Product Review: Clinique All About Eyes Concealer

I've been holding off reviewing this concealer because I have such mixed feelings about it. Sometimes it works great, and sometimes it makes me look so odd I have to wash my face and start over. I've been experimenting with this product, and I think I've finally figured it out.

What it is
Clinique All About Eyes is a thick, waxy concealer that comes in four yellow or peach based shades. The yellow or peach undertones are designed to counteract the blueish or purplish colours present in dark undereye circles. At £15 on the Clinique website, this is not a cheapie product and I would never have purchased it at full price. However, I got it at 50% off at the airport (check out duty-free when you fly girls, good stuff to be found). The concealer claims to conceal while counteracting puffiness. It promises to be moisturising, long-lasting, oil-free. It also says it won't crease or settle into fine lines. Does it live up to its promises?

The good
Although pricey for a tiny 10ml tube, the merest spot of concealer goes a long long way. It is very opaque but can be blended in by patting gently until it has seamlessly melded with your skin. It is indeed moisturising without being oily, and is certainly long-lasting. I don't have puffiness so I can't testify to its efficacy in that department. It doesn't cause breakouts and it pretty good at concealing dark marks left by blemishes and counteracting redness around the nose and on active pimples.

The Problems
While the premise of using yellow or peach to counteract dark circles is tried and true, the idea usually works better with sheer, light-reflecting concealers. Clinique's concealer is opaque and dense, and this can lead to reverse racoon eyes. Also, finding a powder to set this concealer is a problem as its waxy consistency makes it very grabby and mineral foundation clings to it so well that it becomes a visible dense caked patch (forcing me to wash it off). In shade 01 Light Neutral, it appears too light yellow to be natural, so using it over foundation isn't possible. I have tried not setting it with powder, but this only makes it crease and fade.

How to make this concealer work for you
As the main problem with this concealer appears to be its overly thick consistency, I tried mixing it with an eye gel ( I used Boots essentials cucumber eye gel -£1.99) to make it lighter and sheerer. This worked, allowing me to dab it OVER set mineral foundation to create a sheer wash of masking colour that looks natural and wakes up my eye area by counteracting the blue-green undertones under my eyes. This also appears to help it set better, allowing me to pat translucent powder over it to set. Some creasing may occur throughout the day, but it is easily patted away. This method also works wonderfully well to conceal dark spots caused by hyperpigmentation - something that Asian skins are prone to around healed blemish sites. I can also imagine that this would make it effective for age-spots.

EDIT (Oct 24): I've taken to using this concealer daily again as I found its thickness to be great for not settling into lines, and for concealing dark circles. The trick is to blend using a foundation brush and not your fingers - that just causes it to rub off.

Conclusion
Although not the Holy Grail of concealers, All About Eyes does the job with a little extra fiddling. Its thick consistency gives you more bang for your buck, and it doesn't dry out the delicate undereye area.