Garnier 5 Sec Blur Review plus Swatches and Comparisons

There are so many new primers on the market these days!  From Garnier to L'Oreal to Almay all are promising to blur away imperfections, make shine disappear and fill in pores. But even though they do similar things, they are different in their own ways in terms of texture and how they feel on the skin.  

Garnier's new 5 Sec Blur is the latest primer to crop up and it definitely reminds me of another very popular (and expensive) primer, so read on...more on that below!

First, the details: 

5 Sec Blur comes in a pink tube that holds a full oz of product, so it will last quite a while, especially since you only need a little bit. The tube has a tapered tip that makes dispensing the primer easy. 

Here are the packaging shots and ingredients: 

The formula is light pink and opaque, with a fluffy texture similar to a mousse, but with a silky silicone feel. 

It does a great job of smoothing my skin, filling in pores, lines and wrinkles, blurring minor imperfections and controlling shine.  Compared to the others I've reviewed recently, Garnier 5 Sec Blur has the silkiest texture. The Almay CC Primer  feels more like a light lotion.  L'Oreal Pore Vanisher comes close in terms of silkiness, but once applied it has more of a powdery dry down, while the Garnier retains the silky feel a bit longer.

The pink color and mousse-like texture made me think of two other primers- L'Oreal's Studio Secrets Magic Perfecting Base and Mally's Perfect Prep Primer.

I swatched all three to do a side-by-side comparison.  

From left to right: L'Oreal, Mally, Garnier

The L'Oreal one was very thick and paste-like compared with the Garnier, so I can't really call it a dupe.  But look at Mally Perfect Prep next to the Garnier- they looked and felt exactly alike!

I've been using Mally's Perfect Prep for a few months now ever since I saw it on QVC, and I love it but it's $35/jar- yikes! At $16.99, Garnier 5 Sec Blur is an almost spot on dupe in terms of texture and feel.  Mally Perfect Prep does have peptides in it for firming the skin, so that's one thing the Garnier formula lacks.  But if you're using skincare products to firm your skin and don't really care if they're in your primer too, the Garnier 5 Sec Blur primes the skin just as well as Mally's Perfect Prep, in my opinion and feels exactly the same.

I'll definitely be pinning this to my Dupes Board!