Review: Etude House Dr. Oil Solution Shine Free Dual Primer (Important Update)

IMPORTANT UPDATE: A kind reader pointed out to me that there are actually two parts of this product, a moisturiser and a primer. Turns out that the moisturizer is in the tube and the little cover of the tube contains the primer! I swear I tried unscrewing the cover the first time when I used it but failed miserably! Silly me, I should have figured out when I saw there are two separate ingredients lists! Anyway, I’ve updated on the moisturiser below.
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I tried searching for some information and reviews for this product online but weird though, I could hardly find any. So I thought it will be good if I write a review on this product because I think I’ve just found the BEST foundation primer ever!
 
Yes, you heard me right. I love this stuff; which is why I’m surprised at how little coverage it is getting so far. Perhaps this is a new product? I’m not sure. I can’t even find it on Etude House official website. I’m guessing this is a new product because when I sort the facial makeup product list by “Recently Listed” on the seller webpage, this is one of the products which appear on top of the list. So I am not entirely sure but anyone of you who knows probably can help to update me.

This is how it looks like. Comes in a tube and the packaging is a little ‘weird’ which you will find out soon. The design is also not as ‘girly’ as how Etude House usually is.




What it claims:

Moisturizing and pore coverage makeup primer improves foundation makeup expression and longetivity.

It has two separate long list of ingredients; the Moisture ingredients and Pore Cover ingredients.





Here comes the ‘weird’ packaging part which I mentioned at the beginning.



My Thoughts

When I first got hold of it, I was puzzled by the packaging as I have never seen such design before and I was wondering how was I suppose to get the product out. I tried squeezing but nothing came out. The product isn’t in liquid or cream form. I read the direction described on the box for a good 3 minutes to figure out how actually should I use this! It says to “dispense primer onto hands and apply to face” but how on earth am I suppose to ‘dispense’ the product?

In the end, I rubbed my finger onto the product and applied it onto my face since the instruction did say to use your fingers for application. Not the most hygienic way, but I’ve got no choice.

The weird packaging aside, the product itself is great though. It is quite creamy on first touch but when it transfers onto the skin, it turns into silky, powdery texture which makes blending extremely easy. It is rather light and my skin is smoothened out like no other and makes foundation application after that like heaven! The (weird) packaging has its advantage too as it prevents too much product to be dispensed for each application. So, this tube will last me for a long time.

This primer reminds me of the Loreal Studio Secrets Smoothing Primer which I often reach for too. The texture for both products is very similar, only that Loreal’s feels a lot heavier on my skin. And very often when I use the Loreal primer, it takes a lot of effort to blend in and if my skin is not properly prepped, my skin will be flaky when I try blending in the product. With the Dr. Oil primer on the other hand, I don’t face such irritating experience and plus, my skin is smoother after application compared to the Loreal primer. So that’s definitely a big plus.

It has a mirror on the cap which might be useful when I go travelling. And oh, I must mention this; it is OIL FREE and PARABEN FREE. Two thumbs up for this!

I got it from Gmarket from this seller for 9,500 Won (US$ 8.80). Pretty inexpensive for a 35ml product. For reference, the Loreal primer is only 15ml and my other primer, MAC Prep + Prime is 30ml. So a good buy indeed this is!

Final Verdict: 5/5

If you’re looking for a primer to smooth out your skin with slightly matte finish, I’ll highly recommend trying this out. Will I repurchase? Definitely, if I don’t have anything new that I want to try out then (I highly doubt so!).


*MOISTURISER UPDATE*

So this is how the product actually looks like! The moisturiser in the tube and primer in the little cap. Haha…I can’t believe I’m this silly.



The moisturiser has a very light texture and this is how it looks like blended out on my hand. It doesn’t leave any sticky and oily feeling on my skin. The tone of my skin is noticeably evened out as you can see.

With this new ‘discovery’, it definitely adds more positive points to the products! What can beat an inexpensive 2-in-1 product? And even more marvelous is that both works really well! =) 

That’s all for today.

Thank you for reading. =)