There are definitely advantages to having a dedicated under eye concealer; lighter texture, light reflecting properties, hydrating qualities etc. I am partial to a liquid concealer (I love Nars, Jill Stuart, Origins in particular) but they are for my facial blemishes. I was pleased to try this eye concealer from luxe brand, Sisley, which is especially made for the under eye area.
They say: This tinted concealer instantly camouflages dark circles and shadows to perfection, reduces puffiness and signs of fatigue, visually smoothes out wrinkles and fine lines and beautifies the eye contour area. Day after day, it helps significantly minimize puffiness. The supple, melting formula guarantees easy application, a natural finish and long lasting hold.
Sisley Paris Phyto Cernes Eclat Tinted Eye Concealer comes in three shades (I chose 03, the darkest) and comes with a synthetic brush. At a pricey £58, it certainly is expensive, but I found it to be a very very good under eye concealer which seemed to care for the eye area too (in the sense that my eye area can get dry and flaky throughout the day and I didn’t get that when using this product).
So in the box you get this long brush (not a mini one like you sometimes get) which is great for blending in the product or applying it on other areas or on the lid, if you like to wear concealer on the lid (I do). Otherwise, I found this product blended in nicely with just my warm finger.
The tube had another nice feature which is a silver ended applicator (it’s a squeezy tube which is like a lip balm). The applicator is very cooling and soothing, and it helps reduce puffiness. It was very welcome when applying to my tired, hot eyes. It can also be used to massage a little, a bit like my beloved La Mer eye cream which comes with a metal ball applicator (I kept it, but never could bring myself to rebuy the eye cream).
I wondered if 03 would be the right shade for me – concealer that is too dark under the eyes looks pretty bad, but this worked really well without looking too garish or racoon like, as under eye concealers can. It has a yellow-peach edge to it which covers my dark circles perfectly well and brightened up the whole area without looking too much.
It has a nice texture that is not as light as say, touché éclat, but isn’t as thick as a cream concealer or say, NARS liquid concealer. It’s just right – thick enough to cover but thin enough to sink into the skin and not look heavy around the eyes.
You can see the difference here (concealer applied on the left side – you literally only need 2 – 3 dots under the eye). I like how natural the finish is – brightening without being too obvious.
If there was any criticism, it would be the price and that it can settle into deeper under eye lines towards the end of the day. I don’t know any concealer that doesn’t.
This eye concealer costs £58 from various websites such as Spacenk – sometimes there are offers on for 10% off on websites like John Lewis. It’s expensive but it is really very good and I believe it would last at least 1 year with regular use. I certainly don’t like all the liquid under eye concealers I use – they either don’t cover enough, or are too heavy, or the shade is way too pale – so I think this is a very good product because it doesn’t have any of the above problems.