I have to admit that I usually fall for product hype pretty hard and fast, and that definitely was the case with this one. Before, during and after it's release I was seeing review after review of this concealer pop up everywhere, with a good 90% of people singing its praises. So, after avoiding buying it for quite some time I eventually caved and bought this from work a couple of weeks ago, and I've been using it ever since. However, it was not love at first use...

I'm sure everyone and their grandmother knows about this concealer so I won't bore you with the finer details. In brief, it is a concealer stick with a 'hydrating ring' of moisturising product surrounding it. It's the first concealer to be produced in this way; I've seen several lipsticks and balms that are similar but I'm willing to bet there will be a few more concealers like this before the year's out! It comes in three shades (Light, medium and deep) and claims to be a "crease-control" concealer that "instantly hides dark circles and diffuses fine lines", without caking or settling. It has to be said that the packaging is absolutely stunning for this. The tube is made out of metal, not plastic and looks gorgeous sat on your vanity or popped into your make up bag. The product twists up easily from the bottom of the tube and the lid fits securely - meaning there's no chance of it coming off in your bag.


I had high hopes for this concealer, after reading so many positive reviews online. It's an exciting product and, if it lived up to all of its claims, would be a holy grail product for me. However, I'm sad to say that it fell way short of my expectations. Benefit direct you to stroke the concealer under each eye and to use the ring finger to blend - which is what I have done in the images below. As you can see, I have fairly prominent dark circles and shadows, with some under-eye creases. When applied and blended, the product does a good job of concealing the circles and shadows without looking cakey and unnatural. It is not a full coverage concealer and doesn't claim to be, but the moisturising properties help to diffuse and reflect light; it's a similar idea to YSL's Touche Eclat and others like it. However, I would say that it is actually too moisturising - my under-eye area appeared greasy, not hydrated and far too shiny for my liking.


According to Benefit, 100% of people who tested it said that Fake Up feels comfortable on the skin... well not on me I afraid. It felt heavy and greasy and never seemed to settle properly. It felt like it was sitting on top of my skin, no matter how much I blended it in or how little of it I used. Sadly, that was not the end of my woes. About an hour after I first applied it I looked at myself in the mirror and had to do a double take - this concealer had creased like no other and was clearly visible from a comfortable distance. In the image below I have pulled the skin down slightly to demonstrate and no word of a lie, that last image was taken ten minutes after application. Maybe I have worse under-eye creases than others, but I was very disappointed in this after its claims about crease control. I tried applying powder as I usually do and for once it made little difference. I think because the product has so much 'slip', it can move around too easily and thus take any powder with it. I also found that it didn't last as long as I'd hoped. With all my other concealers I can manage a full working day without any fading or wearing away, but with this, it had practically disappeared by lunchtime.


So, with all of these negative points, you would think that I wouldn't be using this concealer again, right? Well, this review does have a happy ending. You see, I think the main problem with this - and other under-eye concealers - is that they advise you to apply them on the entire under-eye area. If anyone out there is like me, you will find that even the driest of concealers will crease over time, which is my biggest concern. However, it is rare that dark circles and shadows go right up to the lower lashline, which is where the majority of creases are - so why apply concealer there? I will do a blog post on this routine in the future, but I now apply a heavier-coverage concealer on the majority of my dark circles (avoiding the creases) and with a small brush apply Fake Up to the very worst shadowed areas. Used in this way it works perfectly and I really couldn't be any happier with it! I will now get even more value for money than originally thought which is always an added bonus. So, even though I can't use this as intended it's ended up working extremely well in small doses - and that's good enough for me!

Final verdict: If used lightly and if you don't have particularly bad dark circles, this concealer is perfect for you. For more heavy-duty purposes, this is best used in conjunction with another concealer.

Benefit Fake Up Concealer can be bought from Benefit counters or online for £18.50.