This week Benefit Ireland came to Belfast to launch their new Fake Up Hydrating Concealer to press and bloggers. I had been a little bewildered by this product beforehand and just wasn’t quite sure what to expect or what it could do for me, so if you’re feeling the same, read on…
Fake Up is a twist-up concealer stick encased in a balm-like hydrating layer, beautifully presented in a silver metal lipstick style case. My initial thoughts: why would I want to smear balm over my face - and won’t it affect the performance of the concealer? Well, firstly, this isn’t designed as a blemish cover. Its job is to conceal shadows and add light, radiance and moisture, particularly around the eye area. Basically, it works in a similar manner to a highlighting brush-on clicky pen, but with more coverage. The balm is infused with vitamin E & apple seed extract for immediate hydration, while the concealing core hides dark circles, smooths skin and diffuses light.
Still think it sounds mad? Who cares… it works!
Why I like to Fake Up:
- at last - an undereye concealer that hides dark shadows without looking cakey or dry
- when blended, it appears almost invisible on the skin
- doesn’t sit in fine lines (unless you over apply, like every other product)
- quite long lasting
- very easy to apply
- can be used for touch ups throughout the day without caking, like a mini foundation stick
- great for adding light above cheekbones and in the line between the mouth and nose
- darker shades can be used for contour
If you’re familiar with Benefit’s other concealers, you may find this comparison useful.
Apologies that I didn’t have time to take pics of the product applied for this review, but I promise to post pics of me wearing it asap. In the meantime, here are some swatches…
Swatches
Notice the stripe of moisture next to the colour in pic 1… if you imagine blending foundation with a touch of moisturiser, that’s pretty much the effect this has. The product can be buffed into skin with a brush or blended in a gentle patting movement with the ring finger - both methods work for me and the light shade is perfect for my skintone. I haven’t completely blended the dark swatch above right, but I promise it does blend out and I could even get away with it as a contour shade when using self tan.
I think this will work best on normal to dry skins… oily skins may not like the extra moisture and I imagine the crease-control element will be at its best on non-oily skins.
Hello Flawless Custom Powder, Champagne
We were also introduced to Hello Flawless Custom Powder Cover Up at this event. I’d previously fallen for the Hello Flawless liquid foundation, so was intrigued to try this product, which works brilliantly with Fake Up. It’s a completely customisable powder which can be dusted on over your product of choice as a finishing powder, or built up as a powder foundation.
The compact comes with a soft brush for sweeping it on lightly or a sponge for pressing on for more coverage, both of which are stored in a ventilated section below the powder (last pic above). The top right close up pic is the most true to the actual colour, Champagne, which is perfect for my skintone.
I’ve really enjoyed wearing a combination of the above two products and find them really quick and easy to use, always a bonus in my book! The powder can be built up to medium coverage and Fake Up is great for banishing that mid afternoon slump and making me look bright eyed and bushy tailed again!
Thanks to the Benefit team for coming to Belfast - it was great to see you all again (especially the fabulous Mark!) and meet some new faces. A special thank you from me to Rebekah (hope I spelt that right!) from Menary’s in Lisburn who did my make-up on the night - an absolute sweetheart and brilliant make-up artist. I instagrammed the look she did here if you fancy a look.
Benefit Fake Up is already available online and will be on counters any day now, rrp £18.50
