Now being a beauty blogger I believe it is my duty to tell people about all the cosmetics and beauty products I’ve used, the great, the good and the not so brilliant. I’m the type of girl who reads reviews for 90% of the makeup I’m deciding to buy before I go ahead and purchase it. So I rely on those reviews that talk honestly about the not so great products! (ok this intro is far too long now..)
ANYWAYS so a few weeks ago I picked up this concealer. There wasn’t a massive buzz about it, but the reviews that I had read from some of my favourite bloggers promised great things and I’m always on the hunt for dark-circle banishing concealers.
Unfortunately the first thing that let’s this down is the shade selection – there are only TWO. I just cannot understand why drugstore brands do not take into account the large variety of skin tones! Furthermore, the medium shade which I picked up is great if you’re an NC25 perhaps, but far too light for my NC35-NC37 skin tone.
I’m quite absent minded when it comes to paying attention with what brands claim their products can and will do, but because I was quite looking forwards to trying this and there aren't many drugstore concealers just for dark circles, I read all the great stuff and now I want to tell you how I feel this product lives up to it’s claims.
So it claims to ‘Wage war on under eye circles’ and as you can see from the above swatch it is salmon in colour. Because my main skin issue is my dark circles I’m constantly reading up on ways to get rid of the darkness, and many of you will know that correctors in peach or salmon tones are perfect for correcting the darkness. Salmon however does nothing for my darker circles and I am currently using a dark orange/peach tone from benefit. So yes this could work for you if you’re lighter in skin tone and your dark under eye circles aren’t a huge issue, but what frustrated me is the ‘light’ version of this should have been salmon and the ‘medium’ should be peach, as most people with medium skin tones have more yellow undertones and therefore salmon is pretty useless!
Instead of waging war on dark circles, it makes the area look ashy and highlights it so much so that I have to put a darker powder ontop to get rid of the white/ashy tone. Next this stuff is THICK. It’s creamy to touch in the pan, but far too easy to pick up too much and then struggle with the thickness of it under the eyes. It isn’t easy to blend as seventeen claims, and I sometimes find myself tugging around my eyes to move the concealer about. Next issue is because of the consistency, putting any type of powder ontop will instantly cake and crease! Who wants that under their eyes?!
The good stuff is the packaging, they at least got this part right. It comes in a sleek little round circular pot, and I the little mirror inside is pretty useful for on the go touch-ups. There is a fairly sturdy clasp like system on the pot which is secure enough to not have to worry about coming undone.
You get 12g for £5.49 so the price is great, but I won’t ever be repurchasing this and struggled to find a use for it as I just cannot make it work for me. If you’re darker than NC35 or that skin tone, I’d advise you to save your money and go for the collection lasting perfection concealer, which is really creamy, heavy duty yet flawless looking for under the eyes if you have super dark circles! It also isn’t so thick that it couldn’t be used with a corrector shade underneath – something phwoarr paint struggled with. If dark circles aren’t a huge issue go for something even lighter!
I’m waiting patiently for the day when high-street brands open their eyes and realise that there are more skin tones than white and slightly tan, and hopefully they can start catering for all women of colour (take a leaf out of Sleek’s book!) I’m also in no way dismissing this brand, their ‘mirror shine’ lippies are a firm favourite of mine, but this just did not and can not work for me.
What are your favourite undereye circle saviours?
