Still female: Mummy bags

I've never been unnecessarily huge on makeup, having performed in dance competitions as a child, it was more a thorn in my side then something to aspire to actually wanting to use.  Moving on to the teen years and it became a statement, black kohl and black lipstick were my friends, yes darlings i'm a recovering goth, do keep up.  However, now i'm of a certain age when quite frankly  I need daily intervention and camouflage from the shriveled and creased apparition that haunts my mirrors.
In particular thanks to The Toddler, those dastardly irksome shadows under my eyes.  It's like a stripe of motherhood we have to wear. I'm no makeup artisan, I'm just an every day pleb who's trying to look a little less ghastly with the aid of makeup, so what you have here is a no frills, bollocks free honest review.


Having tried various concealers and the likes over many years in sticks and pots and such, I remained unimpressed.  Lately I have invested in two products.

The first is PeepO by Lily LoLo, a corrector as opposed to a concealer having decided to take a new line of attack.  The blurb and indeed the reviews were surprisingly promising and since I'm a little bit in love with their foundation and finishing powder (more on that later) I figured I'd throw caution (and precious pennies) to the wind and to hell with it, give it a go.  It comes in the, by now familiar, Lily LoLo pot, with the nifty and practical design so you can actually turn and block the product from seeping out under the lid when not in use (take note E.L.F, this is something your mineral products lack) It's fairly tightly packed so you do have to give it a good old shake to get some content onto the lid to use.  Now I've tried using a concealer brush and my finger, I've tried blotting and I've tried dabbing and even, yes, buffing ... and not in the You Tube way either.  Yet, no matter what I try two facts remain 1) It's an absolute bugger to blend in and apply 2) For me at least, it doesn't actually work, insofar as to say after all the faffing I notice no real difference.  Arse.  At £7.49+ postage a pot, it's a rather expensive revelation.  Unfortunately they don't offer sample pots, a rather genius marketing decision on their part.  I really wanted to like this product, truly I did.

The second product is the terribly famous YSL Touche Eclat, yes I've gone all posh.  Even the makeup inept like myself can't fail to have heard celebrities, make-up artists and fellow plebs wax lyrical about this potent elixir of marvel for years.  The problem?  To be frank it's fucking expensive.  This is the one and only reason that it's taken me so many years to bite the bullet and try it.  As a rule I don't or should I say more honestly can't do expensive.  I have neither the money nor the justification to indulge. Fortunately I managed to source one at less then half price, surely that was an omen right?  It would have been rude to not try it.  Bare in mind though even at this price this is a rather significant expenditure for me.  What can I say?  I'm terribly cheap. It did take a while to actually order it as the shade guide had my brain twisting, seeing as none of the examples appeared to remotely resemble my skin, pink undertones? yellow undertones?  I thought the undertones were a band.  In the end with a mental tantrum I gave up and just opted for the original one.  Classic baby.  Yeah.

Firstly the boring stuff, the box, the gleaming sleek shiny wand pen of gold inside?  At least they had the decency to make it look expensive to match the price tag.  I admit to simply holding it for a while possibly expecting it to be real gold or to whisper sweet nothings to me to evoke instant l'amour. I even shook it a few times wondering why the spell hadn't been cast yet seeing as it's supposedly sheer utter witchcraft in a pen.  When you first use it, don't panic, you have to press the top up to 30, yes 30, times to get the product flowing.  Yes, I did have to check the instructions after I gingerly at first then somewhat frantically began pressing it panicking that I had an empty one.  I've read some people suggest using the brush end of the pen to apply it and others who insist you put the product on your hand and apply it with dabs of the finger, either way works, regardless I use my fingers to blend.

I really wanted to hate this product.  I secretly slip into a state of glee at finding out over hyped and over priced products are quite frankly utter tosh.  I'm a natural born cynic and find it terribly hard to buy into clever marketing.

However, I have to say, I love it.  It blends easily and although it's no surgical nor airbrushed perfection it does indeed cleverly deflect from the abhorrent shadow bags of doom under my eyes making them appear fresher, lighter and brighter.  Job's a good 'un.  It's really, unfortunately for the purse strings, all that jazz.  As it's technically a highlighter as opposed to a conventional concealer you can also use it on the contours of your lips, to contour your cheeks and other areas of the face.  It can be worn over or under your base and applied later in the day if you need to freshen up too.  The only cons are obviously, the price and over time the brush may become clogged with product if you don't precariously clean it frequently.  All in all it really is an absolute feel-good makeup item, several people list it as one of their must have products and yes, I can honestly see why.

I'm miserable with a cold right now, I may, when better update this post with some swatches and before and after application pics, but seriously people, don't hold your breath and if you're that interested, i'm sure Google is your friend.