Brightening

Catrice The Great Christmas Advent Calendar Under Eye Brightener Review

By Maychiri's Thoughts - December 02, 2024

Well, the cheeks aren’t going to be the only bright area on the face, now, will they? This appears to be some sort of brightening... powder? Cream? Whatever it is, it should make the undereye radiant and healthy-looking!
 
 
 
 
Packaging: little plastic pot, though it’s very robust and heavy – nice! The pot has a black lid that is decorated with gold metallic text and, of course, art deco details. It looks very pretty! There is a sticker on the bottom, but if you want to see the ingredients, you’ll have to refer back to the calendar. A bit annoying, but standard stuff for Catrice. The lid closes extremely tightly, but it is still easy to unscrew and open. Very good design and quality!
 

 
 
 

Ingredients: shea (Butyrospermum parkii) butter, bisabolol, vitamin E, hyaluronic acid for nourishment. No parabens. It’s also got a lot of oils, including castor oil and sunflower oil, I am not sure that this will be good for my already oily skin. Although I didn’t expect it to actually have any real nourishing ingredients, so this is very nice! The scent is literally non-existent. I really tried to identify some kind of scent, but it really doesn’t smell like anything. The expiration date is just 6 months after opening.
 
 
Colour: oh... this is pink. So it’s like those pink face powders, which, supposedly, give you a healthy glow. Swatching it, I see that this is not actually a very light pink. It’s also not pure pink, it’s actually more like a lightish rose. And this is a problem. It looks like it’s too dark for me, though it becomes much lighter as you are blending it out. I managed to make it look fairly ‘normal’ on me, but I don’t have cool undertones, so it is still obvious that there is something pink under my eyes. So while it looks okay when blended out, there’s still an undertone mismatch. And even if there wasn’t, I still don’t like having pink under my eyes like this; I am just not a fan of those pink face powders, so I am not a fan of this rose pink undereye cream. 
 


As with the first day, here is a nice, clear swatch for now! It appears that this ‘brightener’ does oxidise a little bit after like 10 minutes or so. Though it’s not a significant change, and it won’t be visible anyways once it is blended out. So it doesn’t matter anyways.
 
 

Since this is, more-or-less, a pink undereye concealer, I will review it as a concealer. Because, otherwise, I have no idea how to classify this thing.
 
 
Pure swatch on foundation (Essence Natural Matte Mousse Foundation, shade 13)
 
Now this is a type of packaging that I loathe, in general. You get the pot and that’s it. So you’ll have to dip your fingers in, which is not hygienic at all, especially if you have longer nails. Indeed, I struggle to even pick up the pigment now that my nails are a bit longer. I don’t have to mention how this requires you to keep your hands perfectly clean otherwise it will quickly become a breeding place for various bacteria you don’t want on your skin. It’s easier to apply it with fingers, though, so that’s what you’ll probably be using, but I recommend using one of those small silicone lip mask applicators, it will make things so much more hygienic. Also, it is too small for most foundation brushes, though concealer brushes will probably fit inside the pan if you decide to pick up the pigment with them. 
 
 
Before/After on foundation (Essence Natural Matte Mousse Foundation, shade 13)
Applied just under the eyes

So, this is weirdly very incredibly greasy and oily. At least, that’s how it feels when I dip my finger in the pan. The formula feels very greasy on skin, too. I really don’t like this formula, it’s way too greasy for me. But it dries down into a very light powder kind of formula that isn’t very greasy anymore. Though it does feel a bit occlusive. It doesn’t pill, but it can be a bit tricky to apply with both sponges and brushes. Oh, I should also note that this thing was ‘sweating’ from the very first moment I opened it – and I was keeping it in a dark, not too warm room! So It seems there is some oil separation going on already... not good. The top layer indeed felt very wet and oily.
 
 
Before/After on foundation (Essence Natural Matte Mousse Foundation, shade 13)
Applied just under the eyes
 
This ‘brightener’, surprisingly, doesn’t look very textured or grainy. Probably because it is so greasy. However, I would describe its texture as being ‘dry’. Wherever I put it, my skin looks more dried out. This is especially noticeable under the eyes, where the skin is naturally very delicate and thin. This is not good, as you generally want to avoid having that area look dry. And if you try to apply it anywhere else, it will just make the skin look desiccated and sickly. And also greasy at the same time, because it isn’t matte. It also looks cakey, even with a light layer. So, cakeyness + dried out look = not a good time. Perhaps my skin is just too oily and problematic for this? The finish is another thing I don’t like; it has a greasy shiny finish on that dried out, cakey base. Though, credit where it’s due, it absolutely does brighten up the undereye! It makes it very radiant – if you can get past the skin itself being very dry. So I guess it does what it was advertised to do?
 
