Turns out my concerns about how DuWop Circle Block Concealer ($28) would actually work in practice were right. I’m glad I saved my receipt because it’s going right back to Sephora!
It’s really too bad ’cause I was so excited about this product. I’d never seen anything like Circle Block’s two-part concealer system before. The cute lil’ jar comes with both a creamy peach colored waterproof color corrector to block dark circles and a liquid under-eye concealer to cover them up. Sounds genius, right?
Circle Block in Medium
There are three shades (light, medium, dark) to choose from, and I decided to go with medium.
My eyes look pretty good when I have it on; the color corrector covers up the dark areas thoroughly, and the concealer lightens up the eye area — like it’s supposed to.
Unfortch the effect doesn’t last, and after just one hour of wear it all but disappears. Hello again, zombie girl!
And I really tried to make Circle Block work. I did all sorts of Frankensteiny experiments mixing different makeup primers, eye creams and setting powders to get some extra wear time out of it, but nothing made a difference.
I even tried varying the ratio of color corrector to concealer thinking that that would do the trick, but no luck there, either.
Nekkid eye!
With one layer of peach color corrector…
… and then with concealer popped right on top.
While I can’t say for certain why Circle Block slides right off (maybe I got a faulty pot?), it may have something to do with how oily the skin is around my eyes, or maybe the product’s just too emollient for my skin.
DuWop Circle Block Concealer
Price: $28
Use: A two-part under-eye system with a color corrector and concealer for dark circles
Makeup and Beauty Blog Rating: C
Even though it didn’t set my world on fire, I bet Circle Block would work better for you if you have dry skin (or at least skin that isn’t oily like mine) around your eyes.
If you decide to give it a try, be prepared to spend some time troubleshooting to find the right amount of color corrector to apply. Too much resulted in a heavy, caked on look. It took a few tries to find the sweet spot.
You might like Circle Block Concealer if…
- You have dry skin under your eyes
- You like scented products (it smells lightly of cocoa butter)
- You normally purchase concealers in the $30 price range
- You prefer cruelty-free cosmetics
Tuesday…eh
Do you ever feel so wiggly that you can’t concentrate at all? For the life of me I haven’t been able to stay on task today. I had a whole list of things I wanted to get done today, but all I managed to do was substantially increase my library of Tamoh Penikitt pictures. I guess that’s productive in its own special way, ha ha ha!
How’s your day been?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Katie & Zena says
April 7th, 2009 at 8:16 pmThe scent of cocoa butter knocked that off my wishlist. I am so allergic to that scent!
Karen, your dark circles aren’t that bad. You should see mine. I look like a vampire with my dark undereye circles and super pale skin! I would go concealer-less if I had your circles! Mine are hereditary blue. Ich.
Have you tried L’Oreals True Match concealer? I use fair-light cool (C1-2-3) and that stuff is divine for covering my undereye circles and lasts all day. They have nine shades to choose from too. You should give it a spin!
Karen says
April 8th, 2009 at 9:34 amHi Katie,
Hmm, it’s been a minute since I’ve tried a drugstore concealer, but I think it’s worth a shot! 🙂
Liz! says
April 7th, 2009 at 9:00 pmYeah… I wouldn’t exactly call those things ‘circles.’ I can use two layers of Painterly and my circles still show. I’ve tried layering yellow concealer, then flesh-toned concealer, then foundation, and THEN tinted powder, and you can still see them. Most cover up products just turn them grayish-greenish, except when it’s a pinky-purple concealer, and then my undereyes just look… pinky-purple. *Le sigh*
Karen says
April 8th, 2009 at 9:34 amHi Liz!,
LOL, you haven’t seen me on my three hours of sleep days. They take on a life of their own.
It sounds like you’ve tried every trick underneath the sun. Have you tried any concealer product that you can recommend to a fellow zombie girl?
Katie & Zena says
April 7th, 2009 at 9:15 pmLiz!,
Have you tried putting on your foundation THEN concealer? I always do that as if I put on my foundation after putting on concealer it erases all the hard work I did concealing my vampire blue under eye circles!
Marisol says
April 7th, 2009 at 9:45 pmI may have to try this one when I run out of my MUFE concealer. I tend to have dry skin.
Marisol´s last blog post..Movies & more movies
Karen says
April 8th, 2009 at 9:32 amHi Marisol,
Yah, it might work for you! Gotta love the stuff that moisturizes. 🙂
Elena says
April 7th, 2009 at 9:51 pmGood review, Karen, thanks for letting us know. 😀 I know you’ve might have seen or tried this before, but I received a sample of BeneFit’s Erase Paste in 02 (I’m an NC 25) and that stuff is like magic on my skin. It’s a super peachy, super creamy concealer, and just a little goes a very long way underneath my eyes. If you haven’t tried it already, you should swing by a counter and ask for a sample. 😀
Otherwise, I’m loving the recent foundation and concealer reviews. I never run into enough of those online! Thanks. 🙂
Karen says
April 8th, 2009 at 8:46 amHi Elena,
Glad that you like the reviews! I’ll try to do more in the future.
I’ve tried Erase Paste in the past and it doesn’t work for me (I’m somewhere between 01 and 02). But I’m glad to hear that it’s magic for you! That’s great. 🙂
Karen4 says
April 8th, 2009 at 3:58 amHi Karen!
