Review: Bobbi Brown creamy concealer kit and under-eye corrector

I mentioned a while back that I’d made only two beauty purchases during my December holiday, and it’s a good job I DID only buy two things, because although these two items are small, they’re not exactly cheap, and by “not exactly” I mean “not at all, really.”

In fact, let’s just get the bad news out of the way first: the Corrector (right) is £16.50. The Creamy Concealer Kit is £23. Just under £40 for the two, then, but it was a price I was willing to pay because these two items promised to cover up my under-eye shadows, and by that point I’d probably have sold one of my limbs for that.

The dark shadows under my eyes are currently the absolute bane of my life. They’re caused purely by lack of sleep: if I get enough of it, they disappear, but when I don’t, it shows all over my face – or under my eyes at least. The two products you see above are designed to send the bags packing (Sorry!), and they’re designed to be used together, although you can, of course, use them separately if you wish (or if your shadows aren’t quite as stubborn as mine).

On the left of the image, then, we have the creamy concealer kit, which is actually two products in one jar. On top, the creamy concealer that gives the product its name; on the bottom, a loose powder which goes over the top to set the makeup. For those with very dark shadows, meanwhile, the product on the right of the image is used as a base, to neutralize the shadows before the concealer goes on top.

So, how well do they work?

Let’s take the Corrector first. I bought this in Porcelain Bisque, which is the palest shade available. Although it looks beige in the pot, this is actually super-pale, even on me: in fact, if I use too much of it, I can end up with visible white patches under my eyes, so I really recommend trying this on in person before buying it: perhaps one of the slightly darker shades would’ve been better for me, although this is fine as long as it’s applied with a light hand.

As for the application, I prefer to pat it on with my finger, or with a brush. It’s applied all over the eye area, and is a nice consistency: creamy, easy to apply, and doesn’t crease, slide off, or settle into the fine lines under the eyes, which is a problem I have with a lot of concealers. The skin under my eyes is very dry, so I have to be very careful to make sure that the products I use there are indeed “creamy”: anything remotely drying will look horrible on me, but this works perfectly, and lasts all day. Top marks, in other words.

The Creamy Concealer Kit, meanwhile, also really impressed me. As I mentioned above, each pot of this has two separate products in it. Again, I picked the palest combination, so the concealer itself is ‘Porcelain’, and the sheer powder is ‘White’. Oddly enough, although the palest Corrector shade was a little too pale on me, the palest concealer shade is a little bit darker than I generally buy: this has more of a beige shade to it than the Corrector, although used together, they combine to create a shade that’s more or less right, making me very glad that I bought them both!

The concealer is a good one: it has a thicker consistency than the Corrector, and provides really excellent coverage. Because Sod’s Law is always in operation where I’m concerned, my under-eye shadows lessened quite a bit while I was relaxing on holiday and over Christmas, so I was able to use this on its own without any problem. It’s as creamy as the name suggests, and like the Corrector, doesn’t sink into lines around the eye, so the skin is left smooth and looking like you’ve had a few extra hours’ sleep!

I’m a little more cautious about the powder which fills the second compartment of this product. I generally avoid using powder around my eyes because I find it quite ageing on my dry skin. This is a sheer powder which is used to set the concealer, and its colourless on my skin, but don’t really find it particularly necessary: the concealer itself lasts all day without really needing to be set, and so I haven’t used this as much as the concealer. It comes with its own powder puff, but when I do use it, I apply it with a small brush instead, so I don’t end up applying too much of it.

Overall, I love these two products and will probably re-purchase them when they run out. If you don’t have very dark circles, however, I’d suggest trying the concealer on its own first as you can probably skip the Corrector. For those waging a war with their under-eye areas, however, the Corrector is a handy little weapon to have in your armoury!

Both of these are available direct from Bobbi Brown.

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COMMENTS
  • Andrea

    REPLY

    The Creamy Concealer can be bought on its own for around £16, which I think is very cheap, considering it always lasts me over a year!

    February 1, 2010
    • Yup, I’ll probably get that when the kit runs out. It’s a fantastic concealer, but I just don’t find I use the setting powder at all…

      February 1, 2010
  • Liz

    REPLY

    Great review, Dollface, and great timing. I’m in the market for a new concealer at the mo and just last night was checking out some reviews of this on YouTube, MakeUpAlley etc. I have the same problem as you but worse: mine are undereye suitcases rather than simple bags! Think I’ll give these 2 products a go. Money’s no object if they solve the bane of my life. 🙂

    February 1, 2010
  • oh do check out Strawberrynet – I just picked up a concealer there for about £10 – sans powder. It’s old packaging but it’s awesome. They’re also selling correctors for about the same price.
    .-= Kahani´s last blog ..Review: Clarins HydraQuench Cream Mask =-.

    February 2, 2010
  • Cookie

    REPLY

    They announced that Bobbi Brown will be available in my neck of the woods’ Douglas shops, and that news left me rather cold at first (seeing how I was inquiring about MAC), but now that I see they cater to the paler crowd, perhaps I will finally find something that fits my fresh-corpse complexion 🙂

    February 2, 2010
    • Liz

      REPLY

      “something that fits my fresh-corpse complexion” – love that description! Especially along with “that news left me rather cold”! If you’re in Germany (I’m guessing as you mentioned Douglas) BB is sold in some large department stores as well as D. I’m often in Munich and they def have it in stores there.

      February 2, 2010
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