Hey Beauties!
I had the chance to try some of theBalm makeup products. One of those was Betty-Lou Manizer, which I really liked as a bronzer. Today I have a review of their Time Balm Concealer in shade Light.
It comes in cute retro paper box. The concealer is in transparent plastic pot and with it you get small white sponge. I'm not sure if it's just for the "transport" purposes, but I assume it can be used on the go as well, for touch ups. I never do that anyway, so I can't comment on that. The packaging is not really hygienic, since you have to dip your fingers in when you use it, but most cream concealers come in those kind of pots.
You get 7.5 grams of product, which is pretty huge amount. I think it costs around 16€ in our country. The prices are different elsewhere. For example on Feelunique it costs around 20€.
The ingredients list.
Concealer is creamy and quite thick to the touch. Once you start swirling your finger in the pot it becomes more buttery and easier to blend into the skin. It's like butter, hard in the pot and creamier once it touches your finger and the warmth makes it movable.
It goes on creamy and doesn't really dry down completely. If you don't set it, it's still sticky to the touch. It also depends on what you have underneath. You need to set it, otherwise it settles into fine lines, like those around your eyes. Even when you set it, it still accentuates little lines a little, which I'm not a fan of.
I don't agree with them on the coverage. They say it's full coverage, to me it's lighter medium. It doesn't completely cover blueness under the eye nor red patches. It covers just little imperfections. You can build it up a little, but sometimes it can look a bit cakey, if you overdo it.
It's supposed to be more of an eye concealer. Under my eyes I like using liquid concealers because of the moisturizing effect and the fact that they don't accentuate little lines as much. I like creamier concealers for red patches and dark undertones. However, this one doesn't really do either. So I find it interesting that it's an eye concealer.
It is very long lasting, which is always a plus. I can wear it all day and it almost stays the same. Maybe it fades a tiny bit.
The shade Light is anything but light. It's too dark for me now. It worked when I got it, because I still had some tan, but now when I'm getting paler, it doesn't work anymore. It seems to have a bit of peach undertone, which is good for under eye area, but unfortunately too dark for me to brighten it up.
I also compared it to my other cream concealers. As far as texture goes, it is most similar to MAC Studio Finish. They both have the same buttery feeling, but MAC's is thicker, because it's more pigmented. Catrice Camouflage Cream concealers are a bit lighter to the touch.
As far as the shade goes, theBalm is the only one with obvious peach undertone and it's definitely on the dark side among these. Catrice Camouflage in 010 Ivory has a very light yellow undertone and it's lighter than theBalm. Catrice Camouflage Cream in 020 Light Beige has the most obvious yellow undertone and it's also the darkest. MAC Studio Finish in NC 15 is the lightest of them all and also has a light yellow warm undertone.
Now it's time for me to demonstrate how it looks like under my eyes and on my face. Here are photos of no concealer and with, from left to right.
And the finished look with my everyday makeup. As you can see it still worked for me here, but as I'm getting paler, I'll just have to reserve it for spring and summer.
This concealer has an average cream concealer texture and an average packaging. I wasn't blown away by the coverage, because I like full coverage or at least medium coverage concealers. I think this is an average good concealer for those that don't really need a lot to cover. It is long lasting, which is a plus. I guess it did not impress me as I thought it would.
