Coastal Scents Camo Quad Light Review and Swatches

So begins another chapter in my quest for the perfect concealer

Camo Quad - Light

I really wanted to love Coastal Scents' Camo Quad. (I want to love every concealer I try!) I started out being really disappointed but then I figured out the perfect method of application and now I'm a fan.  

Coastal Scents offers these quads in 4 shades - Light, Medium, Dark and Color Corrector. I got the Light, which is a decent enough match for me but I think Medium probably would have been fine for me, since they provide a white shade in each of the three concealer quads allowing you to lighten any of the three colors to match your skin tone. I was drawn to Light due to the inclusion of the yellow toned concealer as yellows seem to really work for my ridiculously dark purple under eye circles. Also included in the Light Quad are a salmon toned shade and a more flesh toned shade. The salmon shade has actually turned out to be the best shade for me, giving me the most natural finish. The others are a bit too light.

Camo Quad Swatches - Light - in sunlight

They currently cost $7.95 which is a great value considering how much product you get. So often products I buy online end up being much smaller that expected, but this was actually bigger! And CS has frequent sales so you might be able to get it for even less.

When I first saw my quad in person, I was disappointed because the shades looked quite dull in the pan to me. However once applied, they are actually rather brightening, so no worries there. All of the shades seem to be lighter once applied than they look in the pan.

These concealers are a cream to powder finish and I personally don't think anyone over the age of 27 has any business putting anything even remotely powdery under their eyes, unless of course you have some major oil issues, which I don't. Without primer, each one of the 4 shades immediately looks cakey under my eyes and they only get worse throughout the day. With primer, things are a bit better to begin with, but they still eventually cake up, rendering this product almost unwearable. I say "almost" because I can get away with wearing them if I have a short day planned AND I'm wearing my glasses (which cover up any weirdness that may be going on in the eye make-up dept)
The key for me is to apply my regular eye cream right before applying all my makeup and to not apply any primer. This sheers out the coverage a little (it's still medium-full though) and provides a nice, smooth and natural finish.

These quads are definitely worth a try especially at this price. You might have to do some experimentation of your own to get your desired results though. I'm glad I didn't give up on this right away because I'm quite pleased with it.