Benefit Fake Up Hydrating Undereye Concealer

I have been using the same Benefit concealer since the end of last year and Erase Paste has quickly become one of my favorite face products.  Based on how much I love that concealer formula, I jumped at the chance to try another Benefit concealer formula when I had my choice of Sephora VIB Point Perks.  I have been trying the Fake Up Hydrating Undereye Concealer since the beginning of this week and I can already say that all of Benefit's concealer formulas are not created equal.  I think this is one of the few products that I have not liked at all in the past few weeks and that I could never see myself buying again.

The Benefit website provides the following description of this undereye concealer formula, "This hydrating crease-control concealer - with vitamin E & apple seed extract - hides dark circles and diffuses fine lines for a silky smooth, ultra-natural look. It’s proven to keep skin hydrated for six hours."

The following testing results are also provided for this product...

- 100% said it hydrates skin

- 100% said it feels comfortable on skin

- 91% said it conceals dark circles

This is one of the most unique products that I have ever used on my eye area and I give Benefit points for this aspect of the product.  This product combines the coverage of a stick concealer and then hydrating properties of an undereye balm.  The concealer itself is in the middle of the product and it is surrounded by the hydrating balm.  Once applied to the skin, they mix together and become a two-in-one product for hydrating and concealing.  Benefit states that the product should be applied directly to the undereye area and then patted in using the ring finger.

I have used this product each morning and I have determined that I just cannot use it as described and this is just not the product for me.  I started by hydrating my undereye area with the Bobbi Brown Hydrating Eye Cream and then blend my foundation in the undereye area using a Beauty Blender.  I have dark undereye circles and have always relied on a high coverage concealer to cover them up.  Once I had all of these products in place, I applied the Benefit product to each of my undereye areas and then blended it in as suggested on the brand's website.

As with many two-in-one products that I have tried, this product falls short in both the hydrating and concealing aspects.  I cannot use this without another eye cream as it seems like the application and blending of the product drag my delicate undereye skin.  I have found that it also falls short in the concealing aspect, it is too sheer to fully cover my dark undereye circles.  I have found no way in this product lives up to its description and I will not be buying this in the full size.

I found a way to use through the large sample size that I have of this product, I apply it after my foundation and use it as a primer to apply a full coverage concealer over.  It works nicely in this aspect however this just adds an extra step to my routine that I don't reap much benefit from.  I will use it in this fashion to finish the product up but I would not buy another tube to use only in this fashion. 

This might be a nice undereye concealer for someone who doesn't struggle very much with dark undereye circles and only needs a small amount of coverage in this area.  I just cannot really make this product work as I have to use it with both another eye cream and another undereye concealer, it only creates an extra step in my morning routine that isn't needed.

photo courtesy of Benefit

Benefit Erase Paste

It is officially winter and between holiday stress and the end of the semester stress, my skin is looking worse than ever.  In addition to how pale and dull I fear that it looks, my dark undereye circles seem to be more defined and darker than ever before.  The MAC concealer that I have been using for the past few months now doesn't seem to be doing anything and I need a product with a thicker texture and much more pigmentation for this area.  I was considering ordering another tube of Amazing Concealer, a product that has done a great job for me in the past but I wanted to read the reviews of all kinds of concealers on the Sephora website and see if there is a gem that I haven't tried yet.  At this point in time, I am over the holidays and just want the fuss to be over with so that I can battle winter head on and go right into a very hard next semester.

Ignoring all the holiday gifts and glitz, I went right to the Makeup area of the website.  There is no point in me going to the store this time of the season, I will not get anywhere near the counters with all the holiday shoppers trying to get the last few people crossed of their lists.  Based on the fact that I had to order online and cannot try shades or formulas, I wanted to stick with a vrand that I have used many items from before and have trusted for a few years now, when Sephora is empty at the end of March, I can try something totally off the wall and from a brand that I have never tried anything from.  Also, I wanted to find a product that I could trust and that I knew would work the first time that I used it and I wouldn't then have to find another product to order.

Based on the brand's reputation and the reviews that I found on the Sephora website, I decided to order the lightest shade of Benefit's best selling concealer, Erase Paste.  "A brightening camouflage for the eyes and face.  Benefit Erase Paste is a concentrated, creamy, blendable concealer that instantly brightens and camouflages all-in-one. It has an innovative formula which makes sure signs of stress and fatigue are a thing of the past. These three brightening neutral shades give every gal correction perfection.  Erase Paste includes a step-by-step concealing and brightening lesson and a handy little spatula."

