Clé de Peau Beauté Concealer in Beige

~ stashy

When I hauled this item from Nordstrom in October last year, many of you expressed interest in seeing a review of this, so I prioritized it to test out.
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And 4 months later, here we are! This is as speedy as I can get, ok? 😛


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The Clé de Peau Beauté Concealer has been a long time lemming of mine. It’s supposed to be The Concealer to End All Concealers. So many people rave about it. The reviews stated that this concealer can both cover blemishes, hide redness and perform brilliantly on the under eye area – no small feat for a stick concealer.
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First, let’s get this out of the way. This concealer is expensive. It cost  me C$88 ($70 USD). 😮 This is more than I’d like to pay for a foundation or face powder, let alone a little concealer. But, if it was going to be The One, I was willing to entertain the price.
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The concealer is available in 6 shades:
• Ivory
• Almond
• Beige
• Ocher
• Honey
• Mocha
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I have the shade Beige.
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Clé de Peau Beauté states:

A perennial makeup artist favorite, Clé de Peau Beauté Concealer is highly editorialized and continues to win major awards year-after-year. Blends sublimely to expertly conceal dark circles, spots and imperfections. High performance powders ensure flawless skin in any light, providing maximum coverage with a smooth, even finish that does not crease.

I was with a bit of reverence that I opened the box. My first impressions of the concealer: it really does feel luxurious. The tube has a nice weight – it’s made of metal – and looks very upscale with gold lettering and a royal navy domed cap.
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The colour match is not perfect for me – the SA did test both Almond (too ashy) and Ochre (too yellow and dark) so Beige was the best match. I’d say it’s about 85% match but it’s a bit dark and peachier than my skin tone. But the peachiness under the eye isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  I also noted that it does not oxidize.
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To test the concealer thoroughly, I used it under my eyes (conceal dark circles), around my nose (conceal redness) and on my chin (conceal pigmentation, blemishes). It applies easily to all areas – it’s creamy, smooth and blends nicely on the skin. Despite my hesitation, it does perform well under the eyes without settling into fine lines or making the area look dry.  I prefer wearing is just on top of moisturizer – no corrector or primer.  However, it does fall short in several key areas: it’s not high coverage as claimed – I’d say it’s a solid medium coverage in terms of pigmentation. It also fades through the day – I definitely notice my under eye circles and spots peeking through by midday.

No review would be complete without a comparison on my blog! Here’s how the Clé de Peau Beauté Concealer compares against other stick concealers in my stash:
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L to R:
• Vichy DermaBlend Ultra Corrective Cream Stick Foundation in Opal 12 (~$30)
• KATE Stick Concealer in Natural Beige ($12.50)
• Revlon PhotoReady Concealer in Light Medium 003 ($15)
• Clé de Peau Beauté Concealer in Beige ($88)
• MAC Matchmaster Concealer in #1.0 ($26)

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The black lines were made using the Heroine Make Smooth Liquid Eyeliner in black. I did 2 passes with each concealer on top.

I mainly included the Vichy stick foundation to show the extreme end of coverage – that sucker can cover tattoos without breaking a sweat! It was not by accident that I arranged the concealers in this order – from left to right the concealer coverage decreases, ie. left is most opaque, right is most sheer. Here’s how I rate them against each other:
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The Clé de Peau is less pigmented than the KATE and the Revlon – all 3 applied smoothly and felt fairly comparable on the skin. One thing that the Clé de Peau excels at is that it can be applied on top of makeup to touch up without looking like a cakey mess. From my stash, the only other concealer that can do this well is the MAC Matchmaster – this is why I keep that concealer in my makeup bag at work for emergency touch ups.

