We’re in the thick of the Philippine summer - hot, sticky, and unbelievably sweaty - so I’m fairly certain that you’re looking for something to help you look fresher for longer in this heat. I may have a solution! I tried this a few months back and now I’m here with a full review.

The MAC Studio Fix Mattifine 12HR Shine-Control Primer (P2,300 for 3ml in Lazada) is designed to mattify skin and provide a blurring finish to reduce the appearance of pores.

Waking up early to get ready and perfect your makeup can be quite a chore, so it feels like a complete disaster when your makeup starts sliding off after just 3 hours! Having oily skin can be quite a challenge but you don’t necessarily have to just let your hard work go to waste. A mattifying primer can completely change your makeup game! 

Until a couple of years ago, I didn’t believe in using face primers. It seemed like an unnecessary step and additional expense, until finally trying one made me do a complete 180! Once addicted, I ended up collecting  different kinds of primers: pore-filling, oil-controlling, moisturizing, brightening, color-correcting, and even ones with SPF. You see, I have sensitive combination skin so I cycle through these primers according to how my skin looks and feels like when I wake up. Sometimes, I even end up using different primers on targeted areas of my face!

So I was excited to discover that BYS had three new face primers in rather interesting variants: one for oily skin, one with hydrating pearls, and yet another with gold flakes. The pearls and gold flakes are particularly unique in my perspective, so I was very curious to give these a try.

Ah, pores, the last frontier into the metaphorical universe of porcelain skin. We often get asked how to “make pores disappear” and our answer is pretty much the same: you cannot eliminate them completely, especially through makeup alone. You can clean them to make them less visible, or get laser treatments to shrink them, but "eliminate" is too strong a word because your skin actually needs them to function properly! Apart from keeping them clear or getting professionally zapped, there are makeup primers that are specifically formulated to “refine,” “minimize,” and “blur” your pores to perfection.

I tested three products: the Ellana Blur Makeup Primer, the Happy Skin Matte About You Pore and Shine Control Primer, and the Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer to see which blurs or minimizes my pores the best.