Review and tutorial: & Other Stories CC Quad

When you first start using make up, everything seems complicated and easy at the same time. There's SO many different products to try, and even loads of different options within product types. Like, you can't just go out and buy foundation, you have to figure out what undertone you need, how light it should be, whether you have to pick powder foundation vs cream foundation vs liquid foundation, if you want your finish to be dewy or matte, if you should invest in a high end product or place your bets on a drugstore option, and so on and so forth. So yeah, straight off the bat, it's complicated.

On the other hand, for some products you don't even realize straight away how many options there are out there. Concealer is concealer, right? Has to match your skintone, usually comes in a stick or pencil form, should just cover what you want covered, has to be applied to problem areas and blended in?

Yeah, no. I'm just going to come out and say it: I'm not a big fan of concealers. I stopped using them altogether because when I used concealers, they so obviously screamed "look, I'm trying to cover something up, don't look at the pink elephant in the room plz". Use them to cover your under eye circles, and they settle into your laugh lines. Apply them to a zit, and they emphasize your peeling skin. And you always end up with cakeface.

Thing is, if you really want to get into the concealer game, you basically need a bunch of different ones to match your different needs. A concealer that simply matches your skintone will always have to be applied generously to offer enough pigmentation to cover problems, which means you will have a lot of product in one place and a bigger risk of cake-ification. Product build-up never looks pretty.

You have to change perspective. If you grasp the elementary building blocks of complementary colours, this becomes so much easier. Imagine your skin as a canvas of beige, and for some reason someone spilled a bit of pink paint on there. Now, my question is: what will require you to add the most extra paint? Going over the bit of red with beige until the colour difference is gone, or adding a tiny bit of light green to the red to neutralize it?

That's how colour correcting concealers work. You use complementary shades to cancel out any discoloration, leaving you with an even complexion that is covered with a minimum of product for the look you want to achieve, which is always the best rule of thumb. I was intrigued enough to pick up my first concealer product in years: the & Other Stories CC quad, which retails at 15€.

The quad consists of four shades, obviously. Let me break down their use for you.

- Yellow brightens up veins and hyperpigmentation

- Green cancels out redness, covering up zits, acne and rosacea

- Purple functions as a highlighter for dull looking skin, or whenever you want to draw attention to certain areas 

- Orange neutralizes blue, making it perfect for dark under eye circles.

All of the quad components are creamy pastel shades that are not as bright on the skin as they are in the container, so don't freak out. Even though I've read people advising you to use these before applying foundation, I use these after foundation, just like any concealer. If you use concealer first, applying foundation will just make the product shift around, rubbing it away from the places where it needs to be. Don't worry, I assure you you won't end up with a face painted like an easter egg. The keyword is, as always: blend.

Lord knows I have a pretty uneven skintone, even after foundation, so I'm pretty much the perfect test subject here. I'm not looking for perfect, flawless skin, but I do like having things evened out a bit without losing the natural look of my skin. Let's get down to it! 

The before is just my base layer, wearing Chanel Vitalumière Aqua foundation (and my brows). On the right, you see the overall effect the CC quad has when lightly applied to my skin. Brighter, more awake, even slightly contoured (my nose and chin are more defined because of the highlighter). And I don't look like an easter egg, do I? I should have used the product to cancel out the red veins around my upper lip, butttttt I forgot so ignore that bit.

Let's look at some details. First, the yellow. I use this on the multiple spots of hyperpigmentation and visible veins I have, mostly on my forehead and along my temples.

I see a huge difference between the before and the after: my skin is brighter and more even, and the hyperpigmentation has disappeared.

On to the green! I always have considerable redness on my face: along my nostrils, and on the apples of my cheeks.

Again, the difference made by the green concealer is huge, especially on my nostrils. So far so good!

Next is purple. I use this one as a highlighter along the bridge of the nose, on the brow bone just underneath the eyebrow, on the chin, and from between the eyebrows up to the center of the forehead.

The purple a great all purpose highlighter because it contains no shimmer. I love some shimmer on the cheekbones, but I absolutely don't want the bridge of my nose, my chin or my forehead to shimmer. Thumbs up! I didn't blend in the highlighter along the nose bridge, because this was before adding contouring cream, and I like to blend those two together.

Finally, the orange.I applied the orange concealer in a downward pointing triangle shape under the eyes, and in the inner corners of the eyes.

The result is subtle, but definitely there. And no cake face or product build up!

Zooming out again, here's the result.

The only thing I don't love about this product, is the fact that it's a bit unhygienic. I don't like my base make up to come in open containers like this, so I make an effort to watch my hands before I use it. It's a mental image thing, mostly. Apart from that, I give it ALL thumbs up. It would also make a really nice gift to someone for the holidays, just like ALL of & Other Stories' make up. So much want.

Hope you liked my review, and let me know if you have any questions.