By Marianne Mychaskiw, InStyle
June 29, 2017

This article originally appeared on 

When I think about it, Benefit's Boi-ing Concealer is the longest and most stable relationship I've ever had.

Our torrid love affair began back when I was in college. I was a freshman, who probably spent too much time watching YouTube makeup tutorials which subsequently led to me wearing way too much eye makeup, and I was very non-committal when it came to my complexion products. At least five different concealers littered the desk I had repurposed as a vanity (my grades weren't super great), and this was on a college budget, mind you. It was a losing battle—either the color matched my skin tone, but I hated the coverage, or vice-versa. I'd have to mix a few different types together in order to get what I wanted, until my life was changed by a Sephora associate.

"You don't need this much makeup," she told me as she wiped away the excess. "Your skin is actually not bad." I vividly remember her unscrewing the cap of the black-lined plastic case, dabbing a makeup sponge into the pan, then blending it over my face. "That's really all you need," she told me as she applied the cream under my eyes, around my nose, and over a spot near my chin. She was right—the concealer basically looked like my own skin, and the #2 shade walked the line between the cool and warm ends of the spectrum. I bought two, picked up an extra before heading home for the summer, and haven't looked back since. In the turbulent climate of this world, it's the one thing that has remained constant.

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Now, Benefit has expanded their Boi-ing collection. Joining the OG Industrial Strength Concealer ($20; that I've loved for years are two formulas formerly known as Erase Paste and Fake-Up, respectively—the former has been retitled as the Boi-ing Brightening Concealer ($20;, while the latter is now the Boi-ing Hydrating Concealer ($20; The Airbrush Concealer ($20;, which has a lightweight, mousse-like consistency that somehow doesn't wear off even when I'm sweating my ass off in Heavy Metal Yoga, is entirely new to the family.

Personally, I carry all four in my bag. The Hydrating Concealer, which is basically a concealer stick encased in a sheer, moisturizing exterior, is my everyday jam. I'll pick up the Airbrush Concealer when my skin needs a little extra love, while the Brightening Concealer is reserved for when I didn't get enough sleep or got dramatic and cried (look, it happens way more often than you think) the night before. Of course, the original Industrial Strength version will always be my old steady, and I'll usually blend it on under my eyes when the Hydrating formula is keeping the rest of my face in check. We're actually celebrating our ten-year anniversary in August, and I cannot believe we've been together for a decade. Til death do we part.