Impulse Buy Monday: Physicians Formula Mineral Wear Correcting Primer

Happy Cyber Monday! You all know I love a good bargain, and lately I've been hitting the jackpot on Physicians Formula merchandise! The semiannual clearance at CVS finally hit my local store (I was beginning to think it would just never come!), and the best bargains I saw were on the Physicians Formula line, where most of the sale items were 75% off. I don't care what it is, if it looks promising and I can try it for less than $5, I'm going to snatch it up.

Which brings us to this week's Impulse Buy Monday!
I picked up the Mineral Wear Correcting Primer... and it's green. The green scared me, but I'm always looking for a new HG primer, so I bought it anyway.

This primer claims to not only prepare skin for foundation and allow makeup to last longer, but it promises to protect skin from the sun with the included SPF 15 and also correct the red tones of the skin (hence the green color, the opposite of the color wheel to cancel out the red).

As I mentioned, I was terrified of the green color. A million years ago (more like middle school) I had a little concealer set from Physicians Formula that had a green cream side, and a nude cream side. The idea was similar to this, in that the green would go on first to neutralize the redness, and then the nude shade would go on top to actually conceal the blemish. The theory was sound, but the practice was anything but, as the green never blended in with the skin and couldn't be covered with the nude shade. I'd be walking around with green goop on my face; not so attractive! But I was hoping that Physicians Formula had gotten the hang of the green theory in the two decades (ew) since I last encountered it.

I tried the primer for the first time today, and I can assure you that yes, they figured it out. Not a trace of green was left on my face once I rubbed it in. As for the cancellation of redness, I wasn't wowed with an immediate difference in my more ruddy areas of my face, but there was indeed a lessening and smoothing. After I let it sink into my skin, I definitely noticed a slightly smoother complexion.

This is not a silicone primer, so it's not going to fill in any pores or fine lines. Instead it is a cream primer, and it felt very moisturizing on the skin. I used my bareMinerals loose powder over this primer, and I did notice that by the end of the day (including a photoshoot this afternoon), my makeup still looked pretty good and not much had rubbed off onto the back of the camera. Unfortunately, this primer didn't do anything to help or cover my dry skin, so that was a bit disappointing.

My only true complaint, and it's minor, is the brush applicator. I hate products that you have to twist, and twist, and endlessly twist to get the liquid to come up through the brush or sponge. Not only do I think it's probably a breeding ground for bacteria, but it also seems to be just a waste of product! Whatever gets stuck in the brush will stay forever trapped, plus you can never quite tell how much product is going to come out so often I end up with too much product and no where to put it. Today I twisted until I saw product, thought it was enough, dabbed it on my face, but ran out of product before it covered my face. So I started twisting some more, and all of a sudden I had way too much. I'm not thrilled with the applicator, a pump would be so much more convenient.

Impulse Buy Verdict - It's okay. I'd say if your skin is very red, this is going to have no effect in canceling the redness the way you'd hope. It only slightly decreased the redness around my nose and on my cheeks. However, it seems to really help makeup stay put, and I'm very pleased about that. Wish it had a pump and not a brush though!