Review: Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Dark Circle Eraser

I'm sorry I haven't had any reviews for the past couple of weeks. Things have been crazy around here. Between finals week at school and attending friends' graduations, the time I have had to myself, I haven't felt like blogging. I've been too tired and too brain dead. I have also managed to get a job for the summer, and that has been keeping me busy as well. But I'm here to do a review on a much talked about product!

This product has been out for a while now, and I'm not sure why I haven't reviewed before now. It's very popular in the beauty world right now, and a lot of people seem to really like it.

Image taken from Maybelline's website!

I really like this product, and I can see why so many people are raving about it. I can't think of a high end concealer that it would be comparable with since this seems to be a unique product. Though a popular high end concealer for under eye circles is the Benefit Erase Paste, which runs about $20 more than this Maybelline concealer, and I'm not really a huge fan of it (or at least, I would be more of a fan of it if it were cheaper). But anyways, this product is nothing like the Benefit Erase Paste. This one is much more liquidy, and it's more skin-toned than salmon tinted. Because of that, it doesn't completely cover my dark circles. The coverage overall is about medium and somewhat buildable, but if you build too much, it'll be way too light under your eyes, and it won't match your overall makeup anymore. If you go easy on it, and start with a little (you can always add more, but you can't subtract; remember that with makeup), it's actually quite nice under the eyes. It really brightens things up and makes you look more awake. Though it's not full coverage on the dark circles, it does a nice job with making the whole under eye area look brighter and more awake. I also like that a little bit goes a long way, so you really get your money's worth and don't have to repurchase often. I also find that it doesn't crease much throughout the day as long as you set it with your face powder when you're done. I really like this, but I'm not sure it's worth all the rave it gets because it's not that great at covering the dark circles themselves, and while it's a great brightener, that's not what this product is marketed as. The product says "Dark Circle Eraser," so shouldn't it, you know, ERASE dark circles?

That being said, I agree with all the other reviews I've seen online-- the packaging is not great. A lot of people have had much more trouble with it than I have, but it does seem like it's easy to break or malfunction in general with no real way to access the product if the twist-up stops working. I also am a little weird about the sponge on the top. It doesn't seem very sanitary; however, if you always remember to put the lid back on, it's not as bad. I've seen some people just cut the sponge top off and dip their concealer brush into the product. That can work as well. Another negative is that there really aren't a lot of shades to choose from. There are only 6, and there are more than 6 skin tones in the world that want to cover dark under eye circles. I have the lightest shade-- "Fair".

Another thing to note: it's a little misleading with what this is called. The package says that it's a "treatment" concealer which may make you believe that it actually treats the dark circles themselves and make them fade over time or something. This is not the case, at least not for me.

Though it's not great coverage, I still think it's a good product for the price, and it's one of the best concealers I've been able to find at the drug store made specifically for dark circles. It brightens the skin, and it can be used as a light spot/blemish cover (though Maybelline just recently launched a similar product made for dark spots now).

Price: Maybelline's website says $9.99USD, but I usually get mine for $8 at Walmart.
Where to buy: Anywhere and everywhere that sells cosmetics.
Rating: 6.5/10 (I would still repurchase this product simply because it's a cheaper alternative to high end under eye concealers.)

You get 0.2 fluid oz.