Garnier 5 Sec Perfect Blur Smoothing Perfecting Primer

When it comes to primers, I'm on the fence. During my teens when my skin was more oily, I was rarely without Clinique's Pore Minimizer Instant Perfector (old formula), since it was the best mattifier I found. However, as soon my skin changed and got drier with lots of flakes, I found that primers only made it worse. After years of being primer-less, I tried Catrice's Prime and Fine Smoothing Refiner, which was just horribly greasy, so I swore off drugstore primers. But then Garnier's Perfect Blur was launched and gained some respectable reviews. My cousin raves about it as well and I tried it on my hand when she came round. Since it actually looked nice, I decided to give it a go. I've been using it for over a month now and sadly, I'm no longer impressed. 

Texture: It's very whipped and airy, not greasy like the Catrice Prime and Fine, but at the same time not as dry as Clinique's Pore Minimiser. It feels like it's in one solid piece in the tube since mine rattles when shaken, which it's odd. Occasionally clumps of primer just shoot out of the tube when I squeeze it because of the excess air inside. I use the tiniest amount as a little goes a long way and using too much makes the skin feel almost a bit greasy. It applies very smoothly, without flaking off, it sort of coats the skin and makes it really smooth to the touch. It terms of oil control, this didn't impress me at all. I still need to use powder on my T-zone.

The blurring: I'm afraid I notice very minimal blurring on my skin. Honestly, my pores look the same with or without it. I have these two smile lines around my mouth (*sobs*) and this fills them up a bit, but that effect is gone super fast. Essentially, what this primer actually does is create a smooth (feeling) base to work on.
See on the pictures how there's almost no difference between without and with primer? (yay, wierd close up's of my skin!). I'm wearing Rimmel's Match Perfection foundation in 010 Light Porcelain over the primer in the bottom left picture, which looks decent, but it looks about the same also without the primer (there are large enough pictures of how it looks without a primer in the foundation's review). On the bottom right picture, I'm wearing NARS's Radiant Creamy concealer in Chantilly on top and it already felt as though I'm wearing so much on the skin, something that doesn't happen to me without a primer.

Prolonging the make up: I'm not sure if it prolongs the staying power of make up. If it does, it's for a minimal amount of time.

Drying of the skin: It doesn't dry out mine, even though the instruction says it needs a moisturiser underneath, which I admit I do forget to use a lot in the morning and I go straight for foundation. Clinique's Pore Minimiser always reminded me in the evillest possible way with a load of dry patches during the day if I forgot to moisturise, but this one doesn't.

Scent: I detect none.

Ingredients: Primers are essentially just silicones. They don't clog my skin, but they can to other people, so keep that in mind when buying a primer.

Price and availability: It's widely available in drugstores and some larger supermarkets. I paid 6.95 € when it was a part of an introductory promotion, but regular price is 9.95 €.

A decent effort on the part of Garnier, especially for a drugstore brand, however, I still feel it could be better. It's a nice affordable version for someone who wants to try out primers and see what all the fuss is about, but if you're looking for something amazing, you'll have to find something else.

Have a great day!