Maybelline Instant Age Eraser Concealer | Review 

I’m sure by now you’re all familiar with the Maybelline Age Rewind Concealer. It’s been raved about for such a long time by many a beauty guru, one of which is Tati Westbrook. I thought since the concealer finally hit the shelves in SA drugstores, I’d share a review on whether or not it is worth the money.

Claims:

“This super-concentrated treatment concealer features a micro-corrector applicator to help instantly erase dark circles and fine lines infused with goji berry and Haloxyl™. The eye area appears radiant and refreshed in no time.”

Ingrediens (taken from the Maybelline website) :

G852364 1 Aqua/Water/Eau, Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethicone, Isododecane, Glycerin, Peg-9 Polydimethylsiloxyethyl Dimethicone, Butylene Glycol, Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Nylon-12, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Cyclohexasiloxane, Peg-10 Dimethicone, Cetyl Peg/Ppg-10/1 Dimethicone, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Chloride, Polyglyceryl-4 Isostearate, Caprylyl Glycol, Disodium Stearoyl Glutamate, Ethylhexylglycerin, Methylparaben, Lycium Barbarum Fruit Extract, Chlorphenesin, Ethylparaben, Aluminum Hydroxide, Peg-9, N-Hydroxysuccinimide, Palmitoyl Oligopeptide, Chrysin, Palmitoyl Tetr Apeptide-7. [+/- May Contain/Peut Contenir: Ci 77891/Titanium Dioxide, Ci 77491, Ci 77492, Ci 77499/Iron Oxides] F.I.L. D44980/4 

The concealer comes in a clear plastic tube so you can easily see the color of the product. It has a sponge applicator upon a twist collar which is quite easy to use even though the sponge is too big to apply close to your lash line area. The sponge is unhygienic – especially if you’re a makeup artist using the product on different people – because it harbors bacteria over time. An easy fix is to simply remove the sponge with a scissor and pin. This is what I did and what I recommend everyone does. The product should then look like it does in this picture below. When I removed the sponge I squished it between my fingers and so much product came off. My concealer lasted longer when I removed the sponge on my second tube as there was nothing soaking up extra product. If you would like to remove your sponge, here’s how: simply lift the sponge with a pin and cut it. Make sure to get the bottom part of the sponge as well when you are lifting it. I would suggest a bigger, stronger pin as the smaller pins is too small and much too weak. You don’t want the tip of the pin breaking off while you’re busy. Yikes! 

If you do not want to remove the sponge, you could then apply the product onto a mixing palette (you can just use a small plate / old compact you cleaned if you do not have a mixing palette) and apply it with a concealer brush. That way the sponge doesn’t touch your face so no oils (etc) gets transferred onto it. Be sure to properly sanitize your mixing palette or whatever else you are using to put the product on. While this method doesn’t guarantee zero bacteria harboring, it’s still a better option than using the sponge directly on your face daily.

I really enjoy the consistency of this concealer. It’s really light, smooth and creamy. I use the shade 10 Caramel to conceal and the shade Neutralizer to highlight. I love the finish of this product. It’s not overly pigmented but still gives a decent amount of coverage. I think what stands out most for me is how lightweight this product is and how lovely it blends out. The shade Neutralizer brightens up my under eye area beautifully without feeling heavy or dry. I have small fine lines under my eyes and this concealer didn’t settle into them at all. I found that it’s best to build with this concealer to prevent creasing. That way it doesn’t cake up or look patchy. The coverage is light to light medium. I would recommend using a setting powder if you’re oily or crease easily. I use a large powder brush to apply a light layer of setting powder just to keep everything in place. I’ve also loved using this concealer to carve out my eyebrows on days where I want a “clean” , defined brow without using a thick concealer.

The active ingredients that makes this a treatment concealer is the goji berry extract and haloxyl. Goji berry extract is a natural antioxidant and anti-aging ingredient. Haloxyl absorbs and eliminates colored blood pigments in the skin that are responsible for dark circles under the eyes. Maybelline claims that this concealer will not only cover the dark circles but treat the problem over time. To be absolutely honest I haven’t seen the treatment results as yet but I suspect that’s because I don’t use this concealer every single day.

As you can see in the 2 pictures (taken from the internet) below, it works wonderfully to brighten.

So far, this is one of the best drugstore concealers for brightening I have tried, even better than my LA Girl Pale Yellow Corrector. Like I said it isn’t full coverage so if you have very severe dark circles this might not work for you. For me personally I find that it does cover my dark circles when applied over my orange corrector, however, the thin formula causes the concealer and color corrector – depending how much you use – to blend into one which in turn turns into a mess. For that reason I prefer to use this concealer on it’s own.

Shade Selection:

There are 15 shades in total, 9 out of which is available in South Africa. I’m not too sure if the other 6 shades will make it’s way to SA shores soon, but I guess 9 shades is better than 3, right?

Overall:

I think this concealer is better suited for Summer/humid weather. In Winter, my skin tends to get really dry, so I definitely won’t be reaching for this concealer then. I also wouldn’t recommend this to you if you have extremely dry under eyes, because even though it was a tad bit moisturizing to me (I have combination skin) that might not be the case for you. If you have combination skin and you’re looking for something super light that won’t crease, I would highly recommend you give this concealer a go! If you’re looking for something to brighten the eye area I would suggest the Neutralizer shade (for medium skin) and the Brightener shade (for fair skin). 

Availability:

You can shop this concealer in store from Clicks, Dis-chem & Foschini. It’s also available on Superbalist, Takealot and Zando.