BENEFIT'S FAKE UP CREASE-CONTROL HYDRATING CONCEALER

Benefit Fake Up Crease-Control Hydrating Concealer was released in Australia back in the middle of April.  It's available in 3 shades: light, medium and deep.  I have medium, olive, NC30 skin tone and 'Medium' (02) suits me perfectly. :)

As you can see in the image above, the concealer product itself is in the middle and it's surrounded by an outer 'Hydrator' layer, which contains the vitamin E and apple seed extract that gives its hydrating properties.

According to the information leaflet provided with the product, it can be used for both underneath the eyes and anywhere else on your face that need concealing, such as blemishes.

This 'double duty" hydrating and concealing formula is claimed to NOT cake, crease or settle, and I find this to be true. :)  (However, my experience leads me to believe that even good concealers will crease or settle into lines if you put too much on!  So as a general rule, less is more, and if you find it creases or settles, apply less next time. ;) )

All swatches are applied on my medium, olive NC30 skin tone and photographed indoors under artificial lighting an using a strobe.

Above: the concealer swatched.

Above: the concealer when blended out appears perfectly seamless and indiscernable, and has evened out my skin tone.

I've compared Benefit Fake Up in 'Medium' to two of my other concealers.  Hopefully, you can see in the swatches below that the depth of the 'medium' shade is in between Clé de Peau Concealer in 'Ocher' and Bobbi Brown's Creamy Concealer in 'Honey' (the darkest of the three).  Clé de Peau Concealer in 'Ocher' has the slightest touch of pink undertone, but is mostly neutral in comparison to the much more yellow-toned Bobbi Brown and Benefit concealers.

There is an initial slightly greasy texture when you swipe the product on your face using finger tips (the recommended application and blending 'tool').  However, surprisingly the product melds easily and seamlessly onto the surface quite quickly.  It leaves a smooth, velvety finish and there's no greasiness.  Phew! :)

On my currently winter dry skin tone, I find the concealer lasts on my skin fairly well throughout most of the day and don't really need to touch up.  This is on the condition that I don't touch my face through out the day (e.g., rest my face on my hand while working), and that I set the concealer with a little powder (I always do, because I apply concealer after my foundation, and I find it just helps to meld everything together).

Unfortunately, it has a fairly strong waxy, crayon-like scent, which I dislike, but thankfully it doesn't really bother me after it's been on my face for a few mins.  Again, another phew!

The packaging is simple and typical of Benefit's fun, youthful and girly style.  It's similar to a lipstick with a twist up and down mechanism to dispense and close the product.  The cap just snaps into place.  It's small, and convenient to carry and touch-up on-the-go if required.

AU$35 / US$24 for 3.5 g / 0.12 oz of product.

Note, I would suspect that much of that is probably the hydrator around the concealer itself.  So, while the hydrator provides some moisturising benefits, you are still getting less pigment or concealing product for your money.  I find that I need to swipe a few more times with this than with my other concealer like the Clé de Peau, so I am likely to use it up more quickly.  I've used the Clé de Peau Concealer for a couple or so months on an everyday basis and I've hardly had to use much up because it's quite pigmented in comparison and also there's 5g / 0.17 oz. of concealer product in the stick. While Clé de Peau's Concealer may appear to be quite expensive at US$70 versus Benefit's Fake Up which is US$24, I'd still say you're probably getting more value out of your money with the Clé de Peau if you are prepared to fork out the money initially.

I'm glad I got to try this concealer as I'm fairly happy with it.  It does the job.  'Medium' (02) is a good match for my medium, olive, NC30 skin tone.  It's fairly affordable (if you don't factor in the relatively small amount you get) and is easily accessible.  I found it to have fairly long-lasting power on my currently dry skin condition in this winter season, and the product does not settle into my fine lines or wrinkles.  I mean, what wrinkles? ;)

Give it a go - it might just pleasantly surprise you as it did me.

Hope this was helpful.