PRODUCT REVIEW: Tom Ford Illuminating Highlight Pen

The Tom Ford Illuminating Highlight Pen, masquerading as a concealer, is another of the items I got while in Chicago, and another "concealer" that needs to not be marketed as such.  I should note that I accidently typed suck instead of such.  It's appropriate.

I picked this up at Neiman Marcus on Michigan on my way back to the hotel from Oak Street.  I told the ladies at the counter I needed a concealer, and wanted to see what options they had in Tom Ford's line. The woman immediately grabbed this pen and started swiping it on my face.  It looked like there was a significant amount of pigment in hers, but the one I was using...I'm not entirely sure I got the right item...

I started out excited, based on the initial test at the store. And that quickly, and I mean quickly, went downhill.  I got the pen started with probably 30 clicks before something came out. I put a blob on my hand, and tried to let it dry a bit to  thicken up, since it was ridiculously sheer looking already in a blob.  After about a minute I started in. After 8 coats, I still saw no difference, then after 11...no real change either. I powdered, and it looked like I had nothing on my face.  In the pics below, that's 11(eleven!)  layers of this Tom Ford on that eye. To the 5 I had on the ByTerry eye. Neither of which was still reasonable coverage for items being marketed as "concealer"...

Compared to the ByTerry, this product seems very thin, watery and "cheap". It was kind of sticky, and not in a good way, and did not blend well. It found any rogue flake of skin or patch and clung but wouldn't stick to smooth skin at all.  It reminded me of that "elf" concealer you can get for $1. I think even the Elf had a better consistency despite sucking tremendously.  The Tom Ford brush is smallish, and kind of crappy, cheap bristles, not particularly soft.

Here's a before shot:

And after.  In these images, Tom Ford on left, By Terry on right. 

This item retails for $52, for half of the amount of the ByTerry pen, and has also been returned back to it's seller. In fact, I used it two times. Once on both eyes (eek) and one time to compare to the by Terry which is the photos I included in this review--side by sides. I couldn't even convince myself to take pics of the "After" with both eyes done. In part bec you would see no difference from the "Before!"

Here's pics of the packaging of both:

You can get this at a few very high end department stores and online (NOT in st. louis, because we don't count as high end in these parts....) I had high hopes for this Tom Ford line but so far this is a huge fail, and from the reviews I've read online...the rest of it sounds about the same.

What was amazing about his line were the fragrances...the ones I smelled were DIVINE.  Neroli Portofino and Vanille Tobacco (?) were just...edible.

Link to Neimans