Becca Resurfacing Primer - Eureka!

I don't know if "resurfacing" is a great term. It's something you do to a road, isn't it? With drills and steamrollers?

That aside, this is the first Becca product I've tried. Like many long standing grudges of mine, this has nothing to do with the product and all to do with the staff. During my years at Myer the lady who ran the Becca station was an infamous bitch who all the staff avoided, and sadly it's contributed to my very late start on the Becca front.

I received this product in my gigantic groaning gift bags from POBM, and not being a huge primer-wearer, I was a bit reluctant to start using it. As previously mentioned (and bitterly complained about) I'm not great in summer, and my skin sweats like anything, and thus the more layers I put on my face - moisturizer, primer, foundation, powder - the worse it gets. When I wash my face in the morning, I usually have a period of amnesty for about an hour where I'm not oily or that sweaty, and that has to be the time when I apply makeup. It's also my absolute driest time, so unless I wear moisturiser - which I'm doing less and less during the day in summer - makeup does not cling well to me.
So it's an endless cycle - apply moisturiser and two hours later be a sweaty beast, or don't apply moisturiser and have my makeup sit unevenly and dully on my face? Aargh.
It's embarrassing how long it took me to try applying primer without moisturiser, and it happened by accident when late at night I decided I needed to take a powdered face photo and was far too hot and bothered to pile on the liquid foundation or something liquid-y underneath to provide grip. With the flaky logic of anything-wet-will-do, I slopped on some FOA Primer and applied mineral powder foundation on top of that. And lo and behold? It looked good, and it stayed put very comfortably without much sweating or discomfort. Hooray!

Fast forward to this product - Becca's, that is - which is a delicate little tube of cream with no SPFs or moisturising properties, which means it's (sadly - an SPF, though useful, would have rendered it too oily) at it's optimum for oily oily ladies.  I've been applying it after cleansing and before the Nude by Nature mineral foundation, and it's something of a winning combo for oily sweatiness. It creates a bit of a slick which doesn't make a huge difference for powder makeup, but would be a lifesaver for liquid, and while it does make me shiny immediately after, it sinks in very fast and mattes out equally fast. And it locks in my foundation really impressively - the the N by N stuff is great to start with, so the pair together are a powerhouse. Plus it means that the only things sitting on my skin skin (so excluding lipsticks/eyeshadows/mascara) are the primer, some small spots of concealer, and the powder. And this is a winning formula i.e. as little as humanly possible.

My gripe is with the packaging - the opening in the tube is tiny. And you need to use a fair amount on your face since it's got no oil to spread it around with, so you will squeeze and squeeze and squeeze to get the amount you need. It's a pleasantly scented, pale yellow cream that smoothes on a bit white but loses the white cast once it starts to soften and sink in.

A quick scan of this page reveals not one, but five different primers! There's a hydrating one, an SPF one, a radiance one, a rejuvenating one - truly a primer for all seasons. I'd be interested in trying the SPF one, because if that works for me, then my final "face issue" - how on earth to wear sunscreen - would be solved.

Blended - a second or so later - no shine at all, and I rubbed in about 2/3rds of a faceworth on that hand. Golly.

This one retails for $55 - expensive, I think, but my ultimate perspective on that is going to depend on how long the product goes for and how indispensable I find it. Certainly right now it's a lifesaver. My local Ella Bache (love you, Ella Bache) is a Becca stockist, so I'll definitely be looking a bit closer and seeing which products might suit me. So far - very happy.

DISCLAIMER: Received in giftbag from POBM, under NO obligation to review! And believe me, there's no way I'm going to be able to review everything.