That’s a lot of fresh in one blog title, don’t you think?
A brand I’ve been eager to try in recent months is Fresh, an LVMH owned luxury cosmetics company with a clean aesthetic and products containing a lot of natural goodness, from Japanese sake to real brown sugar. Besides, the name just sounds enticing doesn’t it – who doesn’t want to be so fresh and so clean clean?
I picked up a travel size duo ($10 at Sephora) of Fresh‘s Rose FreshFace Primer and Twilight highlighting lotion a few months ago, and was so pleased with the primer that I picked up the full-sized product, at a not inconsiderable sum of $36USD.
I’ll just state this briefly: I don’t really need this product – but I REALLY like this product. It’s frivolous (at least, for me) but is lovely and looks lovely and therefore makes me feel lovely, which is the entire reason I spend all of my money on cosmetics in the first place, really.
According to Fresh, the Rose FreshFace Primer is a silicone free primer that
” instantly creates a flawless complexion that’s ready for makeup application. It is enriched with soothing rose-water and cucumber extract and antioxidant-rich green tea and vitamins A, C, E. Porphyridium cruentum, a smart micro-algae that hydrated the skin where it needs it the most, also helps to maintain optimum moisture levels throughout the day. “
I do really like this primer for a number of reasons – being silicone and paraben free, I feel like I’m putting a protective film on my face before slathering it in chemical filled foundations and concealers. Additionally, silicone primers, like Smashbox‘s famous one, tend to leave my face slick and cause foundation to ‘pill’ (like that cashmere sweater your boyfriend accidentally put in the washing machine that one time), and don’t do much at all for makeup longevity on my face. Now, to be totally honest with you, I’m not quite sure that the Rose FreshFace Primer does much for makeup longevity earlier – but being as enamored as I am with it, I’m willing to forgive this product a number of sins.
The primer comes in a 1oz (30ml) tube and has a fresh, whipped cream texture that smells subtly and divinely of tea roses. Due to the design of the tube, it takes some time working out how to dose this correctly, but I’ve found a pea size amount works well to cover my face completely. This doesn’t give any immediate, jarring effects of a perfect face, but does hydrate and seem to fill in pores subtly. What it does, however, is makes foundation apply smoothly, allowing me to use less of whatever I’m using to color in my face that day.
I genuinely don’t know if this product makes my foundation last longer, but I do know that it smells lovely and feels lovely on my face – I’m fairly certain that I could use this, alone, on bare-faced days this summer just to give my skin a bit of pep and rosy glow.
Is it worth $36 for 1oz of product? More than likely not – especially as due to my trouble dosing when I bought this, I wasted quite a bit of it. I do genuinely like it, despite that (being a sucker for anything vintage, and anything smelling of that most noble of blooms), and would likely purchase again.
Rose FreshFace Primer, available at Sephora US.
