Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Lemongrass Spa Mineral Primer


I had the opportunity to try out Lemongrass Spa's new mineral primer recently and thought I'd post a review for it here. This primer is described as being enriched with Vitamins E, C, Green Tea and Resveratrol as hydrating antioxidants while it prepares skin for a flawless makeup application. Sounds great, right? I so wanted this primer to work. I did.

Let me start by saying that there are a lot of products from Lemongrass Spas that I absolutely adore. Their body scrubs and body lotions are to die for. Their lip balms are a staple for me during the winter. Not to mention that their products are natural and healthy.

But...

Being a healthy product only gets them so far. Especially when the cost for their mineral makeup primer cost $24.00 per 1 oz. For that price point I expected a product that would really wow me. Or, at least work well. Or even just - work.

To do an accurate test of the product I did one half of my face using the Lemongrass primer. The other half of my face was done using the Smashbox Photo Ready primer. I put on a full face of makeup (liquid foundation, concealer, bronzer, blush and highlighter in addition to eyes, brows and lips) in order to put the product through it's paces. These are the results...

Application: This primer was very oily. Similar to putting avocado or olive oil on the face. I had to really work the primer into my skin before the shiny greasy look diminished enough to put on my foundation. In it's defense, a very little bit of the primer went a long way. And for aging skin, the hydrating properties of the oils would be good. But did it prepare my skin for flawless makeup application?

Results: Nada. It didn't. The foundation reacted to my wrinkles and pores as though there was no primer on my face at all. And if I'd used a powdered foundation? Yikes, I can't imagine how scary I'd look. I am all for products that work double duty. In this case I was hoping for a hydrating primer. That just didn't happen. I have a few dry patches on my cheeks (my darned rosacea makes life miserable sometimes) that the Smashbox primer smoothed right over. On the Lemongrass side of my face those patches are still blaring. The face makeup sticks to them and looks cakey. It's unfortunate but this primer just didn't work. My face lotion with SPF and similar minerals that cost half as much does just as well as this primer at priming my face.

Grade: D (only because of it's hydrating benefits did it not fail completely)
Cost: $24/oz
Would I Repurchase?: No. For the same price there are other products on the market that work better and also benefit the skin. Sorry Lemongrass!

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