In Retrospect: Etude Surpise Essence Concealer

Whoo~! Hey guys! Hope you're all having a wonderful week. For some people out there, it's that time of year that you get to spend time with your family and commemorate what some may call Holy Week. Some people might think about it as the time when chocolates start coming in funky bunny and egg shapes in time for Easter, and for some it's just any other day - enjoy it either way :P

For me on the other hand, I've been spending the past few days reviewing for seemingly never ending exams.  Oh the life of an Iskolar ng Bayan (trans: Scholar of the Nation). I had an ethics debate just this Monday, an exam for my Major yesterday and two exams just today x_x I have 3 more exams coming up next week plus a paper due next Friday. I'll be honest with you guys - I've been running on less than two hours of sleep for the past few days. Talk about exhausting. Lack of sleep does horrid things to your skin. Fortunately for me, I'm not one who breaks out due to stress, but one thing that really plagues me is DARK CIRCLES. Ugh.

*Insert Picture of horridly dark circles here.* On second thought - never mind. you might run away screaming.

You guys are probably just going to have to take my word for it haha.

When these kinds of stressful non-stop work days come however, there's always been this one thing I've been going to for backup - Etude House's Surprise Essence Concealer.

Frankly speaking, this isn't the best concealer out there. Nor does it have any real WOW factor to it. It's a basic concealer that works for me and that's it. But I use it almost everyday and it's my go-to concealer out of habit. I think my skin's adapted to it so well (not the other way around) that no other concealer seems to  sit as well as this does when it comes to my dark circles. I probably can't say the same for everybody out there but this just has a special place in my heart.

I think it started out when I had just ran fresh out of my L'oreal True Match Concealer and was looking for something cheaper to fall back on. I think this was my first ever purchase from Etude House here in the Philippines and that was almost a year ago. Prior to this, my only other Etude House purchase had been a lip gloss and their Baby Skin Foundation 2 or 3 years back from Thailand. Needless to say, at that time it was a last resort purchase, and just like its name suggests, I was surprised at how well it worked for me. I've been using it ever since!

It's undergone quite a few changes since then, most notably in packaging -

Haha, you can see my battered up old tube on the right. It was markedly less cute a year back than it is now. My old tube's even become somewhat misshapen. Funny story. I left it next to my laptop's exhaust outlet where all the heat lets out and the packaging bent out of shape. Remind me never to do that ever again x_x

The new packaging is highlighted by a cute baby pink but still contains the same amount of product for the same price. Glad to see that despite the bad economy the price of my go-to concealer hasn't budged :P Despite that, I can't help but miss the old brown packaging. I was less worried about getting it beat up and dirty when it wasn't quite as cute. Now I always make sure to take extra care when handling the new packaging because the pink is so easy to get dirty D:

Another change that I've noticed is in the wand --

It has a rather odd shape now if you ask me. With one little round top and a wide area under. Sort of reminds me of FairyDrop's Volume Burst Mascara wand haha. I guess the tip is for precise dotting and spot concealing and you can just tilt the angle of the brush for a wider coverage. I still don't see the need though. I could do that just fine with the old wand.

One thing that hasn't changed however is the product itself:

It looks a bit different swatched on my hand because my old tube dried out a bit, but it's essentially just the same concealer I've grown to know and love. You can leave it as is for a dewy finish or top it off with some powder to set it into a matte finish. No worries - it doesn't cake of settle. It's some of the thinnest consistency concealer without compromising good coverage I've used. It also has floral-citrus scent to it, which really wakes me up in the morning!

I choose under eye concealer that's one shade lighter than my skin tone so that it has a brightening effect on my dark eye circles x_x I use a different concealer/product for spot correction/concealing when I need it.

I can't count the times this concealer has saved me from that dead tired zombie look in cases of all-night studying, project cramming and procrastination brought about by distracting Korean Dramas (DARN YOU Queen InHyun's Man!!!)

This is a picture from a few days ago, when my dark eye circles were starting to resurface once again. You can't really tell because my my flash lighting washes my skin out in these shots but IRL, you'd cringe in horror.

There's a HUGE difference if you ask me. It brightens up my eyes quite well, doesn't dry out the skin under my eyes and also doesn't settle into fine lines.

NOTE: The skin around and under your eyes is very susceptible to wrinkling, and drying out. It's probably one of the more sensitive parts of the skin on your face so finding a good product for it is really important. I find this concealer is very gentle with my skin and it lasts pretty long as well.

Again, I'll say this - this isn't the best concealer out there, but I've grown to love it out of a sense of loyalty over the time I've used it. It's probably why, along with Etude House's Goodbye Pore Ever Primer Stick, it's earned its place as one of my Etude House Essentials.

Of course, there's no substitute for a good night's rest and proper sleeping habits. Children and ladies, don't follow my example TT_TT Instead, sleep early and rest those beautiful eyes x_x Unless of course you're up late at night reading my blog, then it's okay LOL I'M KIDDING. Go to sleep!

Ada, signing out!

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