Jones Road Wide Awake Brightening Concealer & Neutralizer Review + Swatches

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Priced at

£30

+ Buy From

• Jones Road*
• Liberty*

If there is one thing Bobbi Brown knows about, it is making tired eyes look considerably more awake. So when I heard she had launched the Jones Road Wide Awake Brightening Concealer, along with the new Wide Awake Brightening Neutralizer, I was immediately interested.

There is also a rather lovely bit of history behind these two products. Bobbi Brown was the person who originally made the corrector and concealer combination such a beauty-bag staple through her original Bobbi Brown brand. Now, all these years later, she’s gone back to that idea for Jones Road. And they’re in pots, which feels very Bobbi.

I’ve been testing these ahead of the official launch as I was sent early lab samples. So I’ve already had the opportunity to get to know the formulas and start testing the shades.

The pots you can see in my photographs are therefore lab sample pots rather than the finished retail packaging. I’ve been testing a selection of shades from both the Concealer and Neutralizer, and I’ve swatched them all below so you can get a really good look at the colour range.

What is the Jones Road Wide Awake Brightening Concealer?

A note about my samples: As mentioned above, these are early lab samples that I was sent ahead of the official launch so that I could test the new formulas and shades. The pots shown here are therefore not the final retail packaging.

Jones Road Wide Awake Brightening Concealer is a creamy, medium-to-full coverage concealer designed specifically for the under-eye area.

The formula is intended to provide good coverage while remaining lightweight and comfortable, without looking cakey or heavy.

It contains an Active Plant Complex designed to brighten, soothe and nourish the under-eye area, so the idea is that you’re getting more than just coverage.

The formula is buildable, allowing you to start with a small amount and add more where you need it.

Jones Road Wide Awake Brightening Concealer key points

• Medium-to-full, buildable coverage
• Designed specifically for the under-eye area
• Creamy texture
• Lightweight and comfortable
• Designed to brighten the appearance of dark circles
• Contains an Active Plant Complex
• Designed to blend seamlessly into the skin
• £30 for 5g

What is the Jones Road Wide Awake Brightening Neutralizer?

Jones Road Wide Awake Brightening Neutralizer is the colour-correcting product in the new Wide Awake range.

The idea is to correct the colour of dark circles before applying your skin-tone concealer.

The shades are pinky and peachy, designed to counteract different types of darkness under the eyes. You apply a small amount to the areas where you need colour correction, then follow with the Wide Awake Brightening Concealer.

The Neutralizer has the same base formula as the Wide Awake Brightening Concealer, so the two products are designed to work together rather than feeling like completely separate formulas layered on top of one another.

Jones Road Wide Awake Brightening Neutralizer key points

• Medium-to-full, buildable coverage
• Designed to colour-correct under-eye darkness
• Pinky and peachy shades
• Creamy, lightweight texture
• Designed to brighten the appearance of the under-eye area
• Contains an Active Plant Complex
• Designed to be worn underneath Wide Awake Brightening Concealer
• £30 for 5g

Bobbi Brown is going back to her roots

This is actually my favourite thing about the launch. Before Jones Road, there was of course Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, and Bobbi was instrumental in making corrector + concealer a recognised makeup technique.

The principle is very simple: if you have darkness under the eyes, rather than trying to conceal the colour completely with a skin-toned concealer, you first use a corrector to neutralise it. Then you apply your concealer over the top.

It is a technique makeup artists have used forever, but Bobbi Brown really brought it into the mainstream beauty conversation. The Jones Road brand had the pencils before, but these pots are so much more ‘Bobbi’. For more info on the pencils read Jones Road The Neutralizer Pencil Review & Swatches.

The Jones Road Wide Awake Brightening Neutralizer deals with the colour, while the Jones Road Wide Awake Brightening Concealer provides the skin-tone coverage.

It’s not exactly reinventing the wheel, but when the person who made the corrector and concealer combination such a beauty-bag staple comes back and does it again, I think that’s pretty interesting. And the little pots feel like a nice nod to Bobbi’s makeup heritage too.

Jones Road Wide Awake Brightening Concealer Swatches

I have a selection of shades of the Jones Road Wide Awake Brightening Concealer here, which I’ve swatched so you can see them side by side.

Jones Road Wide Awake Brightening Neutralizer Swatches

The Wide Awake Brightening Neutralizer shades are, of course, very different from the concealers because these are designed to colour-correct rather than match your skin.

The pinky and peachy tones are there to counteract darkness underneath the eyes.

So if you look at one of these shades and think that’s far too peach for me, remember that this isn’t intended to be your final colour. It is the correction step that goes underneath your concealer.

My Jones Road Wide Awake Brightening Concealer & Neutralizer Review

I absolutely love concealers as a category in makeup and so I’ve really enjoyed testing the new products. I think they are a really effective duo, and although I don’t have a lot of darkness under the eyes, I think I have found my ideal combination of neutralizer and concealer for the most refreshed-looking result. I have made some notes below of my general thoughts on the formula.

Excellent adhesion and grip

The first thing I noticed is the adhesion. This formula has really good grip on the skin, even if you like to use a good helping of eye cream, like I do.

You get very good opacity and coverage, and a little spreads a long way.

How I like to apply it

The formula isn’t one of those super-soft, ultra-creamy concealers that immediately melts as soon as you touch it. I actually think it benefits from being warmed up slightly before you apply it.

I pick up a small amount with my fingertip and work on it a bit in the pot before dabbing on a dot on to the skin. I then press it in to blend it in to the skin.

