Tried & Tested: Benefit That Gal Brightening Face Primer

Saturday 14 January 2012


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I picked this sample up from a Benefit counter last weekend. Initially I was after a sample of Porefessional but they were all out (that thing is selling like hot cakes too!). If you've ever been to a Benefit counter, then you'll know that the MUAs won't let you leave empty handed, even if you're only browsing like I was. I briefly mentioned that I was looking to try out some kind of primer, and asked if they had any of those little sachets of That Gal lying about. Immediately, she fetched me this sample tube, chatted to me about it for what felt like an hour, and finally away I went. You've got to hand it to those Benefit MUAs, they can talk for England!

Anyway, onto the product. Benefit's That Gal is a 'brightening face primer' which can be worn alone, under or over makeup to, you've guessed it, brighten your complexion.

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Straight out of the tube, it's a baby pink liquid which has the consistency of a body lotion. This is completely different to any primer I've tried before texture wise and felt a little greasy. The scent of it is like a mix between fruity and floral which I didn't like at all, but then again I want most of the products that I put on my face to be fragrance free.

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It blends seamlessly into the skin and gives it a pretty dewy finish as you can see above. I noticed an instant brightening effect to my face, with the pinkness of That Gal perking up my olive complexion nicely (plus, I think if you're much paler then this will be even more perfect for you). So far, so good.

When it came to applying my tinted moisturiser, this is where I ran into some trouble. Instead of having that common silky smooth type feeling that a lot of primers have, That Gal left something of a slightly greasy/tacky residue which made blending a pain in the ass. It felt like the tinted moisturiser was getting 'stuck' on top of the That Gal and required a lot time for blending it properly. I don't usually use a foundation brush when I apply tinted moisturiser, but had to with this one because using my fingers just wasn't budging it. I tried it with my foundation the next day and that was even worse because it was a thicker consistency and took even more time to blend as you'd expect. Once everything was blended properly, the 'brightening glow' had vanished and it looked like I hadn't applied any That Gal at all. At the end of the day, I didn't notice any difference in the primer prolonging my makeup either. When I tried That Gal over foundation, the same thing happened and it just seemed to disappear completely into the foundation with no 'glow'.

Summary: That Gal is brilliant if you wear it on its own on naked skin. You'll really see a brightening difference and I think this would be great for summer or taking on holiday when you don't wear much makeup. However, if you need any kind of coverage and want to wear it with tinted moisturiser/foundation, then this probably won't do anything for you. Also the claims of it being a 'primer' in the traditional sense are pretty much to be ignored in my opinion.

Have you tried That Gal? What do you think?
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22 comments

  1. I tried a sample of this ages ago and really didnt find that it did much especially under foundation.

    http://zozeze.blogspot.com/xo

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    1. Yeah, seems to work much better on its own x

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  2. I love this primer! It's a shame that it didn't work too well on you :(
    But I do agree - I much prefer wearing it alone xx

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    1. One of my close friends literally adores That Gal too, so it seems to be a bit of a marmite product! xx

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  3. great review. it sounds great but only for wearing alone. agree the girls at the counter want to sell! x

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    1. Honestly they could sell snow to eskimos lol! x

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  4. Great review!
    I've tried it, but yea, I didn't notice anything for the price tag. I have a love/hate thingy with Benefit. I love a few of their products, but kind of hate a lot of them.

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    1. Me too, I love some of their products but others just seem very expensive for what they are x

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  5. That's really nice of the MUA the ones near my area don't ever give you samples unless you buy something xx

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    1. I don't know if it makes any difference, but I find the Benefit counters in Debenhams stores (which is my nearest one), are really good with just giving away random samples to people who are browsing and passing by, especially on Saturdays. Though I wasn't expecting to get such a generous sample size! They usually have those little 3ml sachet types x

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  6. Oooh I've actually just ordered some of this!!
    Sounds like it works pretty well on it's own which is probably how I'd use it anyway.
    Great review - I'm looking forward to trying it out :) x

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    1. Let me know what you think, I think it definitely works best on its own :) x

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  7. This just sounds really disappointing! I won't be trying this any time soon xx

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    1. I was disappointed by it, glad I tried a sample first xx

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  8. I've been eyeing this for some time now, but i don't think id get much use out of because im rarely bare faced. Although i'd be curious to see how it'd work underneath my Skin79 BB cream :) xx

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    1. It might work well under BB cream, I think it depends on how sheer the formula is because That Gal definitely works better without anything over the top of it xx

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  9. It's always a shame when a product doesn't turn out to be what you hope for - I'm on the hunt for a primer that doesn't break the bank! I'll probably have a look at Benefit's Porefessional and give this one a miss.

    Great review :) xx

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    1. Porefessional sounds amazing, I really want to try that at some point! x

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  10. ive wanted to try this for ages... i never seem to get samples lol and this seems like a reasonable size... maybe you have one of those faces that makes people want to give you things lol :D

    www.missmathful.blogspot.com

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    1. haha I hope so! :D this was a really generous size, they usually only give out those little 3ml sachets but I think they'd ran out of them x

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  11. I definitely didn't expect That Gal to be a runny, lotion type product - I always pictured it to be some sort of pink gel! If you're still looking for a primer though, The Porefessional is more of velvety, gel like primer and make up goes on so well over it xx

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    1. Yeah I was expecting something different too, will definitely try out Porefessional instead :) xx

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