Another point that is often cited it that the Clé de Peau Concealer contains a lot of product – 5g versus the usual ~3g. Even if I worked out the per gram price, the Clé de Peau Concealer is pricier:
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It is made in Japan and the ingredient list is as follows:
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Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891), Hydrogenated Polydecene, Cyclomethicone, Mica, Kaolin, Iron Oxides (Ci 77492), Diphenylsiloxy Phenyl Trimethicone, Paraffin, Sodium Magnesium Silicate, Iron Oxides (Ci 77491), Polyethylene, Sorbitan Sesquiisostearate, Glycerin, Barium Sulfate, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Microcrystalline Wax (Cera Microcristallina), Peg-10 Dimethicone, Phytosteryl Macadamiate, Iron Oxides (Ci 77499), Water (Aqua), Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Butylene Glycol, Polysilicone-5, Tocopherol, Fragrance, Tocopheryl Acetate, Aluminium Hydroxide, Alcohol, Aluminium Distearate, Dimethicone, Triethoxysilyethyl Polydimethylsiloxyethyl Dimethicone, Rosa Roxburghii Fruit Extract, Sodium Acetylated Hyaluronate, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Prunus Speciosa Leaf Extract, BHT.

So you ask, is this worth $88? No, it’s not. Not to me. There’s absolutely nothing about its formula, colour, coverage, finish, or lasting power that makes it worth $88 in my opinion. It’s not 3 times better than the MAC. It’s definitely not 7 times better than the KATE or Revlon. In fact, my top recommendations from all of the concealers shown are the KATE and Revlon (their formulas are similar to each other – see my review of the KATE concealer here) and outperform the Clé de Peau in all aspects.  The Clé de Peau Concealer might be good for someone who doesn’t need a lot of coverage and have drier skin. And money to burn. 😛

Pros:
• Creamy consistency, easy to blend
• Not drying
• Does not settle into fine lines
• Does not oxidize
• Good for touching up, does not cling to dry patches
• Sleek looking metal tube

Cons:
• Not high coverage
• Not long lasting
• Limited colour range
• Expensive / overpriced

Stash worthiness: 7/10

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I’ve been wearing this concealer about twice a week for the past 4 months and this is how much I’ve used.  This concealer will last me a long time. I’ll likely put this in my makeup bag to use for touching up once I finish my MAC Matchmaster concealer.

In the end, while the Clé de Peau Beauté Concealer is a good stick concealer, but it’s not my HG. I don’t regret buying it – I’ve now “gotten it out of my system”, so to speak. I’d say that in my beauty discoveries over the years, I’ve only found a handful of items where the high-end products couldn’t be matched – I’ll do a post on them one of these days. 😉 Have you tried high-end makeup that haven’t lived up to the lofty expectations?

74 thoughts on “Clé de Peau Beauté Concealer in Beige”

  1. OUT of your system …
    cle de peau come on ……
    their foundation is calling me …….
    xxx
    gorgeous swatches stashy
    yes many high end brands that are NOT that good
    Hourglass arch brow ,……
    hardly use …..
    xxx
    xoxoxoxxoxxoxoxox

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    1. We’re lured in by the marketing and fancy packaging! And we see magazines talk about them.
      I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s a good concealer but not mind-blowingly good! 😛
      I’m wearing this concealer today and I look tired… or it could be the Oscars, who knows. 😉

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        1. I will definitely read another one of your old post 😂 wahaha the internet on the island has not been kind. I’ve been waiting for 5min and the links from your Cle peau reply still has not load. It is a sign that I will only get to read when I am back in Paris.

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    1. It’s really great! The biggest limitation on that conceal is that it’s only available in 2 shades since it’s an Asian brand. You’d definitely find a match though.

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  3. That really is one expensive concealer! I tend to find the pricier concealers work so bad on my skin, so I use drugstore. I’m like you though, if one looks good I have to try it and get it out of my system😂 x

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  4. Hmm, I feel like for people who only need a medium coverage concealer, there are PLENTY of concealers out there that do not cost and arm and a leg. I generally can’t use stick concealers – too drying on me!

    You’re right, even though it was expensive and not worth the money, at least you finally got to try it for yourself. Now you don’t have to wonder anymore!

    Anyways, WOW, that coverage on the KATE concealer! I remember reading your review of it, but it’s interesting to see the difference between that one and the Cle de Peau.

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    1. The Clé de Peau really isn’t drying – I’m wearing it under my eyes today and it doesn’t look dry at all. But it’s definitely faded and my dark circles are coming through.

      The KATE one is really outstanding. And it’s made in Japan too! 😉 The main challenge is that it’s an Asian brand so only 2 shades, unfortunately.

