Review: Nars Pore Refining Primer

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! 恭喜發財! Happy year of the horse (:

To those that celebrate, I hope you had a great dinner with your family and loved ones! Chinese New Year actually used to be kind of lonely here in Canada for me, because most of my relatives were in Taiwan. But now, most of them have immigrated here, so there is more to look forward to during CNY!

I thought I'd start off the new year reviewing my current go-to primer. The Nars (oil-free) Pore Refining Primer. Who wouldn't want a hydrating primer that will keep your makeup on all day? For somebody with such dehydrated skin like me, we usually don't like oil-free, but trust me, this controls oil, but definitely still feels like it's providing me with enough hydration!

I don't usually wear foundation, only concealer, bb cream and some powder to set. But this primer literally keeps the makeup on my face all day, and I only need to touch up or reapply when I've blown my nose or physically wiped off my makeup. If I don't touch my face, I never have to worry about touching any shine or oil that has broken through.

During application, you can immediately feel the relaxing and cooling feel of the light/oil-free primer. The gentle smell of lavender adds the perfect touch to your morning makeup routine.

Now for those that like to get a little more technical, here are the main ingredients in the primer.

1. Glycerin

This is used in many skincare products to attract moisture onto your skin, which helps to get rid of any dry areas and flaking skin. It was definitely a huge problem I had, and I had to go through many skincare regimes and foundation routines to find the most suitable one for myself. My makeup usually looked horrible because the dryness on my skin would accentuate the foundation around my forehead, and it just looked so bad. So for me, this helped my foundation/concealer stay on and fill in my lines without looking like it is just floating on top of my face!

2. Lentill Seed Extract

Lentill seed extract is an antioxidant that has anti aging benefits. If we are going to be having a base to help our foundation apply better, why not have something that will help prevent aging and help firm and lift the skin as well. An all in one product is always a plus!

3. Lavender 

Asides from camomile, lavender is another type of flower that helps to calm down any inflammation, redness or irritation. Keeping down redness will help even out the skin tone so that the colour of your foundation shows up better. Especially if you are in a department store trying to look for a foundation colour, if you have a lot of redness around your face, the shade matched could be inaccurate.

4. Silicone (Dimethicone) 

Most face primers are silicone based, because it helps to smooth out the skin, blurring out pores and fine lines. It does this by filling out the lines so that foundation can be applied smoothly. You never want your foundation to sit in the fine lines and accentuate them.

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So seeing all the wonderful benefits of this primer, I even recommend it to people who don't wear foundation. Wear this primer as a base to help protect your skin, calm and control oil throughout the day.


This primer retails for $38 CAD, and can be purchased in Vancouver at any Sephora (or their online website: click), Holt Renfrew, The Bay and Murale.

Here is a picture of my simple makeup at CNY Dinner using the Nars primer as the base~

Have a good day everyone! And again, Happy Chinese New Year!!

First review: Benefit's FAKE UP!

Good Evening Everyone!!

This week has just been exams and projects for me... so I'm super tired, and glad that I can finally sit down to have some of my own time. Actually, I really should be studying right now for another exam tomorrow.. but I've been working my butt off the last few days, I think I deserve some sort of a break (:

Anyways, the product I am going to be talking about today is... Benefit's new fake up!
Okay, so weeks before the product launch, people were always asking about them everyday! They have read about it online, on Benefit's website and all that. Even when they came into stores, they literally FLEW off the shelves like there was no tomorrow!

So what is FAKE UP you say?

It is a concealer and eye cream/gel in one (:
prettyyyy unique and interesting concept I would say.

So as you can see there is a clear gel around the concealer, which has two main ingredients: Vitamin E which act as a really good antioxident to help prevent aging. It also has apple seed extract which is what helps to brighten the eye area to help improve and lighten those tired looking dark circles.

So what do I think about the product? Mmmm my honest opinion is that I would probably give it a 7/10.
My reasons?

Okay, so since we've kind of gotten to a bad start with it... lets start with the CONS and work our way up to the PROS, and see what you guys think?

CON number ONE!

Alright, so on the label, it says its supposed to have a nice "dewy" finish. It also said its supposed to stay hydrated and does not crease. So ok I get that concept of having a dewy finish. But the thing is that even though I try to set it with powder and everything, it literally creases soooo easy, I just cannot touch the area under my eye at all! And also because of its "dewy" (and wet) finish, it also causes the mascara that I coat my bottom lashes to transfer onto the skin under my eye even more. Trying to keep the mascara from running from my bottom lashes is already bad enough T________________T

ok so that is all that I have to complain about the fake up pretty much, now here are my cons..

PRO number ONE!

The gel around that concealer really does work, and helps with my dark circles. Being a full time student while working part-time, sometimes really doesn't get me much sleep even if I wanted to *cries*
That's why this is an amazing product for me (:

PRO number TWO!

It's very easy to carry in your purse to take on the go! You can jut directly apply the concealer under your eye then blend using your fingers or a concealer brush, which I like to do (unless you are helping somebody else apply it ^^~ then you would just scrap a bit off and apply using a concealer brush or with your fingers)

PRO number THREE!

The formula really is hydrating, and won't' leave your under eye area feeling dry and cakey. The last thing you want is to make the lines under your eyes even more visible!


And thats it! So my final verdict is.... that fake up is a mediocre product. Yes, It does really help with correcting dark circles at the same time being able to cover it up until it completely heals. At the same time, the formula is a little bit uncomfortable to work with because it is a little bit too dewy (for my liking), but who knows, maybe there are other people who like that texture. But that's just my personal honest opinion :3

For those that are interested, it is available in three shades and can be purchased in store at Sephora or on their website which has a Canadian website now woot woot.

Anyways, thank you for reading and have a good night!

Please feel free to ask questions below and make requests for me to review any other products!

Cheers (:

-Carol