Friday Faves: Mattifiers

This week’s Friday Faves post is all about my favourite mattifying products. My skin isn’t oily – my skin is an oil slick! Some days it’s so bad that you can see little beads of sebum on my nose and the shine - oh, the shine! Unfortunately I still haven’t managed to find a holy grail product that keeps the oil and shine at bay, but this lovely lot make sure it’s not so bad.

  LOTIONS & POTIONS                                                                                                             

  MURAD T-ZONE PORE REFINING GEL*                                                                                                              

I’ve been meaning to review this for quite some time, but I absolutely love this stuff. I apply it underneath my moisturiser and it helps hold the shine off for a few hours. Unfortunately I’ve found that the longer I’ve used it the less effective it has become. However it makes an excellent base for my moisturiser and also my makeup. A tad on the pricey side at £45 though.

  MONU PURE CONTROL MATTIFYING LOTION                                                                                                 

Great lotion, great size. I don’t have anything bad to say about this product. It feels slightly powdery when you apply it and makes my skin feel a little tacky so it’s the perfect base for applying makeup. Again, it doesn’t stop the oil slick but prolongs a matte finish. At £14 it’s very affordable and will last absolutely ages.

  MURAD OIL-CONTROL MATTIFIER SPF15*                                                                                                        

I’ve mentioned before that I don’t usually tend to use SPF daily, I know, I know, no lectures please. I do however use it when I’ve had an abrasive treatment the day/night before to protect my skin from the sun. The awful thing about SPF lotions is that they can be quite heavy, so it’s difficult to find moisturisers containing SPF that don’t make my face look like a deep-fat fryer. It’s not what I’d reach for daily, but perfect for me after microdermabrasion or a glycolic peel. Quite pricey at around the £33 mark but great if you use SPF.

  GOOD THINGS MIRACLE MATTIFIER MOISTURISER                                                                                    

This smells gorgeous! Subtle blackcurrant without being overpowering or sickly. It’s not the best mattifyer, but it’s a lovely light moisturiser so doesn’t send my skin into oil production overdrive. It’s the cheapest lotion of all of them though, coming in at an insanely affordable £8 for a massive 100ml tube.

  BLOTTING PAPERS                                                                                                                 

When my mattifiers can’t hold off the shine I use blotting papers to dab away the excess shine.

  PAUL & JOE BLOTTING PAPER                                                                                                                              

These papers aren’t the best blotting papers, I tend to use them every couple of hours but not if my face is really shiny. They don’t really pick up much oil so they’re better for minor touch ups. The papers are very papery (go figure, haha) – by this I mean not entirely absorbent. I’d say they’re slightly overpriced at £10.50, but the compact packaging is just too cute.

  PRRETI OIL CONTROL FILM*                                                                                                                                

These babies are the daddy of blotting papers. I reviewed them here and they’re still my favourites. They’re not papers, they’re more like plastic sheets that absorb all of the excess oil on my face. The packaging has nothing on the Paul & Joe compact, but the sheets are fantastic. And at $5.99 they're as cheap as chips.

So those are my Friday Faves – have you tried any of these products? 
What do you use to keep the shine and excess oil away?

---