Last Monday I reviewed the You Better Work Fixing Spray and that wasn’t working out too well for me as it gave me an allergic reaction. However that doesn’t mean that the product itself is bad per se as it got the job done just fine in the end. The primer from the same line didn’t give me an allergic reaction, but it definitely didn’t wow me either. These are my thoughts.
Essence You Better Work Gym-Proof Primer | Sweat Proof, SPF 20, blur effect
We all know how affordable Essence products are by now and this primer is no exception. At just €3.59 this is super affordable. It also boasts some amazing claims: it should be gym-proof, sweat proof, have an spf of 20 AND blur the skin. If it does only one of those things for that price point, I would deem that a success.
The Packaging
The actual packaging of the You Better Work line isn’t my favorite. I said it before and I’ll say it again: I just don’t like the design. However, this packaging doesn’t feel as cheap as the primer, so that is a plus. I also like that this comes in a tube. Primer in a tube always makes me feel like I get the most bang for my buck as it will make it very easy to use up every last drop when you love this.
The Primer
When it comes to primer, I have a few things I am looking for. I want it to make my makeup last longer and reduce the amount of shine produced throughout the day. That’s it: no more no less. I am not looking for something that will fill in pores or do anything too drastic. Just a basic simple primer that ensures my makeup stays put and stays looking nice.
The Swatch
To my surprise, when I first squeezed this out it was green. I am usually not a big fan of green face products as they tend to leave a cast that is difficult to cover up. With this primer, I was happy to find it blended in easily and the green shade disappeared. The primer has quite a pleasant smell and it looks beautiful once applied to the skin.
The Application
Because of that hint of green, I find this cancels out redness quite easily. As you can see in these before and after pictures, the primer evens out my skin tone quite a bit and that is great. What is not so great is that this primer does not deliver on its claims. I specifically saved this for the summer time so I could really test if it would deliver on the sweatproof claims. It didn’t. In normal weather this was okay, but I felt it did make me look oily throughout the day. Since I have quite dry skin, that should not happen at oil with a primer that is supposed to be sweatproof. It definitely didn’t survive the heatwaves we have had this year and it most certainly didn’t survive a gym class.
The Conclusion
I really wanted to love the Essence You Better Work primer. As with skincare, primer is something that needs to suit you skin type and this just doesn’t go with my skin very well. Maybe it works for you, but sadly on me, this only lasted a few hours before it started to separate my makeup and made me look oily. It just didn’t work for me, which is a shame, because this product had a lot of potential.
3 responses to “Essence You Better Work primer”
The whole “You better Work”line is a bit of a disappointment for me. Tool the waterproof mascara on a vacation and never had bigger panda eyes than when using the mascara.
Same here. Have thoroughly tested 4 of the products so far and all of them didn’t work for me. The mascara was still the best one.
[…] to this point, the Essence You Better Work line has been unsuccessful for me. The primer didn’t prime, the tinted moisturizer was too orange and the makeup fixing spray gave me an allergic reaction. So […]