Fresh Umbrian Clay Mattifying Serum

I can sum my experience with this face serum up in one word: Disappointment.

Fresh claims that this product, “…tones and hydrates while minimizing the appearances of pores and controlling shine.” While it probably did help to hydrate my skin (glycerin is one of the first ingredients), it sadly did nothing to tone down shine or minimize the look of my pores.

To fully test this serum out, I tried it out in an number of circumstances including wearing just the serum, with nothing over it, wearing my usual moisturizer-and-makeup over it and  doing the split-face test, where I applied the serum to just half of my face.

I found this last test to be the most interesting because the side that received the serum was immediately shinier than then serum-free side. Now, it was a slight shine, and one that was quickly mattified with makeup, but still, there was a visible difference and not in a good way.

I’m hardly the only one out there who’s been disappointed by this product. Sephora’s product page for this item is filled with rather mixed user-submitted reviews, with several highlighting how this product is useless when it comes to controlling shine. Overall, they give this product a ranking of 3.3 out of 5.

But then the actual product description quotes “an independent consumer testing panel” that found that, “76% (or users) noticed it had astringent properties and helped regulate oil production” and “66% (of users) felt it minimized the appearance of pores.”

How I wish I could count myself as part of that 76 and 66 per cent because I would love to find a product that actually does minimize both shine and the appearance of pores.

Would I buy this product: Nope.

Should you buy it: At $40 a bottle, this product isn’t cheap. Because of that, and because its mattiffying results seem to really vary from person-to-person, I wouldn’t buy this product unless you could first test out some samples (Sephora sometimes has them). Maybe you’ll be lucky and this product will be your quick-fix solution to shiny skin.