TIME TO GET MADE UP?

I'm not a make-up expert, although I have been using make up for years. When I was a teenager I would always apply make-up before going out to work and in fact didn't leave the house without wearing it. I would spend ages applying my make up before going out for the evening. I could sit in front of my dressing table mirror, brushes and palettes to hand, being my own make-up artist, and even having time to curl my hair. Then even when married I could arrange my day so that I still had some 'me time' until... I became a mum. Then things changed in a big way; one day my time was my own and then baby was born. All my time was devoted to my lovely, much wanted but demanding daughter. When I managed to get out of the house my clothes were quickly selected and make-up had to be speedily applied.

I remember finding it difficult to fit in anything for a while other than baby care. I suppose this is true of all new mums except some babies sleep longer than my first one did. On the rare occasions I went out for the evening (with baby) mainly to family occasions, my husband would take the baby for a while, but often I would hear, 'Are you finished? She needs feeding!" And, although I enjoyed being a mum right from the start I do admit that the biggest shock to me was the very limited time I now had for me.

So the beauty treatment had to be better managed and reduced in the length of time it took. I learned to apply everything much quicker and just had to hope that the glow of motherhood meant that I needed less make up.

And now those days have flown by and have no choice but to accept that I am a lady of mature years. I have more time on my hands but find I don't use so much time for 'me' things. I wear less make- up than I did in my youth and am much quicker in applying it. I tend to apply moisturiser and then find something to do whilst it absorbs. Next I sometimes apply foundation, or pressed face powder, followed by and depending on how made up I want to be; eyebrow pencil, mascara, blusher, face powder and lip-gloss. But this tends to be if going somewhere special; more often than not I am rushing to go shopping or off on some trip or other in the car (as a passenger) and if this is an early morning journey then I am quite often known to apply some of my make up at home and then when I find I'm running late I complete the task in the car. Trouble is, sometimes I'm required to be the map reader and this can interfere somewhat with my make-up appliance.
For the reason that I often finish my make-up in the car I find it's handy to have a concealer in my make-up bag. I often look in the mirror and see I need to use a concealer in one or two places. This is to complete my make up when wearing foundation or because I want a much lighter look, so will use concealer on any blemishes, and finish off with a little face powder. Really I am more often likely to use the concealer than full foundation.

In my younger days concealer was generally only used as a stick which looked like a lipstick. I found this was okay if I managed to get a pale enough shade and had a biggish area to cover but it wasn't so good for just using on one or two small areas. Also it was often a bit dry and not that easy to cover while achieving a natural effect. I noticed that my teenage daughter had a concealer which was liquid and, instead of the usual sponge tip, in fact had a thin brush. When she wasn't looking I had a go and was impressed with the results. The trouble was though that the brand name had worn off so I had quite a search for this. I didn't actually find it but instead found a similar product in Superdrug by Collection 2000. I decided to purchase this.

COLLECTION 2000 ILLUMINATING TOUCH CONCEALER

The Collection 2000 Illuminating Touch Concealer, I believe comes in three shades. I thought that the shade called 'naked' and numbered as '1' was the best choice for my pale skin. I often have trouble finding a shade to suit my skin tone with foundation, face powders and concealers. However, this colour seems to be to be a good match.

The other colours available are 'natural' and 'glow'. Glow looks to be the darker shade.

THREE IN ONE

I saw that the idea of the Illuminating Touch Concealer is that it is a three in one item of make-up. Now that's always handy if requiring a concealer to carry around as this means less space is taken in ones make up bag or even at home on the dressing table. The idea is that the concealer will give a 'quick fix' touch as it can correct (hide really) blemishes such as spots or scars and similar while managing to highlight areas and illuminate with one touch. I had also heard that the light illuminator was good for older skin tones. Well, surely then this was worth a try for these reasons:

As a good concealer for my skin, with light illuminating properties.

Handy to carry around as one item of make-up could do three jobs.

A reasonable price.

Illuminating effect might help to make me look younger!

Quick and easy to apply, especially owing to the fine brush tip.

Now I mainly wanted a concealer with a brush tip so that I could experiment with, rather than a stick or sponge. I find sponge tips quite good but his method of application is even better. Well, I've always liked to paint so what better way to cover small imperfections (not saying all my imperfections are small!) than a fine brush with the correct colour paint?

HOW DOES THE ILLUMINATING EFFECT WORK?

The idea of this is now quite a popular one and is included in many foundations and suchlike, especially those aimed at the more mature skin. The idea of the light illuminator is that the concealer has light diffusing particles within which the light is spread, which in turn will soften fine lines and blemishes. Well, I'm not sure about the science involved but would say that this covered with a natural look.

HOW WELL DOES IT CONCEAL?

Now I'm not too bad on the wrinkle front. I believe my oily skin has greatly helped in this respect. True, I had my share of spots as a teenager and this continued into my twenties but I haven't stretch marks, or too many wrinkles-yet! But I know my skin obviously is aging and I have some broken capillaries here and there. Also on a bad day my eyes will have some dark circles under them.

Because the concealer is a good colour match and has a nice fine brush attached it does a great job in covering imperfections. I don't usually use it on dark areas under the eyes preferring to use a foundation if I feel my skin needs this extent of covering BUT for the sake of this review I have just used the concealer under one eye. I had to apply and then blend in under the eye and lightly run it across the fine lines I could see around my eye area. Well, I've got to say there is a difference and I believe that the side of my face I used the concealer on DOES now look younger than the other. I will definitely now choose to use this around my eye area, if not wanting to use foundation. I think it's ideal to use before an application of face powder.

It also has pigments enriched with silicone to make the look flawless and long lasting.

For covering those smaller imperfections find the brush works excellently and it's easy if required to blend in with finger tips.

This is also great to cover red areas. It's good to cover sunburn too although I tend a darker has for this. I will take a concealer in the 'glow' shade to use on my next holiday as I think it will prove ideal and light to pack as well as being very space saving. For covering redness you need to squeeze as small amount from the tube and apply with the brush and probably finish by blending with fingertips. If you are good with the brush then you may prefer to only use that.

THE CONTAINER

One problem that I 'thought' I had with this make-up was too dry or had run out. Silly me! I had kept looking at the base of the tube thinking there was a ridge there for decorative purposes only. I happend to complain to my daughter that this make up had run out far too quickly and then she took hold off it, turned the base, and then the liquid make- up was released!

The container has the appearance and is of similar size to as stick lip gloss pen. It takes only a little amount of room in a make-up bag or handbag.

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY

I purchased the concealer form Superdrug at the price of, £4.99.

It is also available at Boots the chemist for the same price and, of course, the added bonus when bought here of advantage points. I believe that this purchase equates to 16 points.

OVERALL

I am very pleased with his purchase. Now that I have seen the good effect it had on dark circles/areas under the eyes, I will be using it more. I feel for holidays in the sun, I could take this and perhaps a face powder, and wouldn't need to bother with a foundation.