color. A nasolabial fold is structural — a crease in thicker, more mobile skin created by the muscles that move your mouth. What you see is not pigment. It is a shadow cast by a groove.

Which is why lightening it backfires. Put a lighter product into a groove and you have highlighted the groove. Light draws the eye; the fold becomes the first thing anyone looks at. Half the people who conceal a smile line are doing it with a brightening under-eye concealer, which is the single worst product for the job because brightening is exactly the property you do not want here.

And then it creases, because that skin moves constantly. The under-eye moves when you blink and smile. The area beside your mouth moves every time you speak, eat, drink or laugh — hundreds of times an hour. Any product sitting in that crease will be worked out of it, and within an hour it is a visible line of concealer rather than a line.

So what actually helps? Three things, in order. First, hydration: a well-hydrated fold is a shallower fold, and this makes more difference in a morning than any product choice. Second, the thinnest possible base carried across the area rather than into it — flexible, slightly luminous, and no more than one layer. Third, if you are going to use concealer nearby, use it *around* the fold to even the surrounding tone, never *in* it, and use a shade that matches rather than brightens. The concealer creasing guide covers the technique in detail, and the smile-line creasing guide covers this specific fold.

The picks in full

Cosmetic products arranged in a simple display in neutral tones
Best overall

Trinny London Eye BFF Serum Concealer

concealer · Premium price band

A serum-textured concealer with light-to-medium coverage, formulated with vitamin C and hyaluronic acid.

The pick because it is the thinnest texture here. A serum-textured concealer with light-to-medium coverage can be applied in a quantity small enough not to pack, which is the only requirement that genuinely matters around the mouth — every other property is secondary to not putting a mass of product into a moving crease. The hyaluronic acid in the formula also works in the direction you want, since hydration is the first lever on fold depth. The wide stackable pot is easier to grip than a slim pen.

How it handles

Wide stackable pot with a doe-foot wand — easier to grip than a slim pen.

What to know

Premium price, light-to-medium coverage, and it is marketed for the eye area — using it beside the mouth is us applying it to a different problem than the brand intends. Set it with the faintest touch of powder or it will move.

Check price on Amazon — Trinny London Eye BFF Serum Concealer

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Cosmetic products arranged in a simple display in neutral tones
Best budget pick

L'Oréal Paris True Match Radiant Serum Concealer

concealer · Drugstore price band

A fluid serum concealer with light-to-medium coverage and a dewy finish.

A fluid serum concealer at a drugstore price, which makes it the cheapest way to get the thin texture this job needs. The dewy finish is a genuine advantage here rather than a compromise: a dewy surface beside the mouth keeps light moving across the area instead of letting the shadow read as a hard edge. Use a fraction of what the oversized applicator picks up.

How it handles

Screw-cap tube with an oversized applicator.

What to know

The oversized applicator dispenses more than you want for this, so wipe most of it off on the back of your hand first. A dewy finish on an oily nose-to-mouth area needs a light set.

Check price on Amazon — L'Oréal Paris True Match Radiant Serum Concealer

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Cosmetic products arranged in a simple display in neutral tones
Best for the area around the fold

e.l.f. Cosmetics Hydrating Camo Concealer

concealer · Drugstore price band

A hydrating medium-coverage concealer with a satin finish and an unusually large doe-foot applicator.

Here for the correct use of concealer on this page: evening the tone of the skin *around* the smile line rather than filling it. Redness and unevenness beside the nose and above the lip make the fold read deeper by contrast, and a hydrating satin medium-coverage concealer tapped over those areas reduces the contrast for a few dollars. The hydrating formula also will not dry out and emphasize the crease edge.

How it handles

Wide doe-foot on a screw cap. The oversized applicator covers more ground per stroke, so there is less blending to do.

What to know

Medium coverage is more than you want in the fold itself, so keep it outside the crease. The satin finish moves without a light set.

Check price on Amazon — e.l.f. Cosmetics Hydrating Camo Concealer

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Cosmetic products arranged in a simple display in neutral tones
Best for a natural finish

Clinique Even Better All-Over Concealer + Eraser

concealer · Mid price band

A light-to-medium concealer with a hydrating, natural finish.

Light-to-medium coverage with a hydrating natural finish is the safest combination near a moving fold, because a natural finish is the one that does not add either shine or flatness to a shadow — both of which make it more noticeable. The cushion applicator on a click pen also deposits product in a dab rather than a stroke, which is the motion you want here.

How it handles

Click-pen with a cushion applicator.

What to know

The click mechanism needs a firm thumb press, which is awkward with sore joints. Light-to-medium coverage will not hide anything substantial.

