There’s really not much to say about Silk Naturals’ Oil Control Primer, other than that it’s the best mattifying product I’ve ever tried.

All my life I’ve been trying to regulate my skin’s sebum production and have been dreaming about silky matte skin that stays that way throughout the day.

Back in the days I’m sure I must have used more than one alcohol-laden toner, and my only excuse is that I really didn’t know better. Then I bought every drugstore moisturizer that promised to make my skin matte, and was disappointed with the results every single time. Afterwards I was on the pill for two and a half years, but although it took care of my zits perfectly, to my great chagrin, it didn’t much affect my comedos or the oiliness of my skin. Next I tried applying a micro-thin layer of jojoba oil to fool my skin into thinking it was really not necessary to hide behind thick layers of grease and that the world was a much safer place than it had thought. It worked for a while, but then one day it saw through the ruse and was truly irritated at being treated like such a gullible fool, so it huffed and puffed and made my life a living hell once again.

Half a year ago I started to experiment with mattifying creams and lotions again, but I quickly realized that most of them were chock-full of silicones, and that after having sat dutifully on my skin for an hour or two keeping the oilies at bay, they suddenly got up, dusted off their mantles and sauntered off into oblivion, quickly followed by a swell of sebum and other nasty stuff. (My theory is that somewhere in the world there exists a pub for stray-minded cosmetic ingredients where they come together for a drink or two after having got bored of sitting on our skin and doing their job properly.)

Anyway, back to the product at hand. It’s white, silky and feather-light, and for some reason it possesses a pathologic aversion to makeup brushes. Let me tell you though that it’s a good thing. It made me start using it as if it were some sort of lotion and rub it into the skin on my T-zone with gentle circular motions. This way it disappears completely after a while leaving no trace of that dreaded white cast, and for some reason it makes my skin much smoother and silkier than it could if I applied it with a brush.



Used together with Silk Naturals’ Oil Control Serum, it kept my face nice and matte for at least three hours longer than it would have been without them. Also, it’s the only stuff that successfully battles the greasiness of my sunscreen (Bioderma Photoderm Sensitive) and keeps my complexion relatively oil-free throughout the day. It’s safe to say that I would not be able to use that sunscreen without this primer and that makes this product from Silk Naturals an integral part of my daily routine. (To see why I still insist on using that sunscreen despite its obvious shortcoming, take a look at this post.)




Because of wanting to save on the shipping a bit, I bought the refill baggie and put its content into an old, unused EDM jar. Safe to say is that I'll never do that again. Next time I’m buying this stuff in its original packaging, which I expect to be a lot more practical than that of EDM’s. *grumblegrumble…*

Where to get it: www.silknaturals.com
Price: 8.95$ in jar (7.95$ in refill baggie), and 0.99$ for a sample jar
Amount: 2 teaspoons of product (full size); 1/4 tsp. (sample size)
Ingredients: calcium carbonate, silk powder, silica
My rating: 6 stars out of 5 ;-)