A New Package, And Yes, You are Paying For It! (The Body Shop Lightening Touch)

Member Name: venice105

Product:	The Body Shop Lightening Touch
Date:	13/12/06 (618 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very good concealer

Disadvantages: You're not getting nearly what you once were

The Body Shop Lightening Touch Concealer is a product that has been a staple for me for a couple of years now. It is meant to be a highlighter-type concealer, in the vein of Yves St. Laurent's Touche Eclat, brightening the under-eye area whilst simultaneously camouflaging dark circles.

The Body Shop recently re-packaged this product, along with the rest of their makeup line. While I don't argue the line was in need of a face lift - the old packaging had seemingly been around forever - I do take issue with this particular product's repackaging. I bought the new, silver pen-style concealer pen recently. I had used the dregs of the old container, which was a wand applicator in a long tube. It occurred to me that some changes might have occurred, although the girl in the shop assured me it was indeed the same product, simply re-packaged. Well, then, I have no issue with that, I thought. I admit the new pen is very attractive, almost as pretty as the Touche Eclat. Gosh that is strange, I thought, when I went to use it for the first time, it seems to be in three equal segments. I had assumed the whole pen contained the product, but on further inspection, it appears that 1/3 of the pen only contains product. Hmmm so didn't look very much then.

To dispense the product, you have to twist the bottom third of the pen. It makes a very faint clicking noise that is barely audible. There is no resistance at all when twisting so it would be very easy to twist several times if you weren't paying attention, dispensing far more product than is necessary. So I'm not too keen on that, then. The brush appears to be quite hard plastic bristles, and indeed feels very rough on the skin. Maybe after many uses it will soften but having used it several times it is still far too hard to use as an applicator under my eye. The product is seemingly identical to the old one in colour and consistency. I test this out by pulling out my old tube of Lightening Touch, and this is when things start to smell a bit fishy.

I notice that compared to my old tube, the new product appears to be much dinkier. It is impossible to see how much product there is inside the silver pen - however, a glance at the bottom of both containers reveals a HUGE discrepancy. The original product, which retailed for the same price as the new - £11, contained 7ml of product. The new, "improved" version contains….1.8ml !!! Yes, that's correct, I have to double check. I try and think of ways I may be confusing things as I am not known for my maths, but it seems quite straightforward, really. I am truly gobsmacked, however, at this blatant ripoff. From none other than that bastion of ethics, my friendly Body Shop. They've never been cheap, but I never would have expected such a downright swindle and frankly am quite angered by this. To be sold less than a QUARTER of the original amount, for the same price, is just obscene, greedy guts-ness. I could feasibly be wrong, but I just can't see it. 7ml versus 1.8ml…When looking at the products side by side just now, I can see that the product must be contained only in the middle third of the pen. So this lovely new packaging has come at a swift and staggering price.

I know what I should do. I should march back into the goodly Body Shop and give them what for. Even better, I should post it back to Anita Roddick with a resounding "Ah-ha!, See where things have gone now that you've sold out to THE MAN!"(L'Oreal). Oh I really am tempted. There is one slight problem. I love this stuff. If I were sent to a desert island with only one makeup product, this would be it. It is manna from heaven for anyone with under-eye circles. I actually prefer it to YSL. I have tried numerous other concealers, with mixed results. They're often too chalky, settle into fine lines (what lines? heh heh!). Or they just don't do their job and cover up my varying degrees of under-eye baggage. This stuff works. They must know this, or else would never have staged such a brazen swindle. Maybe I am overreacting, it's hardly "Watchdog" worthy, but I do find it pretty shocking.

So what to do. Shall I say why it's worth it? Well God, it's probably dearer than Touch Eclat now. Actually, upon further inspection, Touche Eclat contains 2.5ml of product, for approximately £20 on the high street, compared to this one at £11 for 1.8ml…so this is actually almost the same price as one of the most expensive department store brands around (if you're flush, the two together work a treat - combined this is the perfect, though expensive £££ camouflage).

OK, despite all this…I still like this concealer. It works to make you look naturally lovely. I like it because I don't have to use a thicker concealer under it. It is quite thin in consistency, so you can apply a layer (or three, depending on level of raccoon resemblance), and it never goes cake-y or makes the under-eye look "crepe-y". I am of the age (31..and 11 months!) where I need to think about these things. There's nothing worse than applying makeup and having it actually age you.

So it blends in well, isn't too dry, and leaves a nice, dewy finish. It WILL settle into any larger lines you may have after initial application, but a simple smudge will fix this without too much fuss. It doesn't accentuate any lines you never noticed before, and has quite good staying power. It is quite a runny liquid so not ideal for covering blemishes, although it can be used to even out the complexion where needed.

There are two shades of this, 01 and 02 I believe. I wear the 01 which is the paler of the two and pink toned, the other has a more yellow tone to it. It conceals under-eye circles brilliantly. It is not as pale or lightening as some others, on the plus side though you will not get the dreaded "reverse raccoon" effect with this. On its own it is fine, but ever in search of perfection, I have discovered that a teensy bit of something lighter like Touche Eclat or the No.7 highlighter over this creates a "natural" look that is about as good as I'm going to get.

So I suppose it comes down to what price beauty? I feel a fool to keep buying this stuff, unfortunately this will probably just lead to me looking for something new, stretching my wallet even more. I can unequivocally say that, when compared with numerous other drugstore brands, this one wins for me, hands down. It is not really available at drugstore prices anymore, however, which means I will probably end up looking to the department store brands when this runs out. I'm troubled as to how to rate this. If I were rating the product on its own, it would have to be five stars. From a consumer perspective, I am irked enough by the Body Shop's price hike to take off at least one. But that's not really fair to the product OR the consumer. Or should the consumer be warned by a downrate? I really don't know. It IS good. Just don't be fooled into thinking you're getting a cheaper YSL, because it costs virtually the same now.

Summary: A good concealer, although the price has skyrocketed with the new package.