      There are a few more expensive curiosities for me including YSL Touche Eclat and maybe a Tom Ford eye shadow quad… gah, I need to stop watching YouTube videos! XD

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  5. I have heard Tati from GlamLifeGuru on YouTube raving about this concealer. For that price, though, I would expect miracles and this certainly doesn’t seem like a miracle.
    I have drugstore concealers which cover more than that.
    I enjoy your reviews. 🙂 They are very thorough with the comparisons.

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    1. Thanks, I’m glad you enjoy.
      Sometimes I just let the photos do the talking – I expect my concealers to be able to cover up much more too!
      So many trusted bloggers / YouTubers rave about this but maybe they don’t have a lot to conceal. And maybe they were given this product for free? Who knows.

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      1. That’s what is wonderful about the internet; you can get information about one thing from many different sources before making a decision. It’s more accurate that way too because products are going to perform differently on different people and certain people also want a different effect than others. And, as you said, we never know how biased opinions are due to receiving them for free.

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  13. The price of this still makes me choke thinking about it, I’d want to look like a new person after spending that much on a concealer ha! I’ve heard a lot about the line from watching Tati Westbrook, and I’ve just looked it up and they don’t have an official UK retailer, I was expecting them to be a Harrods brand, but alas they are too fancy, even for Harrods ha!
    I guess in a way you’re probably kind of glad that this wasn’t the best thing you’d tried so you don’t have to justify buying another when it runs out, glad to see that it doesn’t run out super fast though I’d expect to be half way gone by now on a stick concealer, they normally seem to go down so quick!

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    1. You make a fantastic point – at least I didn’t fall in love with it and became a slave to its price tag. 😛
      Yes, Tati raved about this and so did a bunch of bloggers. I guess their needs are different than mine. I just like more coverage and something that doesn’t fade.
      Stick concealers last me quite a while – the main challenge is that I have a few on the go at a time! 😉

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  14. That $88 burns, even just to read… Ouch. Who are the culprits who raved about this? The coverage is so low that you can use it as a foundation stick.

    I bought the Kate concealer after reading your review. It’s really fab 😉

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    1. Yay! I’m so glad you like the KATE concealer. I heard about it from another blog ages ago as a cheaper dupe for the Cle de Peau – I disagree, I think it’s BETTER than Cle de Peau! 😀

      The people who recommended the Cle de Peau I recall off the top of my head are Tati from YouTube.
      Temptalia:
      http://www.temptalia.com/cle-de-peaus-concealer-review-photos-swatches/
      Beauty Look Book:
      http://thebeautylookbook.com/2014/08/cle-de-peau-concealer-in-almond-amande.html

      But here’s one who is frank, she had similar concerns about the longevity and coverage of the product:
      http://www.musingsofamuse.com/2009/10/readers-request-cle-de-peau-beaute-concealer-review.html
      I should have listened to her! 😮

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      1. Tati is a bit flaky with her reviews. She raved one too many bad products for me to trust her. One diligent channel though, huge respect to her one video per day every day thing.

        Did not expect the other one to come from temptalia 😱

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  15. For 88 bucks, it’s a shame about the colour selection! Before I read your paragraph about the colour match, I knew this would be a problem. Ivory doesn’t look ivory enough and the others seem to spring one way (peachy).

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    1. I agree, most of the colours look quite peachy to me. I suppose they envisioned this concealer to be used mainly for the under eye area? So the peach would counteract the blue-purple dark areas. Who knows. I do find that most high-end brands tend to have a terrible colour offering. :/

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      1. Ahh that’s true actually. I actually splurged on the Bobbi Brown corrector and a separate concealer a while ago and that’s quite peachy too I think. Have yet to really use it properly.

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  16. Wow, now that’s something I call a review! It was informative and interesting! I should definitely learn from this post a reviewing structure 👌💕 About the product.. that price is huge! I can’t even justify spending over 10$ on a mascara and that concealer is 80$ 🙈 Just crazy.

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    1. Thanks so much – I’m glad you found this format helpful!
      I know what you mean about not spending more for beauty products – I guess sometimes the curiosity overcomes me! So many people say this is the absolute best and worth the money (from trusted bloggers / YouTubers) so I want to see what the fuss was about. I’m glad at least it’s a decent product – not terrible. Just not exceptional.

