Benefit's Porefessional pore minimising balm review

I wouldn't say that I have large pores (although looking at them larger than life on my laptop screen is pretty scary!) but around my nose and above my lips they are a little too visible for my liking. Thankfully Benefit have come to the rescue with their 'PRO balm to minimise the appearance of pores'.

Professional is not a new product and I've been aware for it for a while but have avoided if due to it's £23.50 price tag (for 22ml), but this months Glamour magazine was giving away mini 7.5ml samples (along with benefit's 'that gal' primer and 'bad gal lash' mascara) so I jumped at the chance to try it out.

Professional is a thick opaque nude balm but it feels lightweight on the skin and doesn't tint your skin at all. It applies silky smooth and you need very little product each time. The results are impressive; as you can see above, my pores look smaller and less noticeable, my skin has a more even tone and is mattified.

The balm doesn't seem to last very long, I would say after a few hours wear your pores will probably be back to normal and that's if you have similar skin to mine, my skin is very dry so if you have oily or even normal skin the wear might be shorter. You can apply the balm over make up though and it only takes seconds, but for such an expensive product I would expect better wear.

One problem I have with Porefessional is that it feels a little odd on my skin. To the touch my skin is soft and plump where I've applied the product but my face feels weirdly dry at the same time, I think this is because the balm mattifies the skin to help minimise pores and might dry it a little, but I don't think this would bother anybody without very dry skin.

All in all I'm very impressed with the product, it does what it says on the tin (or tube actually) but I wouldn't buy it full price as it isn't worth it on my student budget. I do plan on buying another couple copies of glamour if I can find them though before the month is up, if I bought three that'd be £6 for 22.5ml - bargain!

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