The Body Shop Wonderblur

Th Body Shop's new Drops of Youth skincare range looks incredibly promising and I'm absolutely itching to get my hands on the products. As part of the range, they're releasing Wonderblur. It's another one of those products which has been confusing us here at Beaut.ie for the last year or so.

It started with Garnier's 5 Second Perfect Blur . I couldn't get my head around whether it was skincare, a primer, a mattifier or some sort of pore-disguising product. Then, Kiehl's released a nice version - their Micro-Blur Skin Perfector, which I really like for its mattifying talents and the fact that it has a light tint.

The Body Shop have chimed in with Wonderblur, which they're marketing as a texture-smoothing product designed as the last step in your skincare regime (i.e. after moisturiser and before foundation) to give you the perfect, smooth canvas for makeup. It also absorbs excess sebum effectively, and maintains a matte appearance. You can apply it over foundation to areas like the nose and forehead if shine breaks out during the day.

Wonderblur is untinted, and though it's an effective oil-absorber, I'm not a fan of the dryish, crumbly texture. It's also quite strongly perfumed, and I find the fragrance a bit headachey. That's obviously not a fault with the product; I don't love the scent, but many people would.

However, since the first two ingredients on the list are Isododecane, an emollient designed to make products more spreadable, and Dimethicone, a silicone derivative, this product is designed to improve the appearance of your skin rather than improve the skin itself, so there isn't a huge amount going on here in terms of substance.

And that's fine - we all have rebellious skin days when our efforts to look presentable are mostly a salvage mission! This product is perfect for those days to give you a bit of help. However, it's no replacement for a solid skincare routine, and the folks at the Body Shop know that, which is why they're including this product in a wider range of skincare, which as a skin nerd, I'm really looking forward to trying!

Wonderblur won't hit counters till early March, and will be priced at €24.95, but some of the other products from the Drops of Youth range are in stores now.

What are your thoughts on strange hybrid products like this one? Do you find them effective?