Not as great as their foundation! (Ruby & Millie Pre Base Formula)

Member Name: missixty

Product:	Ruby & Millie Pre Base Formula
Date:	16/01/08 (1140 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Does hold make up in place, mattifies, good for oily skin

Disadvantages: Can dry skin out, can flake, can't be used in conjunction with Benetint

Prior to purchasing Ruby and Millie's Pre Base Formula I hadn't had a whole lot of experience with face primers, so I suppose in that sense it is quite difficult to judge. I once shelled out for Max Factor Flawless Perfection, which is a two step foundation, the bottle split in two, with one half being a foundation primer. This was an absolute disaster, I hated everything about it, it didn't make my foundation last like new all day, it just made it wear off in patches. Other than that the only other thing I had really tried is 'illuminating' products that claimed they could be worn under foundation, although I've never found this effective and prefer to highlight after foundation. So before this, I plain old applied my foundation straight to my face.

During my Christmas Boot's spree, I knew for definite I was going to get the Ruby and Millie Foundation, and when I saw the Ruby and Millie Pre Base Formula it seemed like a great idea to get this too. I already had great faith in the range, due to the foundation and anything that's going to make my foundation last all day is a definite bonus.

The packaging is a very simple opaque tube with a silver lid, with Ruby & Mille printed on it and the product showing through. It's a very simple design that looks quite classy and fits in well with the rest of the Ruby & Millie range.

The product itself is a very pale pink and is a clay like consistency. It is very thick and quite a dry paste. It doesn't have any noticeable smell, perhaps just a 'make up' smell but nothing worth noting.

The product claims to cool the skin after moisturisation and prepare the skin for a smoother application of foundation. I haven't found the product cools my skin even slightly so I would say that point is untrue, although not of huge concern to me. I don't apply my make up straight after moisturising but I would think that what it would do is dry the skin out a little so that your make up wont just slide off like it could after moisturiser.

As for whether the product lives up to the claim of giving a smoother application of foundation I'm not really sure I agree with this either. It also claims to make the skin feel smoother too, which I would disagree with, if anything this just makes my skin feel a lot dryer. So far, I realise this is not coming across as a great product.

So what else does this product claim to do? Well it claims it reduces the visibility of greyness in the skin. I don't have particularly grey skin, but the light pink formula I think would neutralise this quite well.

It claims your skin will look more matte, which I definitely agree with. If you have oily skin I think this would be the product for you as it really will dry it all up, and make your foundation stay there all day instead of sliding off your face.

The final claim is that it makes make up last longer which again I definitely agree with, apply your foundation in the morning and it will still look fresh at night.

So as you can see it has it's pluses and minuses.

The first time I applied this I applied it to my whole face. This did definitely make my foundation easy to apply and stay put however I did have a problem with it that made me not do this again. After applying this and trying to apply my Benetint to my cheeks it did not work. For those who have ever tried rubbing Benetint in normally, will probably appreciate it wouldn't work well with a clay like base between the product and the skin. Benetint needs to sort of get into your skin and the Pre Base prevented this. What I found happening here was two things. I had a bright red line that I could not for the life of me blend in, tone down etc, because the Pre Base, was indeed making it stay put and also making it impossible to blend. The other thing I noticed was the Benetint, the foundation, and the Pre Base seemed to kind of congeal on my face and make a big mess. Not recommended.

What I would say is if you use a blusher that sits on top of the rest of your make up, then this wouldn't be a problem, so go ahead and apply it to your whole face if that is the case, and your make up will last all day with no problems.

The next time I used it I decided to apply it just where I needed extra coverage, this being my nose, under eye circles, and my chin. This worked better in that I was able to have full coverage in those places and then I didn't have to have foundation over my whole face, as I prefer not to for a more natural look. What I would say is that this works well, however it is quite tricky because you need to make sure with this that you are blending the foundation out as the Pre Base makes the foundation stronger than normal, so you wouldn't be able to just apply it to one bit and it not be noticeable. So when I apply like this I put my Pre Base on, apply foundation to those areas, then apply a little more just around them to blend out between my Pre Base area and the rest of my face. It really can take a lot of blending but the end result is full coverage where you want it, and a natural look for the rest of the face, without looking odd.

This product does have a huge down point. Sometimes when using it, and then after it has been used, it really dries my skin out. I don't have particularly dry skin normally but since using this did have a bit of a problem with it. One day after applying my make up, using the pre base, I went out, only to look in the mirror two hours later to find all around the edges of where the Pre Base was applied there was flaking skin. After taking it off most of it mustn't have been flaking skin but the actual product flaking, however it did cause me to have really dry skin where my forehead meets my nose, which took a week or so to sort out through exfoliation and moisturiser.

If you have already dry skin then steer clear of this product like the plague. If your skin is normal (like mine) then I would just be careful when using it make sure you do moisturise as otherwise it could dry your skin out. I would say this product is ideal for more oily skins as it would dry them out a little and also make the make up really stick.

At £9 for a 10ml tube, I didn't think this product was too expensive, you don't have to use much, this will probably last me at least 6 months, possibly longer.

I do think that this product is great at doing what a primer is supposed to do - hold your make up in place all day long. Unfortunately though, it comes with too many negatives for me to consider buying it again. I will probably continue to use my tube, only when I feel my skin needs extra coverage somewhere (perhaps it will be good if I have a bad outbreak of spots) but I would rather my foundation wear off than flake off and dry my skin out. I would however think this product would be great for people with oily or shiny skin that struggle to get foundation to stay put.

Summary: Only good for oilier skins I think