*Links marked with asterisks are affiliate links, these help Ree with running costs of the blog
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 Bobbi Brown was the person who originally made the corrector and concealer combination such a beauty-bag staple through her original Bobbi Brown brand.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.
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
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.
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.