This concealer comes in three shades; one for fair skin, one for medium skin, and then one for darker skin tones.  Of course, I ordered the fairest shade in this product, my skin is at its palest in the winter and I won't get any color until I begin self tanning next summer.  The lightest shade is the best for my skintone, it is pretty light and I would think that most ladies will use the middle shade in the range.

Benefit suggests the following usage for this product, "Scoop a tiny amount out of jar with spatula. Dot with ring finger onto any shadowed areas under eyes or on face.   Blend evenly and smoothly."  The first time that I used this product, I dipped my concealer brush right into the jar and barely any product stuck to it, I then tried to put the brush in on its side and still got next to no product sticking to the brush.  The next time that I used the product, I decided to actually follow the directions provided by the company and this time around it worked much better.  I used the spatula one time to get the product out, however I also found out that I can dip my fingertip right into the product and then dot the product onto my undereye area.  Either way works, but I don't recommend trying to dip the brush right into the product itself.  The concealer is thicker than many other formulas, so once I get out it, I have to warm it up in between my fingertips in order to best apply it.  Once I have it dotted in place, then I can blend it with a flat concealer brush and set it with loose powder. 

I use the product mostly for dark circles, I have not yet had any blemishes that have needed to be covered.  I bet that it will work very well for blemishes since it it so thick a formula.  I would not recommend this formula for those with very oily skin, since it has the potential to only make it worse.  This formula is best for normal to dry skin that is in need of good spot coverage.  The light reflecting particles may this product recommended more for use on dark circles, they help to conceal them and improve the overall appearance of the area.

photo courtesy of Sephora

Awake Hydro-Force Eye Treatment

I have been an eye cream junkie lately, I feel like my bags and dark circles are getting worse by the day. Next to nothing has been making me happy lately and I feel that I am relying much to heavily on the concealer to get out of the house in the morning. I don't know if it's because my skin is so pale with the winter season upon us or that my eyes are getting worse than they were before. Right now, I have been using Awake Hydro-Force Eye Treatment for the past two weeks and am just beginning to see some results in this area. I have had great results from other Awake skincare items that I have used so I am very hopeful that this one lives up to the my expectations.

The Beauty.com website describes the product as follows, "Keep your under eye area hydrated and plump with this refreshing gel formula. Just dab on a little to reduce the appearance of fine lines, dullness, and dark circles - your makeup will glide on effortlessly from now on". This product is said to "instantly hydrate the eye area with a refreshing serum-gel formula" and "plump the skin and reduce the appearane of fine lines, dullness, and dark circles". This formula contains Ceramide and Almond extract to provide radiance to the eye area and reduce dark circles.

I use this product in the morning and evening after cleansing my face. I need only one pump of the product to do liberally cover both under eye areas. I love the feel of the formula, it glides on easily and smoothly and absorbs quickly. Over the past two weeks, I have seen a reduction mostly in the puffiness under my eyes. I am also happy to report that my under eye area isn't getting as dry as it usually does this time of the year. My dark circles are somewhat reduced with use of the poruct but I mostly find that it helps to make my concealer go on smoother and I have to use less makeup than before.

The Awake line is getting harder and harder to find but I do recommend searching for it. I bought this from the Beauty.com website but if you are close to Bergdorf Goodman or a Neiman Marcus, you will be able to get this product easily. I really like this product itself but I must say that I love the packaging even more. The pump bottle is very easy to use and one pump gives you the perfect amount of product for both eyes so I'm not wasting any product.

This product is best recommened for those who have dryness under their eyes and puffiness is more a concern than dark circles. I also believe that this product is best used by those who don't need extensive anti-aging products in the under eye area. This is another product that I really like from Awake skincare and I really wish the line wasn't getting harder and harder to find by the day...

photo courtesy of Beauty.com

Clinique All About Eyes Eye Cream

The last Clinique gift with purchase that I got was jammed packed with fantastic products. Normally, I am happy enough if half of the product in the gift work for me and if I only have to throw one or two items away. But this gift? I loved every single product in it and am getting tons of use from all the items. If they hadn't gone so fast I would have found more products to buy so that I could receive more of these gifts. One of the products that was inside the bag was the All About Eyes Eye Cream, a product that I have been interested in trying for a few months now.

The Clinique website gives the following product details. "Lightweight eye cream diminishes the appearance of eye puffs, darkness, and fine lines. Non-creep, cream/gel formula actually helps hold eye makeup in place. For use morning and night, both under eyes and on lids. Ophthalomologist tested". I use this product only under my eyes, I never tried using a cream on the top of my eyelids. I use this product both morning and night, after cleansing and before topping it off with serum and cream.

