MAC has a vast collection of Prep+Prime products and today I’m going to be reviewing their Fortified Skin Illuminateur in Neutralize. When purchasing a product from this line, the most important thing to do is look on the box for the active ingredients and uses. The word primer has a lot of different meanings, and you should decide what you would like your primer to do — moisturize, oil control, fill in pores, sunscreen, etc. Neutralize has five active ingredients, all of which are for sunscreen benefits, so it will not help in controlling excess oil. Along with protecting skin from the sun, this product claims to neutralize redness and illuminate the skin.
As you can see the product is very yellow, and this helps to neutralize redness. The illumination properties come from the large amounts of sunscreen in the product. I do see a difference in redness reduction when I use this product, but the I don’t find that my skin is anymore illuminated once I have my foundation on. I use MAC Studio Fix Powder Foundation most of the time because I have oily skin and this product works beautifully under it. If you have ever used MAC SFP you know that it can look pretty powdery when first applied. When I use Neutralize under it I find the coverage to be much more even, less powdery, and it even lasts longer.
On with a couple negatives… I cannot use this under liquid foundation because there aren’t any oil reduction ingredients, so this wouldn’t be something I recommend to ladies with super oily skin. Also, because of all the sunscreen in the product, you should not use it if you will be photographed — it will cause your face to be washed out and much whiter than your body in the photos.
I think that this is a great product for use under powder foundation and I will be repurchasing when I run out. I love that it reduces redness, protects my skin from the sun, and helps my powder foundation apply evenly and last longer! On a side note, I think that it is important to be realistic with our expectations of facial products and primers. I read a bunch of negative reviews on Neutralize because they were expecting it do things the product was not made to do. When making a purchase, always read what the products is used for and the active ingredients!
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Have you tried any Prep + Prime products? What is your favorite primer?