 
Before/After on bare skin; applied all over as a foundation
 
Applying this ‘brightener’ is a bit of a hassle. Firstly, you need a lot of it to actually make any difference, but since it is so pigmented, you need to spend a long time blending it out. It’s easier to blend it out with a brush than a sponge. The blending is easier once you get started, it’s a bit hard to blend at first. Though, you have to work fast as it dries down quite quickly, and becomes hard to actually blend out once it dries. So, it’s a bit of a hassle, and the results are not really worth it, honestly.
 
 
Before/After on bare skin; applied all over as a foundation
 
Why? Because, once you do actually blend it out, it stops being pink! It does still brighten up the undereye, but without any pink colour, why use this over literally any other brightening concealer or powder? I am currently using this in place of a concealer under my eyes, and, honestly, it doesn’t look any different. Just a tad pinker than the rest of my face. So there’s always a mismatch between my undereye and the rest of the face, no matter how much I blend it out. I get the same result when I use my normal concealer and powder it down with an undereye powder. So, what’s the point of this, exactly?
 
Before/After on bare skin; applied all over as a foundation
Notice how horribly pink it is
 
One thing I didn’t notice when I just applies this ‘brightener’ to my undereyes, but which is plainly visible onto the rest of the face, is, that it’s actually quite high coverage! It’s medium coverage easily, with the possibility of being full coverage if you layer it on (I wouldn’t do that though, it feels like a breakout waiting to happen). But, given the greasy yet dry look of it, it just ends up being cakey instead of smooth full coverage. But if you really needed to, you can conceal a blemish with this.
 
 
Before/After on bare skin; applied all over as a foundation

This ‘brightener’ is actually pretty comfortable to wear, until you try to touch it, and realise again just how greasy it is. I generally cannot feel it in my skin, especially if I only applied it to my undereye. But it definitely feels comedogenic, and it is for sure drying. My undereye looks noticeably drier after a few hours of wearing this thing, and it still looks dried out for hours afterwards. I am worried that it might worsen skin wrinkling as that part of my face is already in not-too-good shape with all the sleepless nights I am having. I also don’t want to apply it elsewhere because I do not want to deal with cystic acne now that I’ve got that under control somewhat. But it is nice that my skin doesn’t feel like it’s suffocating underneath this, though, whatever small comfort that is. 
 
 
Before/After on bare skin; applied all over as a foundation
 
Longevity is decent, as long as you don’t get your face wet, as this ‘brightener’ is not at all water-resistant. It washes right off; it’s just too greasy to survive being wet. And it is definitely not meant for oily skin as my sebum breaks through within an hour or two if I apply this on other parts of the face. It’s alright under the eyes, though, as there is not a lot of sebum there. But it still creases here, so there are problems all around. Although, it does stay in pretty good shape in the undereye for hours, and keeps that nice radiant glow. Just don’t touch it, as it’s not at all transfer-proof, either. So... okay, I guess?
 
Used in a full look, with foundation, setting powder & setting spray

Guess what? Finally, the greasiness is paying off, as that is the reason why this ‘brightener’ is so easy to remove! Just a single swipe with micellar water will do, no need to rub a lot. In fact, I have been able to remove it easily with a dry cotton pad, as well. This speaks volumes about the longevity, does it not? But I am glad that it’s this easy to remove, at least something good to come out of this whole ordeal.
 
 

All in all, I honestly do not get the point of this. I never understood the ‘pink setting powder’ trend; 9 out of 10 times, it just ends up looking like any other powder, even in the hands of real pros (if even people like James Charles cannot make wow results with it then...). I get that the idea is to add some natural healthy rosy warmth into the skin, but it just doesn’t work, especially with this ‘brightener’. It is aggressively peachy pink and a bit too dark for my skintone, but most of that disappears as you are blending it out, anyways. So in the end, the skin looks just a bit pink – and a whole lot more radiant! Now, I really like this radiance, but I, at the same time, really dislike how it makes my skin look dry and greasy at the same time. It really doesn’t have a nice texture, especially if you apply it on places other than the undereye; it gives a sickly, greasy finish that, combined with the radiance, just doesn’t look good at all. And I really don’t want my undereye to look any more dried out, it’s already going through enough with my insomnia. And the formula is so very greasy! It feels so comedogenic and greasy on my skin at first, though that is soon replaced with a lighter, more powdery feeling. That makes it much more comfortable to wear – just don’t expect it to wear for an extremely long amount of time. On oily skin, it lasts maybe an hour or two in places other than the undereye, before sebum breaks through and makes everything look even more greasy. It’s alright under the eye, but the problem there is that it creases. Is there like anything good about this weird thing?? I don’t enjoy using it, but I hate being wasteful so I will, begrudgingly, use it until it’s empty. But I don’t like it at all. I just don’t see the point – just use a normal glowy concealer and skip all this hassle. That’s two products now that have been... not too good, shall we say... hope this isn’t a trend.



Rating: 3/10





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