Smashbox vs L'Oreal
Man oh man, I have been excited to type this post. I tested the Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer which I had been given a tester to try. The full size costs £26 on the Smashbox website. I have read online that this primer had a brilliant dupe, like scarily familiar dupe, and it is the L’Oreal Infallible Mattifying Base Primer (£8.99 in Boots), thus the idea of seeing if this is true, was created. I had so much fun testing them out because I felt like I was doing a Youtube video. As per usual, my disclaimer: all products tested will be written about in an honest manner, any products that work or don’t work on my skin does not mean it can’t work on any other skin, my skin type is a dry and oil combination. I have dry patches but an oily t-zone area. I will link all products at the end.
I was spending the day with my friend in central Manchester when I decided on testing these primers out, I used Smashbox on the right and L’Oreal on the right side of my face and applied my makeup as I normally would, not changing any other factor of my makeup routine. One of the first things I noticed about these primers was how similar they were in texture and consistency, they both have a silicone, lightweight, rich feel to it. It doesn’t feel thick or creamy on the skin which is such a good feeling for primers because I genuinely can not stand thick primers that feel like moisturiser. Once my makeup was applied, I used my normal powder (Rimmel Clear Powder) and my usual setting spray (Urban Decay All Nighter). My friend and I went town, walked around for ages, built up a sweat, ate inside a hot restaurant, on one of the hottest days this summer! I had the primers on by 9:30am, left the house about 11am and got home about 8:30 pm, and I did not take my makeup off until about 9:30-10:00 pm, thus meaning my makeup was on for about 12 hours or so.
Considering the day I had, I was expecting to look extremely oily and I thought that my makeup would have separated under my eyes, around my nose and around my dry patches (near my lips and on my cheek), but I did not look too bad and I was surprised. The main thing that had happened was as expected, it cracked under my eyes a little bit but on both sides. I was expecting it to look worse on one side than the other but it cracked on both sides which had be baffled. Surprisingly again, my forehead and t-zone was not incredibly oily, it was less oily that I had expected, but again, it wasn’t more so on one side than the other. Throughout the day I didn’t re-powder or try to fix my makeup using any products of my fingers, I just went with it and I was pleasantly surprised.
To conclude, I would buy the L’Oreal one again, because they both work on my skin the same, and one side did not look better than the other side. They are literally dupes of each other, I am flabbergasted. But, the main reason I would rather buy the L’Oreal one is because I’m a student and I can’t afford to spend £26 on a primer, I’d rather pay £8 especially since it does the job! Hope you’ve enjoyed this, stay safe and stay blessed, my friends!