Review: Mally Poreless Primer and Face Defender

Perfect Poreless Prep Face Primer

Evercolor Poreless Face Defender

I've long seen makeup artist Mally Roncal touted for giving celebrities like Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez a glowing, healthy look. As many celebrity makeup artists do, she's become a celebrity in her own right. A lot of it is driven by her own ambitions: She's created her own makeup line, Mally Beauty, which is sold on QVC and her website, mallybeauty.com. Unlike some famous makeup artists, she's made herself highly accessible to her fans and customers.

Anyone who follows the increasingly popular beauty blogger/vlogger Emily Eddington (Emilynoel83) has become familiar with this brand. What first caught my eye was a video where Emily was showing products that I'd never heard of before: A powderless setting product, for example. She also featured a shadow that is three different consistencies in one. Mally Roncal seems to be trying to think ahead of the makeup curve and come up with inventive products that have a thought process behind them. Pink and girly doesn't necessarily mean fluff.

I began to watch Mally on my own and thought a few things quickly: What happy pill is she taking and where can I get some? She has the self-deprecating humor and charm to call herself things like a "drag queen." Something about her - saleswoman that she is - is sincere and infectious. Because her products aren't sold in stores, I'd never tried them before. When I finally decided to try a couple products for review, I went for two items: One is a makeup product I'm very skeptical of; the other is a makeup product that's rare.

I ended up choosing Mally's Poreless Face Primer and Face Defender (the powderless setting product). I chose primer because I was starting to think it's an unnecessary product and didn't do much for improving the wear or appearance of foundation. I chose the Face Defender because, honestly, it's just interesting that a gel-based product can mattify and smooth the skin without altering makeup at all.

The products were ordered off of trymallybeauty.com, where incentives like free shipping and gift beauty items are offered to new customers. Considering the shipping was free, I expected the product to arrive more than a week from the order date. It showed up three business days later, came in a cute glittery pink makeup bag and included a guide on how to use the products.

The primer is one that Mally claims she created out of frustration: Before creating this product, she says she'd mix several primers together to get just so-so results. After using Mally Poreless Primer, I can honestly say it holds makeup better and improves its appearance better than any other primer I've used (and I've used plenty). It's a smooth, velvety consistency that blends easily onto the skin. Used alone, it improves skin's appearance, making it look more even-toned and brightened. After applying it, foundation blends onto the skin easier. When testing it, I deliberately used a foundation that doesn't wear well throughout the day: By the end of the work day, it truly looked as if I'd just applied it.

The Face Defender was a trickier product for me to use the first time: The texture is like a hard gel, so it's not easy to know how much product you're getting onto the sponge. Once I dabbed the sponge to my face, there was an instant mattifying that I could see as I went section by section. Will one application keep skin shine-free all day? If you have oily skin, probably not. But the product can be reapplied without altering makeup and without adding any cakiness that a setting powder can leave behind. The product also claims to hide pores and fine lines.

Disclaimer: Products were purchased with my own money, and I have no affiliation with Mally Beauty.