Shiseido Glow Enhancing Primer & Perfecting Stick Concealer

Springtime is always about that youthful glow, light imperceptible bases to showcase the skin’s natural beauty. To help us achieve that, Shiseido has released 2 new base products – the Glow Enhancing Primer to add a soft radiance to the complexion, and the Perfecting Stick Concealer to hide those blemishes.

Shiseido Glow Enhancing Primer brightens and hydrates the skin, allowing makeup to glide on and adhere better to the skin throughout the day. It is formulated with Shiseido’s exclusive Light Transmitting Emulsion technology to distribute light evenly across the surface of the skin, thereby enhancing clarity for a natural glow without any dewiness. This optical diffusing ability also helps to blur the look of lines and pores, to give the illusion of smoother skin.

As always with Shiseido products, the Glow Enhancing Primer is packed with skincare benefits as well. Peony and Lempuyang extracts help to correct uneven skin tone; Glycylglycine contracts pores; and Super Hydro-Wrap Vitalizing DE promotes moisture retention and hydrates the skin up to 8 hours. Glow Enhancing Primer also comes with SPF 15 broad spectrum protection which is minimal but nice to have.

Shiseido Glow Enhancing Primer comes in a handy palm-sized tube with a small nozzle dispenser. It squeezes out in as a light gel-cream texture that spreads across the face easily. It leaves the skin feeling silky smooth and has an almost “moist” feel to it, allowing foundation to glide over easily. At the same time it still felt light and comfortable on the skin, without the heavy silicon feel that plaques other primers. What I liked was that it helped keep my skin hydrated throughout the day. As you can imagine, with properties like these, Shiseido Glow Enhancing Primer is better suited for those with dry skin and does not really excel at oil control. But it did extend the wear of my makeup, preventing fading, creasing and gliding. Shiseido Glow Enhancing Primer is affordably priced at SGD53 for 30gm.

Lovely as the Glow Enhancing Primer may be, it does not help correct uneven skin tone nor cover up blemishes. To do that, you need Shiseido Perfecting Stick Concealer.  This is a cream concealer housed in a sleek metal twist-up tube. It glides on the skin like a dream without any tugging and blends effortlessly to cover any flaws. It contains Shiseido’s Reflect and Fit Powder that effectively masks the look of any blemishes including under eye darkness, redness and acne scars. Similar to other Shiseido base products, it contains the Super Hydro-Wrap Vitalizing DE complex to help keep skin hydrated for up to 8 hours, so that the concealer sits well without creasing throughout the day.

At first glance, the Shiseido Perfecting Stick Concealer is a clear dupe for the Cle de Peau Beaute Concealer, and when placed side-by-side, the packaging is almost identical save for the external printing and some minor differences in the top of the cap. Unfortunately, the shades that I have for both are quite different as I own the CPB Concealer in Ivory (lightest shade), whereas the Shiseido Perfecting Stick Concealer I have is in shade 33 Natural (3^rd darkest shade). However, both have very similar consistency, texture and coverage as you can see from the swatch below.

Both the swatches are single swipes, and you can see clearly the level of opacity and texture between the 2 are almost identical. What does not translate in images however, is that the Shiseido Perfecting Stick Concealer has more slip to it, and glides over my delicate eye area better than the CPB. On the other hand, it tends to sheer out almost instantly if you go at it with anything other than a feather touch. Therefore it works best if you blend using a finger and just gently dab at it instead of sweeping with a brush. The extra slip and moisturizing properties helps keep the concealer in place under my eye area throughout the day and does not crease at all! Between the 2, I found the Shiseido Perfecting Stick Concealer to perform better on my dry under eye area, and at SGD46 for 5gm versus SGD105 for 5gm for the Cle de Peau Beaute Concealer, it is certainly worth trying!

To complete the base routine, Shiseido suggests going over with the Sheer and Perfect Compact Foundation [reviewed here] for a light, natural coverage.

Both the Shiseido Glow Enhancing Primer and Perfecting Stick Concealer are now on sale at all Shiseido counters.

_{^{This review contains products that were sent to me for my consideration by Shiseido Singapore. Regardless, all views expressed above are my own honest, unbiased opinions and are not influenced in any way.}}