Beauty on the Cheap! Monistat Chafing Relief Powder Gel

Sooooo.  I've been hearing for a few months now about how Monistat Chafing Relief Powder-Gel is identical to some high-end face primers.  For one thing, any time I hear a claim of "identical", I get a bit suspicious.  This sounds too good to be true... I could replace my Lancome La Base Pro, at $42 for .8 ounces, with Monistat Chafing Relief Powder-Gel at $7.50 for 1.5 ounces?  Wait a second... almost twice as much product for more than 5 TIMES LESS the cost?

You gotta be kidding me.

So, because I'm skeptical, I did some research.

Here are the ingredients for La Base Pro:

• Cyclopentasiloxane
• Dimethicone Crosspolymer

 And here are the ingredients for Monistat Chafing Relief Powder-Gel:

• Cyclopentasiloxane
• Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer
• Silica
• Tocopheryl Acetate
• Trisiloxane

You read that correctly, La Base Pro has two ingredients, and Monistat Chafing Relief Powder-Gel has the same first two ingredients.  The other three ingredients are silica (a mineral powder that absorbs moisture), tocopheryl acetate (a form of Vitamin E ), and trisiloxane (a silicone).  All of the ingredients are commonly used in cosmetics intended for the face.

As an aside, all of the ingredients in the Monistat Chafing Relief Powder-Gel are also found in Smashbox's Photo Finish primer.  Smashbox's primer has additional ingredients.

Well, okey-dokey-hokey-pokey, let's give this a whirl... 

The visual difference between the two is La Base Pro (LBP) is clear and it starts to run as it warms up and turns liquidy, while Monistat Chafing Relief Powder-Gel (MCR) is more opaque and  held its pea-sized dot shape.  MCR does not look cloudy or milky, rather, it looks like frosted glass; like clear sea glass. 

The tactile difference is very, very slight, and was only noticeable when rubbed between the fingers.  The LBP had a dry-oil, slightly dragging feel to it, while the MCR had no grip to it.  I had a friend compare the two, knowing what it was (basically, silicone), but not knowing which was which, and they could not tell any difference at all.

I put the same amount on each side of my face.  I applied them at the same time, on the same day, and rubbed it on my skin for the same amount of time.  Each side of my face received the same amount of powders and blush, and I even counted how many swirls I used applying each type of makeup, to ensure that every product was applied in the exact same way.  I'm all science-y that way.

I took a picture after each cosmetics application, just in case something applied strangely to one side and not the other, there would be a complete record of how it looked before and after.

Bare Face:

With LBP on the right, MCR on the left:

With foundation:

Contouring and concealing:

Eyebrows:

Blush:

Eye makeup (you do not use face primer on your eyelids, so this really had no impact on the experiment:

Done:

LBP side:

MCR side:

Six hours later - no touchups of any kind except lip balm:

LBP side:

MCR side:

So, there it is.  There was a difference, which I believe is due to the silica in the MCR, that the MCR side had less oily-ness, and kept the pores marginally smoother (most likely due to the oil not being able to break the makeup away from the skin).

Now, the last problem is... Monistat is associated with yeast infections, plain and simple.  It's not like a lot of people are going to be going through your makeup bag, but it's still not necessarily a brand name you want anyone to see you in possession of, just for the embarrassment factor.  I have two solutions for you (aside from not giving a flying flip what anyone else thinks), 1 - you can wrap the tube in decorative tape, like one of the new patterned duct tapes.  It's easy and cheap.  Or, 2 - you can re-package the MCR into a different bottle.  I unscrewed the lid of my LBP bottle and re-filled it with MCR, and put the rest of the MCR tube away for when the bottle is empty.  Did I mention you get twice as much with the MCR?