Conceal More With Your Finger! (Clinique Concealer Brush)

Member Name: blonde_girl774

Product:	Clinique Concealer Brush
Date:	30/01/09 (249 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Helps to Conceal Spots.

Disadvantages: Expensive... A Cheaper Option is Your Finger!

After splashing out a while ago on a Clinique Foundation brush and a Clinique Eye Shadow brush I decided that they'd both been really great additions to my make up bag that I'd treat myself to another to add to my collection. This time I opted for the Concealer brush which is very similar in design to the eye shadow brush yet it serves a completly different purpose. I rarely suffer from spots but when I do I always seem to be at a bit of a loss as to how to conceal them satisfactorily.

The Brand

Clinique is actually an off-shoot of Estee Laudir and was established in 1968. It is advertised as a premium brand of makeup and skin care products which is currently stocked at Boots, Debenhams, Selfridges and other large department stores. The range includes basic skin care as well as make up, hair care and specialised skin products although is most renowned for its makeup and skin care regime. All products are allergy tested and fragrance free so it's really good for anyone who suffers from sensitive or troubled skin.

The range of brushes is much smaller than the makeup and skincare ranges, as well as the concealer brush there's also a blusher brush, an eye shadow brush, a foundation brush and several other eye and lip brushes as well. The brushes seem to start at around the £10 mark with the foundation brush being the most expensive at £20. So they're arguably not the cheapest brushes you will find on the market at the moment. However having already got two in my make up bag which I use all the time I thought this one would be a investment.

The Brush

The brush comes in a small frosted plastic packet that's ideal for keeping it clean in amongst the rest of my makeup in my makeup bag. The plastic casing is about five inches in length and about one inch in width which means it's fairly easy to store in any make up bag. The brush itself is a similar size in length although it is much narrower. The brush handle is made from a clear, lightly frosted plastic that has the brand name in silver on the very end. The bristles are about half an inch in length with shorter bristles at the sides and the longer ones in the middle.

The purpose of the brush is to apply and evenly blend concealer over any outbreaks of acne or even single spots. It's designed in such a way that it means you can use the pointed tip to directly camouflage small imperfections on the skin, as it's tapered into a point it means you can focus easily on small areas. The two flat sides work better on larger areas and will ensure that you have smooth concealer on those large areas including undereye circles and uneven patches of skin. So the brush can deal with imperfections that are both small and large!

To use the brush it's recommended that you squeeze a small amount of concealer onto the back of your hand to use as a pallette almost. You can then dip the brush tip into the concealer and use that to apply over the area to be concealed. It's always best to wash your hands before use as although the brush does have antibacterial properties it can also pick up the grime off your hands if they're not clean. I always start with a tiny bit of concealer and try to paint it lightly onto my face, you can always add more if need be to fully cover the imperfection.

As I've already mentioned, and just like the eye shadow and foundation brushes that I've bought in the past, it has a unique antibacterial technology built into the brush bristles themselves meaning that they actually reflect any bacteria that attempts to get onto them. I'm not sure if this property would last forever or indeed how it actually works and would recommend that you do still clean your brush. As the brush will be regularly coming into contact with blemishes and spot it is more likely that it will pick up bacteria than other brushes perhaps might.

The brush is really easy to clean. I think Clinique do actually sell a cleaning fluid but I imagine this is quite expensive and I tend to opt for a bit of antiseptic oil or tea tree oil mixed with some water. I generally soak my brushes for about half an hour, rinse them a few times and then leave them in the airing cupboard to dry out thoroughly before re-using it. Make sure it is dry before you use it again as if not the concealer will clog up the bristles.

My Opinion

Now firstly the Clinique brushes were recently voted the best makeup brushes by Cosmopolitan Beauty Award Winners 2008 which made me think this would really be something special. It's priced at £11.74 making it one of the cheapest brushes that Clinique do, yet still quite a bit above its competitors. Was it worth it? Well in my opinion no it wasn't, I used to simply apply concealer with my fingertip when I needed to and this seemed to suffice. The brush itself didn't actually make that much of a difference and the final effect seemed almost identical!

It did apply the concealer really evenly but so does my finger... it did apply the concealer without making a mess on the rest of my face but so does my finger when I concentrate... Overall I'd say there wasn't really a difference between using the brush and using my finger! Would I recommend it? Probably not, I certainly wouldn't buy it again and I probably wouldn't buy a cheaper concealer brush in the future. I will keep it in my make up bag but the next time I get a spot I will probably end up using my finger as it's much quicker than the brush!

Thanks for reading.

Summary: A Clinique brush to apply concealer with.