Musings of a Muse

A Blog of Musings from a Cosmetic Whore

Oct 28, 2008

Sana Make Essence Concealer Review

We all got pretty damn excited last week when I posted about the Sana Make Essence Concealer (CLICK!). It wasn't the concealer that got us so hyper but the packaging and the cute little bear prancing around the packaging with angry dark circles under his ickle eyes! Awww the cuteness was too much for everyone to bear (pun intended hahaha..."everyone to bear..." get it? The Muse is hysterical isn't she? And corny as bloody hell!)!





Of course, buying into the bear's kawaii image was easy enough for the Muse! Who wouldn't get sucked in by a bear being depressed about his dark circle eye problem. After all, who better, then a cute little bear to relate to our problems of dark circles under our unrested eyes...right?

Wrong.

Sana Make Essence has the cute bear going for it but that's about it. Sadly, this doesn't work worth a damn and the Muse is still suffering from dark circles and in need of a something WAY more pigmented to conceal her under eye woes.

Jenn, from Japan, kindly pointed out that bear and circle are actually the same word in Japanese....who knew right? Which explains why Sana went with the bear image however I personally think Sana was trying to suck in schmucks like the Muse who dig cute packaging!

Awww who could resist this little guy?






So what is this stuff anyway?

It's a yellow based concealer that actually has the potential to be great but somewhere along the way it fails miserably. The concealer comes in a small squeeze tube with a needle nose applicator for application. You can squeeze a bit out on your finger or dab some on with the applicator, it's entirely up to you how you use it. As we all know, I hope we all know, yellow is normally a good solid color for concealing dark circles. If you have particularly bad dark circles you'll want to seek out a strong yellow based concealer. In this case, Sana Make Essence, isn't yellow based but actually yellow in color which isn't necessarily a bad thing as I've used completely yellow concealers before and had successful results at concealing my dark under eye circles.















One of the main problems with the product is that it isn't pigmented enough to conceal anything. The concealer does lighten the area a tiny little bit but as far as concealing dark circles that's not happening anytime soon. The formula is nice enough in that it's not too thick nor is it too runny but just about perfect in it's consistency however it does seem quite a good deal drying when applied. I did notice that it has a rather interesting texture that's partially silicon feeling. If it was pigmented enough to conceal it's texture would be nice for filling small lines however it fails terribly at actually concealing so anything else that could possibly be good about this is killed off in the long run as it doesn't perform it's most basic and primary function of..simply..concealing. One of the second problems with the product is the scent. I suppose they were going for fresh scented? Or maybe not? But it has a faint plastic, just out of the tube scent that's rather off putting.

Sadly, the only thing that's awesome about Sana Make Essence Concealer is the packaging and the nice price. At 800 yen the concealer is super cheap but honestly it could be free and it would still stink! If you're really lemming it you can get it around the Internet with a price tag that's jacked up around $4-$5 on top of retail but I seriously don't recommend it.

The Muse no likey and says skip this one! Not worth your money and just doesn't do what it promises!

Although the bear is prancing around happy and dark circle free the Muse sure isn't!

Happy dark circle-free bear! Yay! (the Muse thinks he used something else to conceal those dark circles!)


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14 Comments:

Blogger Aline said...

lol isnt it funny how the packaging can just rope you into a product? that bear it just too cute, with all of his various facial expressions..

i feel you on those dark circles muse.. mine are HORRIBLE.. i have yet to find a concealer that works better than mediocre for me, but i found an eye cream that has lightened my circles quite a bit...

now, i took a chance on hylexin twice... i bought the first tube, and swapped for another on MUA.. both times all i got was a big fat NOTHING... then i tried a sample of MD skincares lift and lighten eye cream and to my surprise after just one week the difference was significant.. now i know this wont work for everyone but i am so glad i didnt just toss this sample after getting it.. if you ever get the urge to try out an eye cream, you should check this one out =)

it worked wonders for me

October 28, 2008 at 9:29 PM  
Blogger ~raspy~ said...

awwww!! is the concealer really that bad??! the bear is so cute!! i so want to own it!!

October 29, 2008 at 7:11 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Screw the concealer! How much for the bear?!?

I don't care if it doesn't work: I would still wear this stuff to the Teddy Bear's Picnic. If you go down to the woods today, we should totally meet up.

October 29, 2008 at 7:55 AM  
Blogger the Muse said...

hi aline!

LOL yes...it's funny and sad ;) The bear was my evil downfall :)

Honestly, dark circles aren't too bad however I have puffy, tired eyes and need super concealer to get it covered up :(

hylexin...hm ok never heard of this but MD's line I have heard of! Sounds like a dream cream! I personally loved La Mer eye balm but it's WAY too expensive for me. I was tempted to order during Saks FF but honestly the price was still too crazy :P It actually does work though..made my eyes look awake, younger, minus the puff! But at that price it should do my laundry and clean the house too! LOL!

I'll def try this! Thanks for the rec :)

October 29, 2008 at 10:29 AM  
Blogger the Muse said...

hi raspy!

LOL yea..sadly it wasn't good at all lol! But hey the packaging is cute right? hehe!

Hugs!

October 29, 2008 at 10:29 AM  
Blogger the Muse said...

hey mandy!

LOL! If I go to the woods with you is anything else going on I should know about ;)

October 29, 2008 at 10:30 AM  
Blogger MiuMiu said...

Hey Muse!
I must agree that the packaging looks so adorable! But I don't think I would try it, seeing how Sana has disappointed me once, with the pore putty face powder (yuck!!)
The texture looks similar to the Baby Pink Makeup base jelly that I have, but that's just a more pigmented version of it?? lol

October 29, 2008 at 7:55 PM  
Blogger Nicole said...

Hey beautiful! "One of the main problems with the product is that it isn't pigmented enough to conceal anything." Lol, you're too funny! Cute bear though :)

October 29, 2008 at 9:21 PM  
Blogger the Muse said...

It is kinda like the baby pink makeup base ;)

I admit the sana line has had disappointments for me too and most I stick with sana excel as that's the best part ;)

October 30, 2008 at 4:45 PM  
Blogger the Muse said...

lol nicole that damn bear has us enthralled ;)

October 30, 2008 at 4:46 PM  
Blogger acutelife said...

oh musey, thanks for the review!! I almost buy this concealer because I was so attracted by the cute bear ^^" btw,have you ever done a review for any of integrate products?

November 14, 2008 at 7:48 AM  
Blogger the Muse said...

hi acutelife how are you!? been ages since we talked!

You're most welcome!

The bear does it for me lol but sadly it doesn't work well at all!

I don't really do integrate b/c I'm a huge AJ hater but now that she's gone I'll be indulging in some lol! particularly the holiday collection ;)

I'll let you know when I review it!

November 14, 2008 at 3:13 PM  
Blogger paperdollrevenge said...

Aww so sad to hear it didn't work for you...I was seriously considering purchasing this too! But I was a bit skeptical, because I've seen girls give it good reviews but noticed they barely had dark circles in their before pictures, so I didn't know how well it would work for me.

Definitely that bear is too cute! And a big reason I wanted to buy the product, hehe.

Thanks for posting this honest review! You saved me money.

November 14, 2008 at 6:29 PM  
Blogger the Muse said...

hi paperdoll!

Mmm it's rubbish in all honesty :P if you have really bad dark circles avoid it..it may be cheap but does nothing :(

LOL ditto for me :) the bear did it for me!

You're most welcome, my pleasure!

Hugs!

November 17, 2008 at 3:15 PM  

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