I have a love hate relationship with primers. I love them, but hate their cost.  I’ve tried a few drugstore primer’s in my day, and have never really been wowed. I’ve tried high end, and my bank account has never been wowed.  I’m in this limbo where I’m starting to think that I need a primer to fill in my pores, which seem to be getting larger day by day, and not wanting to shell out the money on a quality one.

It seemed as if Maybelline had the answer to all my prayers when they released the Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser primer a few months ago.  Of course, YouTube exploded with people raving about it and it seemed as if it was a “must-have” “high-end dupe” and miracle from the drugstore. But how does it measure up?

I had to include the claims that this primer makes.  It states that you can wear it alone to smooth out the face or wear a thin layer under your foundation, and doing that will smooth out the face and blur pores.

I will say this is kind of a small container. Considering that you don’t need that much, you may not go through this product that quickly, but still! Its just .67 fl oz so factor that in when you’re buying it. The Benefit Porefessional is slightly bigger at .75 fl oz for the full size, and the Hourglass Veil Mineral primer being 1.0 fl oz. While this is a drugstore alternative, be advised that you’re getting slightly less product.

The packaging is a typical squeeze tube.  There are no bells and whistles here, which I kind of like.  Sometimes simplicity saves time in the morning! Plus, the squeeze tube means that you control how much product comes out of the packaging.

The product itself is a clear, silicone-y product. It’s similar in feel to the Benefit Pore-fessional but not the same color.

What I like:  I find that this product does do what it claims to do! It blurs my visible pores, makes my makeup go on smoothly, and keeps my makeup on all day.  I had almost given up on my Lioeli BB cream because it just would fall off my face after 3 hours and make me look like an oil slick, until I found this product.  This primer keeps my BB cream on ALL day, makes it look like a glorious dewy finish (rather than a grease stain), and smooths out my skin.  I’ve tried this with other foundations too and it looks just as good.  And did I mention the price?!? I got this for $6.99 at Ulta. I don’t know if that’s the standard price, or if I got it on sale, but its better than the $31 of the Pore-fessional or the $52 for the Veil Mineral!

What I don’t like:  its easy to go overboard on this product. You can’t use a lot of a silicone primer because instead of making your foundation stay on, it will make it slip and slide all over the place. I had a lot of trial and error finding out how much of this product to use. I still can’t get the ratio perfect, because some days my foundation slides off my face after an hour (like today), and other days I don’t use enough and my pores aren’t “blurred.”  And I was hoping that this would blur my pores more, but I think that my face is just hopeless.

Overall, I really really like it and wear it every day. I love how it keeps my foundation on and makes my skin look smooth.  I wish that it would fill in my pores a little bit more, but like I said, they may be a lost cause at this point.  I think this is a great alternative for all those high end primers for those of you who are like me and hate spending that much money on something that you can’t even see!

Grade: A-

Price: $6.99

What do you guys think? Have any of you tried this yet?