Swatch & Review: Garnier BB Eye Roll On (Asian Skin)

Garnier Skin Naturals recently came up with a new BB Eye Roll On which contains mineral pigments to help conceal and treat dark eye circles. While I think this isn’t marketed as an eyecream, it does help with slight hydration around the eye areas. It is a concealer enriched with Pure Lemon Essence and Caffeine to help with circulation.

Actually saw this being promoted on NRWZD a month back whereby Kevin 老师 raved about it saying it was only available (then) in Europe and nowhere else. Since my parents were heading to Europe then I got my mum to buy it for me.

But she came back with Clinique All About Eyes Serum instead because she said they were only brought to “upmarket stores”.

Anyway, I got this yesterday at my local drugstore and couldn’t wait to try it out today!

It claims to help the eye contour to look:

• more fair
• more radiant
• more even toned
• less dark circles
• more fresh
• more smooth
• less tired
• more hydrated
• firmer

Basically I think the claims are like.. DUH. If you conceal all dark circles of course you will look fresher, healthier, more radiant etc etc etc.

The actual product:

Roller ball:

Swatch:

Mine is in shade “Natural”

Ok, here’s the deal. To demonstrate how the coverage is like for this product, I’d have to show you my bare eyes (and face). Because we all know, swatches on back on hands are useless to prove how good the coverage is.

Here goes NOTHINGGGGGGGG.

Bare naked eyes (with eye cream on):

*ashamed*

I know right. Lots of discolorations and my dark circles are like WHOA. Hence I already long gave up on eye creams that claim to “lighten dark circles” and instead invested in heavy duty concealers. Therefore, if you ask me what I cannot live without, my answer will undoubtedly be “undereye concealers”!!

Those who know me in real life, you’d never have guessed my dark circles are THAT bad. So don’t complain to me about your bad dark circles because mine are really….. devastating.

I applied the eye roll-on generously on my undereyes:

After tapping and blending in:

After eye makeup + foundation:

I applied LF on undereyes to help with coverage

After approx 6.5hours of wear (Close Up):

Well. Here are my thoughts on this product.

PROS:

• Convenient (sleek packaging)
• Easy to blend (light texture helps with quick blending, natural coverage)
• Does not sink into lines (Big YAY! I have dry eyes you know, everything settles into my lines especially cream products.)
• Wears well (does not dry my eye area after hours in air-conditioning)
• Finish is fantastic. (does not look like you have anything on)
• Matte feel (makes it ok to wear alone without having to powder. Absolutely essential when you want to go for that i-have-no-makeup-on-at-all-and-i’m-a-natural-beauty look)

CONS:

• Coverage is not very buildable (Nope! I tried. If you roll on more product, you end up rubbing the bottom layer away. What I did to help with coverage is to tap the concealer on with my ring finger and not roll on eye area directly.)
• Product gunks up at opening, roller ball area (ANNOYING, have to do lots of clean up and it looks ugly)

Verdict:

Overall, this is a good product to own but not a must-have in my opinion. On some days I really don’t want to look very made up and I don’t have anything like this in my stash so I kinda loved it. I didn’t actually have high regards for this product but I find that it really surprised me especially when I think it helps with hydration. I read a lot of reviews saying it will sink into lines and totally dry up the eye area but that didn’t happen to me. I also found that I got better coverage when I used this alone instead of with an eye cream. The eye cream tends to give it more slip (so it goes on easier) but it also means it is harder to build up coverage. If your eye areas are so dry that you have to use an eye cream beforehand, make sure you let the eye cream settle FULLY.. Which was what I didn’t do because I was rushing for time *shamefaced*

It is also a good base to use under your concealers. I usually need to layer sheer concealers a few times before I can get coverage that is good-enough-to-leave-the-house-and-meet-people. With this, I just need to roll on generously, taptaptap and it gives me a nice blended finish so it’s easy to put on creamier concealers (ie. Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer, Amazing Cosmetics Concealer, Boujois Healthy Mix Correcting Concealer). It is also nice to use alone if you are going for a natural look or when you do not have severe problems with dark circles.

Will I repurchase? Probably not. It is a novelty and it is nice to have but it isn’t HG status for me.

Buy this if:

You want a lightweight under eye concealer with treatment properties without looking cakey and unnatural.

OR if you are seeing a new boyfriend and you do not want him to see your totally bare-naked face on the first night of sleeping together…. (TEEEHEEE).  Not that I recommend sleeping with it ON of course, because I will choose to remove this with a proper make up remover or something equivalent.

Do not buy if:

You have been buying heavy-duty concealers all your life.

Price:

SGD22.90/15ml