Revlon Photoready Prime + Anti Shine Balm Review

Revlon Photoready Prime + Anti Shine ($11.49 at Bed, Bath & Beyond) is a new balm that sounds like it could possibly be a Mally Poreless Face Defender dupe. Let's take a closer look!

It comes in a slim black case with two compartments inside...the larger one on top holds the balm and the smaller one on the bottom contains a rubber sponge.

At first look, I noticed that this balm looks white in the compact compared to Mally's Poreless Face Defender which is clear, but when I swatched it on my skin, it didn't have a white cast and also went on completely clear.

The packaging says you can use this alone to even out the skin, as a primer under makeup, or patted over makeup to keep your face looking matte and shine-free. 

Compared to Mally's Face Defender, this feels creamier with more slip, sort of like someone poured a silicone primer into the compact and let it harden. However, you'll be happy to know that it's not as greasy feeling as Covergirl's TruMagic balm. It's somewhere in between the two. 

When used as a primer, it felt very lightweight and it didn't really fill in my pores or fine lines to the extent that thicker primers do... it felt like it just glided across them and sat on top, although it did make my face feel silky smooth. After 30 seconds to a minute the slick feeling disappeared and it dried to a matte finish.

Over makeup I found that it kept shine at bay really well in the few places I tend to get shiny like my nose and chin. 

Overall, I like this balm and if you hated Cover Girl's TruMagic for being too greasy, give this one a try... I think you'll like it better. Still it's not a total dupe for Mally's Face Defender- I still like that one more overall and I haven't found anything that's exactly like it.  But since Mally's version is not cheap at $40, I think you'll find that the Revlon version does almost as good of a job at controlling shine for a lot less money and you can use it over or under makeup in the same way. 

Personally, I'm not crazy about this as a primer because you may think I'm crazy, but I actually prefer thicker, spackle-like formulas to really fill in my pores and fine lines, and this just isn't like that. But if you're oily or just don't like the feeling of heavier products on your skin, I think you'll really like this!  For now, I'll just use a different primer and stick to using it over makeup instead of powder.

Have you tried this out yet, or seen it in stores?  Do you plan on buying it?

**Disclosure: The item(s) featured in this post were purchased by me.**