"Of course I didn't go out last night!" (Boots No 7 Instant Radiance Concealer)

Member Name: ice_pink

Product:	Boots No 7 Instant Radiance Concealer
Date:	02/08/08 (222 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Reasonably priced, it works!

Disadvantages: Not as cheap as other high street brands, packaging not too exciting

Boots No. 7 Instant Radiance Concealer

After spending a long period of time being faithful to YSL's Touche Eclat as an under-eye concealer, I quite recently decided it was about time to try pastures new, and see if I could save a bit of money whilst doing it. After a few attempts, this led me to my current favourite concealer, No. 7's 'Instant Radiance' highlighter pen.


The packaging

The pen's design is very similar to that of Touche Eclat - it is a slim stick with a button at the bottom and a brush tip. The bottom of the pen has to be clicked about thirty times to activate the liquid flow, and then after that usually a click or two will be sufficient enough to apply to underneath both eyes. The brush applicator is well designed - just the right thickness and length to enable you to do a good, precise application. The tube itself is black, with gold writing which states the name of the concealer. The gold writing gives it a slight hint of luxury, but this doesn't last long as when the tube gets slightly warm the letters start to melt off, certainly none of my tubes have come to the end of their lives with the full lettering still remaining!


The effect

This concealer contains light reflecting particles which brighten your skin tone, helping to fade away the dark circles that unfortunately plague so many women! The first time I applied this, I must admit I wasn't expecting a great deal. I felt I'd had the best there was in the form of St. Laurent's version, and didn't think this one would even come close. You can imagine my surprise (and delight!) when, after application, I looked into the mirror and found a result almost, if not exactly the same as that I achieved with my much more expensive previous choice of make-up! Needless to say I have not looked back since!


The shades

This pen is currently available in two shades, originally named shades I and II. Shade I is the shade I always go for, and shade II is darker, with more of a pink tinge. One of the downfalls in this range is the lack of shades, but I was told by the Boots consultant that due to this being a highlighter the colours required by buyers are more or less the same, meaning less shades are needed in the range.


The price

This concealer retails for £12, which is a bit above average for a concealer of this type. Yves Saint Laurent's version retails at least £10 above this however, so you can see why I was happy! £12 isn't extortionate for such a quality make-up, but, I sometimes feel a bit robbed paying so much for what I don't really consider to be a luxury brand. Boots do frequent offers however, such as '2 for 3' and '500 extra points' with their No. 7 range, so it's worth waiting around for one of these. I usually stock up on these when they are 3 for 2. The current No. 7 offer is a free gift with every spend above £15 - the gift being a 'summer palette' designed by Lisa Eldridge containing eyeshadows, blushes, etc. Not the sort of thing you really need, I suppose, but it may come in handy. Always nice to get something for nothing!


The verdict

I am very pleased I tried this highlighter - it's very effective and it's saving me a good amount of money compared to what I was previously paying to look less tired! The product is also hypoallergenic and fragrance free, so if you have a problem with products that irritate your skin (like I often do), there's a bit of good news for you.

One of the main disadvantages I find with this product is you don't know how much you have got left until you've run out! This is due to the packaging being a solid block, meaning there is no way to judge how much liquid you have left. This is a common problem however among similar products so we can't let it lose too many points over this one.

The second drawback is the price. Although it's not ridiculously expensive, you can get concealers for much less on the high street, such as Natural Collections £1.99 cover up cream - which I have yet to try but will be doing so soon! If however you manage to pick these up as a part of a '3 for 2' offer, this brings the price down a bit. I justify myself by saying that I really only pay £8 each per product as I get three at a time - plus the advantage card points you mount up as a result of this!

As good as this product is, I will never get a flutter of excitement from using it, and it definitely doesn't look as good in my make-up bag as Touche Eclat, but I guess that's something I will have to get used to as I won't be going back to using that after getting the same results at a fraction of the price elsewhere!

Definitely worth a try!

Summary: A good quality product at a reasonable price