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  17. I’ve tried high end products before that were a bit of a let down, but nothing as steep or seriously of a let down as this one! Wowza, what a price point. Psst btw I nominated you for the blogger recognition award in case you’re interested. 😉

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    1. This concealer does take the cake for being expensive – but the knowledge that there are even MORE luxurious (read: high priced) brands out there makes my eyes water. Not for me!
      Thank you for the recognition – off to check your post! 🙂

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    1. Aww thanks. I hope this will be useful for people who might be contemplating on parting with that kind of cash for a concealer. I swear, if we switched the packaging and asked people to blind test these concealers, I don’t think people would chose this one as the best one.

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    1. See, I think the CdP concealer would be very good for you (if you’re willing to part with the money!) since I think drier skin types would get on with it better. I can definitely understand why the Revlon one didn’t work for you as it is probably too drying. Like I said, we’re opposites when it comes to skincare / base products! 😛

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  24. Wow that’s super disappointing – I’ve only ever heard rave reviews about it too. I always have high expectations with luxury products but I find they often don’t deliver.

    Sounds like that Revlon concealer might be worth a try for me though!

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    1. I’m beginning to question why I wander from drugstore beauty products. I find the best value for money are at the drugstore. Well, I guess I could say I like mid-range. The luxury / designer brands just don’t do it for me at all. I hate feeling like I’ve been conned / ripped off, ya know?

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    1. I’m glad you found it helpful! Yes, I saw this concealer listed as the best all the time… it’s very nice but doesn’t provide the coverage or longevity that I’m looking for in a concealer.

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  27. Thanks for leaving me a link! I just realized I don’t have your blog in my reader, so I’ve added it now. So, I used a color corrector under my concealer (which probably adjusted for some the medium coverage issue) but mine definitely wears all day. So, what are we doing different? Is your skin oily at all? Mine is normal to dry. I set my under eye concealer with Laura Mercier Secret Brightening Powder and I use makeup primer too. The one I’ve been using lately is the IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Pores primer. I really like that one!!

    My skin a tad dry – so I moisturize well and have no oiliness at all. With that combo, I’m getting all day wear and it’s up over a 100 degree F here already. It’s like shocking at the end of the day to find how natural and bright the product looks in daylight. There are days I won’t even look in my rear view mirror as I know it would be horrifying.

    I’m also using a hefty foundation which adds a touch of coverage as well. Either Lancome 24 Hour or Laura Mercier Silk Creme. I come up to the orbital bone, although not too heavy there. And then go in with the concealer and setting powder (I let it bake too).

    For me, what I love is I can use so little and less product and the thinner the texture, the less likely crepey skin will show. Like without makeup, the skin looks good. With? Uhhhhh, yeah. That’s when I really see the problems. I wonder if I should all my variables to the post? Such as what I set it with, color corrector use, etc.??? Helpful? Or do you think too much?

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    1. I saw that you added in this information in your post – I think it’s super helpful! Not too much at all! 🙂 It gives the readers a better understanding of your skin and why this works well for you. Like I mentioned in your post, I don’t tend to worry about the texture, mainly about the coverage I get out of the concealer.

      I do also use a corrector under my eyes – the Becca Under eye corrector in the light peachy shade. I don’t use it all the time but I like it for concealers that don’t have the best coverage. Sometimes I feel the corrector adds too much colour and makes my concealers look too peachy. When I was testing the Cle de Peau, I didn’t use a corrector at all – plus, this shade Beige, is quite peach on its own.

      My under eye area is a bit on the dry side actually. I do set with loose powder – I’m using the Nars Light Reflecting one. I do agree this looks very natural and mimics skin texture really well. Who knows why our experiences differ. I have read a few reviews online that mirror my challenges with this – that it fades and isn’t enough coverage. So it all boils down to personal preference!

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      1. I haven’t tried that NARS powder. Do you like it a lot? I’m having a MAJOR issue with skin texture on the right side. I’m freaking out and I don’t know what to do. =( Is the corrector you are using the Becca Mango colored one?

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