Once you’ve warmed it up, it blends very easily. So my technique is really simple: warm it up, press it onto the skin and then blend it out. I find using my fingertip works particularly well because you get that little bit of warmth from your skin, although you can also use a brush if that’s your preference. It’s also great with the small end of my REESON No 1.

If I’m using the Wide Awake Brightening Neutralizer as well, I’ll apply that first, concentrating it on the darkest areas, and then apply the concealer over the top.

I find that gives me a much more natural result than trying to cover everything with one thick layer of concealer.

Very good coverage, but still natural

The coverage is one of the things I really like about this concealer. It has very good opacity, but it doesn’t look heavy. You can build it up where you need it, but because the formula adheres so well to the skin, you don’t need very much so you don’t get that obvious layer of thick concealer sitting underneath the eye.

I’ve been using it both on its own and layered over the Wide Awake Brightening Neutralizer, and I think the latter is particularly good if you have more pronounced darkness to deal with. If I want to go for perfection I’ll use the Neutralizer first, then concealer, but if I am in a hurry, I’ll probably just go for the concealer.

A lovely smoothing effect

I’ve also noticed a smoothing and slightly blurring effect once the formula is on the skin. It seems to soften the appearance of texture underneath my eyes without making the area look plastered over.

The finish isn’t particularly glossy or glowy, but it isn’t flat and matte either. It has a very natural quality to it.

Not overly creamy, but not drying

Although it isn’t overly creamy once it’s applied, I don’t find it drying at all so I think the formula hits a really nice balance.

It has enough flexibility to blend nicely onto the skin, but it then settles down rather than staying wet and slippery. I think that is part of the reason it wears so well.

The longevity is really impressive

Once I’ve warmed it up, pressed it onto the skin and blended it out, it really holds. The combination of the coverage, adhesion and the way the formula settles means that it stays looking good for a long time.

And despite that, it doesn’t have the dry, tight finish that you can sometimes get from a long-wearing concealer.

How the Wide Awake Brightening Neutralizer and Concealer work together

The Wide Awake Brightening Neutralizer is there to deal with the colour of the darkness, while the Wide Awake Brightening Concealer brings the area back towards your natural skin tone and gives you the coverage.

So rather than simply piling more concealer onto dark circles, you’re correcting the colour first and then concealing.

The trick is finding the right combination of shades for your skin. Once you’ve done that, you really don’t need much product.

My Shades

For me, I’ve settled on Light Peachy Pink in the Wide Awake Brightening Neutralizer followed by 2N in the Wide Awake Brightening Concealer.

I apply a small amount of the Neutralizer where I have the most darkness, then use 2N over the top, building it up in very thin layers where I need more coverage.

Once blended, the two work really nicely together.

And this is why I think the swatches are particularly useful with these products. With an under-eye concealer, it’s not necessarily just about finding the shade that looks closest to your foundation. Undertone matters, depth matters and, if you’re using a corrector or neutralizer, you also need to think about the colour you’re trying to neutralise.

For me, the Light Peachy Pink + 2N combination gives me the balance I’m looking for: the darkness is neutralised first, and then the concealer brings everything back to a natural-looking skin tone.

+ Buy From

• Jones Road*
• Liberty*

Before & After Photos

My bare under-eye area before applying the Wide Awake products.

Light Peachy Pink Neutralizer applied to one under-eye, before blending:

Light Peachy Pink Neutralizer blended into the under-eye:

2N Wide Awake Brightening Concealer applied to the other under-eye, alongside the blended Light Peachy Pink Neutralizer:

2N blended into the under-eye (right side of photo), alongside just the Light Peachy Pink Neutralizer (left side of photo) :

Light Peachy Pink Neutralizer + 2N Concealer on left side of photo, compared with 2N Concealer alone on the right side:

As I don’t have much darkness, I don’t think you will see a whole lot of difference between the two sides, but I do think the side with both products (left of photo above) looks slight fresher, more naturally flawless and maybe a little more lifted? What do you think?

Jones Road Wide Awake Brightening Concealer vs Neutralizer

If you’re wondering whether you need both products, it really comes down to how much darkness you are trying to correct.

Wide Awake Brightening Concealer
This is your actual skin-tone concealer. Use it on its own for everyday coverage and brightening, or over the neutralizer for fuller coverage.

Wide Awake Brightening Neutralizer
This is the colour corrector. Use it underneath your concealer if you have more noticeable darkness that isn’t being adequately covered by concealer alone.

So you don’t necessarily need to buy both. If your dark circles are fairly mild, you may be perfectly happy with the Jones Road Wide Awake Brightening Concealer on its own. I can definitely get away with using just the concealer.

If you’ve spent years putting more and more concealer under your eyes and wondering why you can still see the darkness, the neutralizer is the interesting one.

My verdict

There is something rather satisfying about Bobbi Brown returning to one of the makeup techniques she is so closely associated with and giving it a Jones Road update.

The Jones Road Wide Awake Brightening Concealer is the everyday coverage product, while the Wide Awake Brightening Neutralizer tackles the colour of the darkness underneath.

I really like how the two products work together because, when it comes to under-eye makeup, I’m much more interested in a product that makes the area look brighter and fresher than one that simply gives you a completely blank canvas.

I think the formula hits a really good sweet spot. You can manipulate it with the warmth of your fingertip to make it creamy and easy to blend into the skin, but once it’s in place, it settles down nicely and stays put. So you get that initial flexibility you want from a creamy under-eye concealer, without it remaining slippery or moving around throughout the day. For me, that’s a big part of why the longevity is so impressive.