I agree with Elena about BeneFit’s Erase Paste. I had a sample in 01, the lightest shade (I’m an NW 20/23) and this stuff is magic! My sample lasted for over a week, since just a tiny bit does the job.
Thanks for the review on DuWop.
Karen says
April 8th, 2009 at 8:45 amHi Karen4,
I’m glad to hear that Erase Paste works for ya! It’s an interesting product. I tried it before and thought it was neat but I just couldn’t get the shades to work for me.
Anyway, hope you’re having a nice week so far!
YadiQ says
April 8th, 2009 at 6:53 ami am back in the market for concealer too
i basically loved the lancome photogenic concealer i bought but now not so much – i am starting to think they gave me the wrong color so it looks a bit pasty so – what i have been doing is layering the lancome first as “spackle” then i pat on some almay bright eyes concealer over it – this will have to get me through cause i refuse to buy my chanel again till i have gone through this lancome cause i lost my receipt and i cant return it at this point
You think you have dark circles – girl then i should send you a picture of mine sans makeup they are bad bad BAD – i have tried everything and nothing makes them better – no amount of cream nor makeup nor treatment helps – cest la vie!
i will have to continue to spackle lol
Karen says
April 8th, 2009 at 8:44 amHi Yadi,
That pic was taken on a good day, LOL! Today the dark circles are in full force. I couldn’t fall asleep last night so I’m gonna need something good today!
cloudburst says
April 8th, 2009 at 8:24 amHave you tried MAC Select Cover? Because I find that a great concealer for oily skin, it dries super matte & lasts a long time. If you find it too sheer, put some in a sample pot & it will naturally thicken as it dries out a bit, then you can get more coverage in one layer. Try it!
Karen says
April 8th, 2009 at 8:43 amHi Cloudburst,
Thanks for the rec. I’ve used it in the past before — it doesn’t really work for me. But thanks for reminding all the oily-skinned girls about it! 🙂
cloudburst says
April 8th, 2009 at 8:26 amAnother quick suggestion – use a warm tone, it will help neutralise the dark circles without being too light & pasty looking, for example I wear NC 30/35 foundation but a NW 25 concealer.
Karen says
April 8th, 2009 at 8:42 amHi Cloudburst,
Yup, I do that. I learned it at a Barbie Loves MAC seminar a few years back. It’s a good one!
Stacie says
April 8th, 2009 at 10:34 amOy, I’ve got super pale skin along with hereditary dark circles! I look like a zombie all the time. Or at least I did before I discovered Erase Paste. Good stuff, as long as I put it on after my foundation. It doesn’t last all day for me, though, but it makes it a few hours. I have oily skin around my eyes as well, so that’s probably why. For the most part the circles don’t bother me anymore–they’ll always be there, since I’m so pale! (Pick any line of foundation. Now pick the lightest shade…oh look, it’s too dark!!)
Christina says
April 8th, 2009 at 11:13 amThat’s disappointing…
Christina´s last blog post..He IS Back
meimei says
April 8th, 2009 at 11:15 amI tried Circle Block at a Sephora event a few weeks ago. Now, I have dry (and poorly moisturized) skin around my eyes, which means concealers can get caked on pretty easily… but even the MUA who was demonstrating the Circle Block on me wasn’t too impressed with the coverage, since it ended up settling into the fine lines after all! FAIL.
She did, however, end up putting on LORAC’s Double Feature, and it worked out OK… but I wussed out on buying it, since I was still more horrified by the fine lines than anything else.
meimei´s last blog post..The Case for the Basics: The Boar Bristle Brush*
Anastasia says
April 8th, 2009 at 11:38 amI’ve been having pretty good luck with Benefit’s Boi-ing… I tried it and Erase Paste both and I literally can wear Boi-ing without foundation over it.
I’m happy, but it’s moderately expensive. That’s the price I pay for having Herman Munster’s dark circles though LOL
Michelle says
April 8th, 2009 at 12:01 pmThank you so much for this review Karen, I was going to buy this when I read about it in a magazine. You saved me $28 that will be used for something else 🙂
Kelly says
April 8th, 2009 at 7:34 pmOk, so everyone is giving you suggestions but I feel like I have the real solution. I just started using Bobbi Brown’s Tinted Eye Brightener after reading tons of reviews on MUA. This stuff is the shiznit. My circles are concealed AND my eye area looks brighter and more awake. Also, it layers really well if one coat doesn’t do the job. I have those awesome under-eye wrinkles that really tend to stand out with concealer, so I put on my eye cream, then the BB and my eyes look 10 years younger. You should totally check it out. A little goes a really long way. ‘Nuff said.
Mippa says
April 9th, 2009 at 6:28 pmSomething similar which might work better for you is Paula Dorf’s undereye concealer. You can find it at ULTA. So many people swore by it when I worked there, and it was really amazing.
Soraya says
April 10th, 2009 at 7:28 amI have the darkest circles everrr (hereditary ones, bleh). At the moment I’m using Benefit Boi-ing.
I’ve found my circles are covered best when I layer up foundation on them. The foundation I use is quite thick and creamy which probably helps.
I almost never wear foundation so that trick doesn’t get much use unfortunately!
However, I wear glasses and my circles go unnoticed with them on so I’m happy with Boi-ing for now. 🙂
Karen says
April 10th, 2009 at 8:43 amHi Soraya,
I wear my glasses on my days when the circles are extra bad. It’s a good trick. 🙂