I am a really big fan of the texture of this eye cream, gel/cream formulas tend to do very well with my skin. The cream part is thick enough to be hydrating and the gel part is easy to blend and light enough that eye makeup is easy to apply over it. The product is most successful at reducing the appearance of puffiness under the eyes. I don't have under eye lines so I can't comment on how it reduces their appearance. It helps to hydrate my skin and sinc ethe beginning of using it, I have had no problems with dry patches around my eye area. It performs decently at dark circle reduction, it is not near as effective as the B. Kamins Therapeutic Eye Cream or Origins GinZing. The texture of this product does make it easier to cover dark circles with a good concealer.

This is solid eye cream for someone who doesn't have any major eye area issues. For someone with intense dryness or dark circles, this product is not strong enough to help in these cases. This cream helps to prevent and treat most major issues that occur to the skin in the eye area. I recommend it most for those who need hydration and eye puffiness reduction. I also feel that this product is going to be better product to help prevent the signs of aging instead of really treating them (but I could be wrong and if I am, leave a comment and let me know).

photo courtesy of Clinique

Origins GinZing Eye Cream

You might remember my raving about getting good samples when I talked about the Nude Facial Cleansing Oil and how much I loved to get samples of products that I already really wanted to try. That theme occurs again in this entry. I read about this product last fall and it went right onto a Most Wanted list. However, I was buying some Prescriptives early last November and it was right when Macy*s was having a beauty event and I was lucky enough to receive a generius sample of this packed up in a box with many others.

Here are the product details from the Origins website, "GinZing Refreshing eye cream to brighten and depuff. 86% brighter appearance. 80% reduction in puffiness. Late night? Long flight? Look tired all the time? Prepare to become one of the perky people! Nature's clinically-proven morning-after cream instantly reduces dark circles. Unsightly bags and puffiness virtually disappear. And Origins proprietary complex of Caffeine from the Coffee bean, Panax Ginseng, Magnolia Extract and natural optical brightners rapidly wakes up , refreshes, and restores radiance to tired eyes."

This is a first for me, trying out a skincare product from Origins. I don't have much from there and what I do have is mostly body products and makeup brushes. I wasn't quite sure what to expect but I honestly was expecting a fair product that helped with depuffing and somewhat with dark circle reduction and undereye brightening. The texture of the product was the first aspect that really pleased me. It has the gel-cream texture that I liked so much in Caudalie's eye cream expect that this one is bit easier to spread than the other.

So other than the wonderful texture, how did this product measure up? Actually quite a bit better than I expected. This make be a bit shocking but I prefer it to the Caudalie eye cream overall and may have found the best depuffing and overall brightening eye cream so far. The directions say to apply this eye cream in the morning or whenever needed. That for me is twice a day, in the morning and at night. After about a week or so, I noticed that the puffiness under my eyes was much reduced. After about two more weeks, I noticed a reduction in the dark circles and the overall lightness of the area. Another huge plus is that this eye cream didn't dry my skin out at all. I was a bit let doww when I went to look this product up on the Origins website though. My sample came in a squeeze tube but the product itself is housed in a tub. I really prefer the squeeze tube and the texture of this product is really suited to the squeeze tube so I wish they would have packaged the full size product just like they did the sample.

However, that isn't a serious enough flaw for me to not purchase the product because the other qualities of this product are superior to all that I have tried so far.

photo courtesy of Origins

Juvena Cool Eye

One of the highest quality, yet mst underrated skin care lines available on the market today is Juvena. Very few people outside of the beauty industry know anything about this line, even less know about how fantastic the products are in this line. This line is top quality skin care, some products of which are used in Emergency Rooms through the United States and Western Europe.

A little bit of background on the company and their products...Juvena has excelled in skin care innovation for about the last 50 years. This company's major innovation is called Skin Nova. This type of technology is used in the Juvedical line of skin care products. This is the line that is used on burn patients in the hospital. To put it in a nutshell, Skin Nova isolates the few healthy cells that are left after burns and places them into complete isolation. When they are isolated like this, they are in their purest state and are encouraged to further mitotic development. With this development, the healthly cells multiply and eventually skin regrows over damaged areas. This technology is found in many of their skin care products and is the major reason that they can be associated with the highest grade of medical skin care.

