Once upon a time there was a International Student living in Santa Barbara, CA. Living in the United States was basically living the dream, because being a makeup lover, there was so much more available in the USA opposed to the Netherlands. One of the good things about it was that she would be the first to be able to get her hands on new launches. When the Porefessional Pearl Primer was supposed to be released, the girl visited the Benefit Cosmetics Store several times but every visit was no luck: the samples nor the product arrived yet. On her last day before returning home the product (only full sized at that point) was finally there: at first sight she loved the product but she wanted to be sure and decided not to spend her last money on a full sized product. A little bit disappointed the girl flew home the next day.

Okay that was a little storytime and it wouldn’t surprise you when I tell you that the story actually happened to me, haha. I was so excited about the Porefessional Pearl Primer that I basically became friends with the ladies at the Benefit Store and I did leave the USA without the primer, eventhough I really wanted to try it out. I decided on that because I always want to try a product out a few times or buy a travel sized product before I spent ‘big’ bucks. Luckily, I didn’t take long before it was launched in the Netherland as well, full sized and travel sized.

I have been using the Benefit Porefessional Pearl Primer for a little while now so it’s time to give you my opinion on this pink pearly product!

For looks the product gets a lot of points from me. I will always care a lot about packaging because it has to look pretty on my vanity too, right!?

This is what Benefit says about the Porefessional Pearl Primer:

The power of The POREfessional…PLUS brightening! This soft-radiance face primer instantly minimizes the look of pores, locks on makeup and helps skin look bright, boosted and awake. It’s the same oil-free, lightweight, silky smooth texture as the original ThePOREfessional: Pore Primer PLUS a hint of soft pearly pink. Pores and dullness don’t stand a chance!

I love using the OG Porefessional as a primer under my make-up because it smooths my skin beautifully, mattifies it and allows my make-up to stay in place all day. What I really like about the Porefessional Pearl is that you could wear it without any face make-up on top, because it is already supposed to give you a bright and glowy look.

Left is the Porefessional Pearl Primer and on the right is the OG Porefessional Primer.

It’s not a screaming big difference but on my hand you can see the part where I applied the Porefessional Pearl Primer being more bright than the part where I applied the OG Primer. On my hand it looked really promising!

I like how the Porefessional Pearl Primer sits on my face as well. Unfortunately, the products doesn’t make a huge difference when I wear it alone. I tried making pictures of my face when wearing it but honestly, I did not see a difference on the pictures. I do see that my skin gets a little more healthy looking with the Pearl Primer on it, but the moment when I put make-up on top on it, everything the primer does, disappears. When there is make-up on top, the Porefessional Pearl Primer does not differ a bit from the OG Porefessional Primer at all. It does smooth out my skin and make my make-up sit in place longer, but I do not see any brightening or glow through my face make-up.

I personally don’t mind about that though because my mini OG Porefessional was almost empty and I like the packaging of the Pearl Primer more, but I think there must be a primer out there that makes a whole lot more difference. If you love the OG Porefessional Primer, I don’t really see the need for you to try out the other unless you are just as curious as I was! It’s a nice primer though and I like using it (mostly because of how smooth my skin feels and the smell because that’s so nice and fresh) but it’s not groundbreaking or anything!

Did you already try out the Pearl Primer? What do you think?