little white truths

I'd say most beauty junkies (and many 'normal' people ; )) have heard of The POREfessional: it's certainly talked about a lot in cyberspace and it's one of Benefit's best-sellers.

I have a decent 7.5ml travel-size of the product from my How to Look the Best at Everything kit (in medium) and I've been playing around with it now for a while.

While it hasn't sold me (and certainly not for the price), I can see why so many people love it. I'm still yet to find a staple primer and I was hoping this would be it, although I'm glad in a way that it's not because I'd prefer a cheaper favourite!

Benefit claims/product details:

See above unblended swatch and blended one below.

As you can see it's a translucent, neutral-toned product. I'm hoping you can see the slight mattifying/line-blurring effect in the shot below. I can see why many people love this product.

Verdict

This primer isn't for me unfortunately. While it feels nice on in theory (quite velvety), I don't think it lives up to its claims in terms of pore minimising and reducing fine lines - it does this only so very slightly - plus I feel like my foundation 'slips' on top of it (and I've tried a few different foundations to check it wasn't just a bad-combination problem).

I also think this is a better primer for those who use powder foundation, rather than liquid/cream. This is because these kinds of thicker, pore plugging products can 'pill' (like wool), or at least they do on me - no matter how small the amount I use is - and I'm a fingers-applier when it comes to foundation, which can move a product like this around.

I've found it fares better on top of makeup, rather than underneath it, but that means it loses one of its functions and doesn't help my makeup last longer.

Note that many have commented on how little you need to apply (and have said that over-applying means it doesn't work as well), and I agree with them on that point.

Probably another reason I'm not a huge fan of the product is that it's a mattifying primer and I'm all for the dewy glow. Plus if I want to give my face a smoother appearance (as The POREfessional aims to do), I'm much better off just keeping my skin hydrated with a decent moisturiser.