The latest product that I am using from this line is the Cool Eye roll on from the Q 10 Energy Plus Line of products. This complex helps to replenish the lost energy reserves in stressed out skin and promote a healthier appearence. This product helps to reduce the appearance of dark circles and undereye puffiness and is also helpful is helping to relieve the symptoms of allergies that tend to show in my face. It contains the Coenzyme Q 10 complex, Vitamin E, and Marittime Sugar Molecules to support and promote's the skin's energy functions. It helps to stimulate drainage of the eye area. It is packaged with a cool metal rollerball applicator which also helps to stimulate the drainage.

photo courtesy of get-price.com/au

100% Pure Coffee Bean Caffeine Eye Cream

Going off of the wonderful luck that I have had with the 100% Pure body products, I am deciding to expand my horizons into their skincare line. I looked on their website and I found some cleansers that look very enticing and a bunch of other products that I certainly mind having but I decided to zero in on one product, the Coffee Bean Caffeine Eye Cream. My B. Kamins Therapeutic Eye Cream is amazing for dark circles but doesn’t really wow me in the puffiness area. The other day, I looked in the mirror when I woke up and almost died when I saw my face. This was the morning after a stress related crying fit but that doesn’t change the fact that I looked terrible. Quite frankly, looking like I felt terrible made me feel 100% worse so I decided to start searching for a new anti puffiness eye product.

I have heard rave reviews for this product and just off of the top of my head, I can think of two people that I know that really love it. I already know that caffeine speeds up the cells of the body so whatever it can help to slim down and improve the appearance of cellulite. Based on this assumption, I would assume that it would work to reduce the appearance of the puffiness in the same manner. Here is the description of the product from 100% Pure, “Anti-inflammatory, caffeine rich green tea and coffee de-puffs and reduces swelling while increasing circulation to alleviate and brighten dark circles. Concentrated with potent anti-aging vitamins, antioxidants, and nourishing blackcurrant oil. Truly, 100% Pure.”

Reduces swelling, puffiness, and increase circulation all while being an organic product that is actually good for my skin?! This is coming home with me the next time that I am able to get to a mall that carries this line. And I think that I will be looking into more face care products from this line too.

photo courtesy of 100% Pure

The Use of Vitamin K to Help With Dark Circles

There is one skin care ingredient that I think is a top performing but is not widely recognized for how well that it works. This is shame because Vitamin K has been a lifesaver for a my horrible dark under eye circles. Vitamin K is one of the active ingredients in one of my favorite eye creams, B. Kamins Therapeutic Eye Cream. B. Kamins is a line that was started by Canadian scientist Ben Kaminsky, in response to his research with children’s rosacea (a condition that both of his children suffered from). He makes some of my favorite facial products for both sensitive and redness prone skin. Between this line and Caudalie, I never need to look for skincare products again (but of course I will keep testing more and more!).

This the description of the eye cream that I am so in love with, “An exceptional topical cosmeceutical treatment indicated for both dark circles around the eyes and skin bruising resulting from cosmetic skin procedures. Contains hesperetin, vitamin K, stabilized vitamin C, sodium hyaluronate and glycosaminoglycans to help strengthen fragile capillaries and cosmetically neutralize color differences in the orbital eye area. Also rich in zinc and copper oligopeptides to help decrease the period required for healing bruises, and Bio-Maple™ compound, a powerful humectant/moisturizer to help normalize a damaged stratum corneum.” In English? This eye cream helped to reduce the appearance of my under eye circles by helping to thicken the skin itself, not just attempt to bleach them away.

I need to make a distinction between the two major types of under eye circles first. They are either blue or black. Black circles are caused by circulation and the pooling of the blood in the under eye area. A bleaching agent can help with this condition, however a side effect is that will thin the skin over time, possibly speeding along wrinkles and other forms of aging. I am saying to not using a bleaching agent if you have these types of circles, Murad Lighten and Brighten is considered on of the best eye creams on the market today and will help with this type of skin issue. But if you (like myself) have blue under eye circles, a bleaching agent will not give you the type of results that you are looking for. I suffer from have thin skin and the blood vessels just naturally show through. This is more common in very fair complexions than anyone else. I need to thicken my under eye skin so that the blood vessels aren’t showing through as much.

This is where Vitamin K comes in. It helps the skin to strengthen itself from the inside out, ultimately making it stronger and healthier and allows less of the blood vessels to be visible through the surface of the skin. This ingredient is one of my favorites and I think it gets much less attention than it deserves and I recommend to anyone who is having issues with discoloration in their under eye area.

photo courtesy of B. Kamins