Product Review: Benefit That Gal Brightening Face Primer

No matter how good or expensive your make-up, its staying power can only be improved when you use a good primer underneath. Benefit That Gal Brightening Face Primer claims to soothe and calm skin while helping to keep your make-up from sliding off your face.

Packaging
That Gal comes in a hexagonal twist-tube, which is adorable but an incredible waste of packaging. A full-size version contains 11g of product, but the little samples in cardboard sachets they sometimes give out contain 3.5g. Because you have to twist the product for several minutes before anything comes out the first time you use it, it seems that the designers' primary objective was to make That Gal seem much better value than it is. Depending on how much you use, you can only expect this product to last for 1-3 months with regular application. Annoyingly, you never know when it's nearly finished so you can't accurately budget for a new one.

On the positive side, however, the twist mechanism is ingeniously designed to keep germs out and the product in. I just wish it were smaller!

Benefit That Gal Brightening Face Primer, £22 from Boots

Application
That Gal is a pale pink primer that goes on clear, so don't worry if at first it looks like the wrong colour for you. It contains raspberry and soothing camomile, which smell delicious, and feels cool on the skin. Although it has the consistency of a light moisturiser, it's really important not to rub this into the skin; for best results you should gently tap it into your face, avoiding the eye area. Personally I find that when patted over make-up to 'refresh' it, it just makes the foundation underneath look cakey, but you get slightly better results if you use a liquid rather than a powder.

The greatest irony of this product is that on pale, cool skin tones it does give a lovely light glow, but as soon as you apply make-up over the top (as it is, y'know, a primer), the luminosity is cancelled out.

Performance
As a primer, That Gal is so-so. It does help make-up last a bit longer, but I wouldn't bank on it if you're pulling long days or planning on getting sweaty (!)

The Bottom Line
I really wanted to like this product; despite its bulky packaging, it smells gorgeous and feels lovely on application, but unfortunately it broke me out and didn't work anywhere near as well as other primers. I gave it to some friends to try and those with oily skin found it did absolutely zilch as a primer, but liked the sensation of initial application. In short, as long as you don't react to it like I did, it's a lovely product to just have...so long as you don't have to pay for it.

Recommended for no make-up days for people with normal to dry skin.

Rating: 4.0/10