I’ll Never Leave the House Without Sarah Creal’s Face Flex Correct Under-Eye Brightener Again

I like to say that my apartment is my very own Sephora. Call it a (very fun) occupational hazard, but I am swimming in products. The joke of it all? My 56-year-old mom, Mindy, who does not work as a beauty editor or test products for a living, easily has twice as much makeup in her bathroom as I do. She’s a little bit of a hoarder, but I think it makes us a uniquely equipped mother-daughter duo to test beauty products on different skin types and ages.

We have a few favorites among us at this point: some Armani, a little Victoria Beckham Beauty, and, of course, Charlotte Tilbury. But one brand has quietly expanded its presence in our day-to-day beauty routines: Sarah Creal Beauty. We are both die-hard fans of the tubing mascara, the bronzer, her eyeliner (!!), and lip gloss. But this week, a new product entered our chat: Face Flex Correct. It’s a color corrector that’s supposed to neutralize sallowness, discoloration, and dark circles (we need that). So, let’s put it to the test, shall we?

The Formula

Even though the bottle is nearly identical to Face Flex, don’t get confused—this isn’t a concealer. Instead, it’s part of what I would consider the most underrated makeup category: color correctors. The intention isn’t to provide heavy coverage, but to cancel out unwanted tones, aka purple, brown, or blue, with yellow, orange, or peachy tones. That being said, don’t let the five-SKU shade range deter you—these aren’t supposed to be your exact match. In fact, it should look slightly too orange on your under-eyes if you want it to work.

The finish is natural, radiant, which is pretty middle ground on the matte-to-glowy scale, and it’s been cooked up in the lab with all the ingredients you could ever want in a color corrector. For starters, there’s caffeine, the ultimate puffiness reducer. Then there are soothing and calming ingredients like aloe leaf extract and green tea. Hyaluronic acid finishes out the formula, which is key to plumping, hydrating, and smoothing.

The Application

Using this color corrector can be a little tricky. Funnily enough, Mindy is the one who taught me the best plan of attack, so I’ll use her words, not mine. “You want to put it on the back of your hand—just a dot—and then saturate your brush before gently tapping it into your under-eye crevice, starting in the center and diffusing outwards. Once that looks good to you, apply your concealer as normal—I like to use a brush again. To make it all mesh together, press it in with a damp (but really wrung out) beautyblender,” she explains.

Just one word of caution: Face Flex Correct sets super quickly. You have maybe 30 seconds tops to work with the product, so do one eye at a time and have your application tools at the ready.

The Takeaway

For Mindy and I, rating an eye product is two-fold. First and foremost, we evaluate how it applies. With this guy, there was a bit of a learning curve. You need about two-thirds less product than you probably think. (A good problem to have, but I had to issue a word of warning nonetheless.) But overall, the formula is beautiful. “It blends really nicely and didn’t emphasize dry patches or creases,” says Mindy. “I actually found that it de-puffed my under-eyes considerably.” Plus, the tonality of the shades made a huge difference in my dark circles. I’ve played with both K-Bye and Power Nap, and they both work magic on discoloration. In fact, it’s so good that I’ve left the house without any other makeup—a dot is enough to make me look wide awake and rested.

The second grading scale we consider is how the product wears throughout the day. So many color correctors end up either completely fading, creasing, or not playing well with concealer formulas that sit on top. I can’t say I was shocked, because Sarah Creal products have a habit of bringing innovative technologies into the fold, but this color corrector did none of the above.

It lasted pretty much all day long and served as a primer for my concealer, allowing it to float on top. “I ended up needing so much less product than I would normally use because I wasn’t actually trying to cover discoloration with my concealer—it was already gone,” says Mindy. “It’s probably my favorite product in her line, and that’s saying something.” I am personally loyal to the Back of the Cab Tubing Mascara, but Face Flex Correct is a very close second.

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