Catrice Prime and Fine Anti-red Base

There will always be a point in your life where you feel betrayed, not by a person BUT by a product.

In what way?

Imagine discovering a brand that you fell in love with immediately, and you secretly vowed to buy every single one of the items they have because you just like it that much. And imagine yourself promoting that brand to your friends (even though you are not even paid to do that) because you felt it was that awesome.

Then BAM! You try one of their products for the first time (excluding the eyelashes, since well that isn't really a skin product), and it is truly disappointing.

Behold everyone, the Catrice Prime and Fine Anti-Red Base. It is a pure waste of $8.90, which, if I had save it up, I can probably buy something from Etude House in the long run, which may be expensive, but at least the quality is guaranteed.

Catrice Prime and Fine Anti-Red Base

First of all, let's look at the claims on the product:

• Anti-red base: neutralizes redness
• Longlasting
• Hydrating

Normally, I would rate products 3/5 so long as they fulfill two of the three claims that they have made on the packaging, and 2/5 if they fulfill one of the three claims. For this product, I will sadly grant it a 0/5, and if possible, I would have gladly given it a -10, but let's not go to the far extremes of complaints and heartache over a wasted $8.90.

To begin with, it DOES NOT neutralize redness. By science and by logic, yes the green is supposed to neutralize redness, which is the reason why I bought it anyway because I tend to have some pinkish redness around my nose area and cheek (depending), but applying this, I honestly can't see much of a difference. If it did do any justice to its claim, then it must have been a really small difference because I really cannot see any visible neutralization to the redness in my skin, and mind you, I am not even that red. 

And it is not just me who found the product less than useful, check out these comments from makeupalley.com:

Click to enlarge the comments

So just in case Catrice wants to sue me for defaming their brand or something, you know that I am not making things out of nothing and it is in truth a terrible product.

As you have noticed, some of the users commented about the LARGE SHIMMERY FLAKES, which I was slow enough to not notice until after my first use. Check out how the product looks on your skin below:

Catrice prime and fine anti-red base on skin

For the first arrow on top, it is the area where I have already rubbed the product hard into my skin and blended it for a while. As you can see, the green is still prominent and there is this shimmery, sparkly texture that is unnecessary in a PRIMER. The green color doesn't seem to fully disappear after much effort in blending, it just turns into this light green sheen that enable you to resemble a sickly Avatar.

Sparkly finish. Hello Edward Cullen in Sun.

The photo of my hand above is taken when I have spent a minute or two to fully rub the product into my skin, and I strongly advise against rubbing your face so hard because it is bound to give you wrinkles. As you can see, there is this layer of sparkles that remain on my skin, and even though the green tint is not the most obvious, it can still be seen under the sun. My phone camera has limitations in capturing both the sparkles and the tint, so if you see this in real life, it is possibly worse.

Thus, I source around on the net for another photo to show you how sparkly the product is:

Photo credit to Imke, please check out her review too!

LOOK AT THAT AMOUNT OF SHIMMER GLITTER. Thank you Imke for capturing the large glitter flakes that I can't seem to capture!

Oh here is another site that talks about the amount of sparkles this product has.

I am not even going to mince my words, since shimmer is usually used for a light shine, and glitter is reserved for large sparkly flakes. Like this one.

Anyway, before you shake your head completely, I have to sadly inform you that unlike its claim, it is not hydrating.

I think nowadays we always take the hydration factor for granted when it comes to make-up products or skin care products because that is the least we expect from a product right? Whitening, firming, time-reversal...all those are difficult to achieve, but to me, as long as a product makes my skin feel hydrated and thus comfortable, I will still like it!

For this primer, it is not hydrating. It is oily. There is a difference because hydrating means that my skin feel more moisturized after applying it, whilst oily means that I feel a layer of oil on my skin. (Duhh).

I remember the day when I wore it out underneath my BB cream, I went to the washroom in a mall and saw green flecks of the primer on my face. 2-3 flecks in fact. I am not even sure what the flakes are, because I was so sure I blended it into my skin well. It could be the fact that it didn't go well with the BB cream, causing small clumps to roll off into this little flakes. Yuck.

In all, you have come to the end of a very disgruntled review by me who is sobbing over the money wasted. Just in case you are wondering, I really did use to be a huge fan of Catrice, especially after I bought their lashes. I mean, their prices are reasonable and they have a huge range of products for one to choose from, which is why I even wrote to Catrice to ask if they were interested in sponsoring me for a review. But, on the hindsight, I am glad that they did not, because imagine if they gave me this base and I can't speak as freely as I can right now!

Have you guys tried this base? How do you all find it? If you too find it too sparkly, do you have any tips in making it more wearable? Share with us your thoughts in the comment box below and till next post, bye!