Face, Reviews

Review: Anthony Logistics For Men Instant Fix Oil Control

Nope, you didn’t accidentally stumble into a men’s grooming blog like www.groenerekenkamer.com/. Despite the fact that the brand is called Anthony Logistics for Men, I’m not about to let their marketing schemes tell me what to do ;-) I came across this back in July when it was available at Sephora as a 100 point perk. The key word in that sentence is July – that time of year means 80 degrees out with high humidity, and my naturally oily skin was definitely showing the effects. When I saw it on the perks list, the name grabbed my interest, men’s product or not. After a quick look at the ingredient list, I thought “hmm, they’re taking oil-control primer and putting it in a manly bottle.” Not only was it interesting, the deluxe sample size was a full 1oz – the same as a lot of full-size primers marketed to women. So I plunked it in my online cart and checked out. As a side note, the full size product is listed as online only on the Sephora website, but my store definitely carries it – so you may be able to try before you buy.

Anthony Logistics Instant Fix Oil Control

The primer (I’m going to call it that) has a consistency that’s almost like gel moisturizer, and comes out of the tube translucent white. The very first thin you’ll probably notice about it is the strong citrusy smell, which I kind of thought was an odd choice of fragrance. It fades within a few minutes though, so I don’t find it terribly offensive – it’s actually kind of nice and fresh. It smooths on easily, doesn’t have a sticky feeling, and my foundation goes on easily over it. Once it sets, it doesn’t actually feel like I’m wearing anything on my face, which is nice.

Anthony Logistics Instant Fix Oil Control

The brand makes a few main claims about what the product does – that it controls oil, and reduces the appearance of pores. The product page also says it “helps reduce breakouts caused by excess oil”, which I’m going to call BS on. Breakouts happen when bacteria, sebum, dead skin, etc mix inside the pore, but the product is on top of the skin – it’s absorbing oil, not preventing is production. I’m just going to discard that claim and leave you with my opinion that this isn’t an acne-control product.

As far as the other two, it does what it says. While it doesn’t fill pores the way a heavy silicone primer like Benefit Porefessional does, it does even out the texture of my skin a bit. If you’re using it on its own with no foundation over it, the silica in the product helps diffuse light so pores aren’t as noticeable. It also delivers on its promise to control oil, within reasonable limits. The natural state of my skin is oily, but if I do anything that dehydrates it (like using cleansers with sulfates), it’ll kick the oiliness into overdrive. This primer will get me through a typically-oily-skin day without blotting; on extra-oily days, I can get past lunchtime before I’m tempted to break out the blotting papers. I tested this with a foundation that normally doesn’t last particularly long on my skin, and it prolonged the wear by a couple of hours. It doesn’t dry/dehydrate my skin at all, which is something I have to watch out for with mattifying primers, and it also doesn’t look greasy.

In Short: Gender-targeted marketing aside, this works very nicely as a makeup primer, and keeps the oil under control whether you’re a man or a lady.

Anthony Logistics for Men Instant Fix Oil Control ($28 for 3oz/90ml) is available at sephora.com and nordstrom.com

2 Comments

  1. Joyce (bronzerbunny)

    November 22, 2013 at 11:07 pm

    good to know! i have a few sample packets of this around that i gave to the fiance in the summer time when he thought he wanted something to control oil a bit. He hasn’t tried it lol. but i do like the anthony brand – their deep pore mask or whatever it is called is quite good and only about $22. I also like jack black skincare, based on some samples i’ve tried. I really think they price products for men significantly less than they would if it was a woman’s product!

  2. Miss Magpie

    November 28, 2013 at 9:37 pm

    I tried this for the first time today (I have a sample from Sephora) and I am very happy with how it has held up. I actually liked the burst of citrus when applying, it helped wake me up a bit!

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