Check price on Amazon — Clinique Even Better All-Over Concealer + Eraser

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A plain white cosmetic jar photographed on a neutral studio background
Best for setting it, carefully

Hourglass Veil Translucent Setting Powder

setting powder · Premium price band

A very finely milled translucent powder with a low-weight, soft-focus finish.

If any product is going near the fold it has to be set, or speaking will move it within the hour. The reason to use something this finely milled and low-weight is that a heavy powder in a crease produces exactly the dry, caked line you were trying to avoid. The method matters more than the product: a trace amount on a small brush, pressed, not swept.

How it handles

Jar with a sifter.

What to know

Premium price for a tiny application. Overdone, powder is the fastest way to make a smile line look like a dried-out trench. The sifter jar needs two hands.

Check price on Amazon — Hourglass Veil Translucent Setting Powder

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How to handle a smile line with makeup

Hydrate properly first and wait. Moisturizer, two full minutes. A hydrated fold is a shallower fold, and this step does more than any of the products below.

Stretch the area gently and look. If the line is barely visible when the skin is stretched, it is a fold rather than pigment — which means product in it will not help. If there is still a darker band when stretched, there is some pigment and a matching-shade concealer tapped on sparingly is justified.

Use a matching shade, never a brightening one. Brightening a groove highlights it. This is the most common mistake on this specific line.

Work around the fold, not into it. Even the tone on either side so the crease has less contrast to read against. Leave the crease itself as bare as you can.

One layer, pressed with a damp sponge. No building, no second pass. If you can see product sitting in the line, you have used too much — press a clean damp sponge over it to lift the excess.

Set with a trace of powder and then genuinely stop. The area around the mouth is the single most over-worked part of a mature face in makeup, and under-doing it almost always photographs better.

What we have and haven't established

The core argument is geometric and verifiable in a mirror: a nasolabial fold produces a shadow because of its shape, lighter product placed in a groove increases contrast at the groove, and skin that moves several hundred times an hour will not keep product in a crease. The stretch test above lets you check for yourself whether your line is structural or pigmented.

What we have not done is trial these products on smile lines, measure how long each stays put, or photograph the results. Textures, coverage levels, finishes and packaging come from the manufacturer and retailer listings cited below. The Trinny and Clinique products are sold for the eye area; using them beside the mouth is our application of a thin texture to a different problem, not a manufacturer recommendation.

Nothing here reduces a fold. Makeup changes how light falls across it for a few hours. Anything claiming structural change to a nasolabial fold is making a medical claim and this site does not make those.

What we'd skip

Brightening or illuminating concealer in the fold. Highlighting a groove is the opposite of what you want, and it is the most common version of this mistake.

Full-coverage longwear concealer around the mouth. It is the thickest, most rigid option available, applied to the most mobile part of the face.

Filling the line as a technique. Smile lines are not pores and concealer is not a filler. Product packed into a moving crease comes out of it looking like product.

Heavy powder over the area. It dries the crease edge and turns a soft shadow into a hard dry line.

A second layer, ever. If one thin layer did not do it, two will look worse rather than better.

Questions people ask

Should you put concealer in smile lines?

Generally no. A smile line is a shadow cast by a fold, not a color problem, so lighter product placed in it highlights the groove. Even the tone around it instead, and keep the crease itself as bare as possible.

Why does my concealer make my smile lines look worse?

Two reasons. It is probably a brightening shade, which draws the eye to the groove, and the area moves constantly as you speak, which works the product out of the crease into a visible line within the hour.

What is the best way to make smile lines less noticeable?

Hydrate well and wait before makeup, use the thinnest possible base in one layer, keep brightening products away from the fold, and even the tone on either side so the shadow has less contrast to read against.

Does setting powder help smile lines?

A trace of a very finely milled powder stops whatever is there from moving. Any more than a trace dries the crease edge and makes the line look deeper, which is why most people should use less than they do.

Is a dewy or matte finish better around the mouth?

Dewy or natural. A matte finish flattens the area so the shadow reads as a hard edge, while a slight sheen keeps light moving across the fold and softens it.

Where this comes from

How this page was put together. Picks are chosen by reading formulas, ingredient lists, packaging and dispensing design, and the reported experience of people with mature skin. Primer & Poise does not operate a laboratory, does not run a tester panel, and does not claim professional cosmetology, esthetics or medical credentials. Where a figure or a claim could not be verified, this page says so instead of filling the gap. Read the full selection method.

Sources

Read next

Back to concealer for mature skin, or start from makeup for mature skin.