This may just be my most requested beauty product review. And I’ve taken my time with it (sorry, wanted to be thorough!!).
Before we get into it, I have just two things to note. First of all, I bought this with my own money in early December so I’ve had a solid two months with it. I was getting tagged in so many posts about it and needed to see for myself what all the hype was about. Second, I am extremely annoyed by the product name. It’s called a “cell rejuvenating priming moisturizer,” which led me to believe it was a moisturizer. But it’s actually a primer. So call it a “cell rejuvenating moisturizing primer,” FFS. It’s a moisturising primer, not a priming moisturizer. Just my $.02, what can I say, I get caught up in the details. I’m not the only one: this piece from The Cut makes it sound like it’s a moisturizer!
Semantics aside, I was really excited to try this. Victoria Beckham has long been a huge fan of Dr. Bader’s creams (it also helps that she looks absolutely amazing), and I was already a fan of her cosmetics (I love the lip stain!). Everything Victoria Beckham does is really well thought out – as a fashion designer, with her cosmetics at Victoria Beckham Beauty, and now skincare and her beauty line.
It’s easy to snark on the price point but I think it’s a really authentic, organic collaboration for her: as Beckham is such a huge advocate of Dr. Bader, it makes a lot of sense that when she launched her own skincare beauty brand she’d develop with Augustinus Bader. (Sidebar: it’s taken me so long to write this post that they’ve now just launched a new product: a serum! I’m presently knee deep testing other serums but will be for sure ordering it.)
As she said herself, “‘It’s been a dream to develop, with Augustinus, a priming moisturizer that works to improve the health of my skin and give me that fresh, natural glow that I love.”
Dr Bader x Victoria Beckham Moisturizing Primer Review
We are going to talk ALL about this product but I have a few caveats to start witht! First of all, if you’re new here or are not familiar with him and his products, read my first post about Dr. Bader. It’s my all-time FAVORITE face cream. I’ve been using it every day for two years and it has made a noticeable difference and has helped to improve the health of my skin. But we will save that for that post, I feel like I’m already getting long winded!
What Is The VB x AB Cell Rejuvenating Priming Moisturizer?
As I stressed above, this is a primer, NOT a moisturizer. That is what makes it different from The Cream and The Rich Cream. I will say that if you have oilier skin or even combination skin, you could probably get away with using it as a moisturizer. (The only problem is that I have no idea what percentage of actives this contains vs. the cream.) Hydration-wise though, it’s VERY similar to Bader’s “The Cream,” but if you have dry skin like I do, you probably need to use both The Rich Cream and this. I learned the hard way; I tried using it just as a moisturizer and my skin was really tight and dry – not good.
A primer is the step between moisturizer and makeup; preparing your skin – it helps to prep the skin for makeup application so that makeup will go on more seamlessly. Ideally you would apply The Cream (or The Rich Cream) and then this would be the next step before makeup. This particular primer is meant to complement the existing Augustinus Bader creams. It features technology to renew the skin while creating an instantly gratifying glow. It cares for your skin cells while also preparing for makeup.
So now that I have said my piece and gotten my whining out of the way, let’s get to benefits. OK. Oof. This product works. Really well. When I use it over the rich cream, I glow like an angel. GLOW. This is part due to the fact that this is a hybrid skincare cosmetic product (it also contains blurring powders and light reflecting particles) but man – my skin looks good when I use them both. The combo of the two product is magic, and if I do both, I will often skip foundation altogether (although another caveat; I don’t wear foundation very often).
How Much Is The VB x AB Cell Rejuvenating Priming Moisturizer?
It’s really hard for me to recommend this product to you with a straight face. I definitely talk about a lot of expensive products. But here’s the thing – you really have to use this cream over Dr. Bader to get the full benefits (the whole schtick with Bader is that it has to be the first thing on your skin). So in telling you to buy this $145 primer, that you must use over a $265 cream, I am essentially recommending a $420 skincare routine (not counting cleanser or toner or eye cream). I don’t feel great about that.
(It’s $95 for the 1.0oz. size and $145 for the $1.7oz. Better in price than the original cream and rich cream but still pretty expensive!)
Where To Get The VB x AB Cell Rejuvenating Priming Moisturizer
Right now you can buy this at Violet Grey or online at Victoria Beckham’s website. You can also buy it on the Augustinus Bader website. (And when you sign up for AB emails they do offer 10% off!)
Pros & Cons Of the VB x AB Cell Rejuvenating Priming Moisturizer
The Pros:
- It works. You will GLOW. I do think that is in part because it contains light reflecting particles, but it’s so pretty.
- It’s a hybrid skincare makeup product, packed with blurring powders, brightening extracts and pore perfectors. It will make makeup go on more easily but you may want to skip makeup altogether.
- It’s a makeup artist favorite.
- You only need a little bit. It lasts a long time.
- It contains the brand’s propriety proprietary TFC8 technology (this is AB’s secret sauce!) to contribute to the skin’s own repair and renewal systems. I’d really love to know exactly how much TFC8 (especially compared to the moisturizers) it has, but no one seems to know.
The Cons:
- It’s expensive, and you really do need to use it over regular old Bader to get the full benefits.
- See above – we don’t know how much TFC8 is actually in this! I wish someone would tell me. Maybe someone at the brand will read this and be able to opine.
My Verdict
This makes for a very expensive routine. I will say that as I use it as a primer. I only use 1-2 pumps (whereas I use 4 full pumps of the original). So the bottle will last a long time. I bought the 1.7 oz. back in early December and there’s still a lot of product left. I also don’t use it every single day the way I use The Rich Cream.
If you can only buy one luxury skincare product, I would say skip this and get the original – especially if you have dry skin. Nothing competes with The Rich Cream IMO.
If you have oily or “normal” skin (or if you usually use The Cream, not The Rich Cream), you could probably get away with using this as your day cream.
If you have more money to spend on your skincare routine, go for it. It’s a great product and I absolutely love it. To be honest (as with the original creams), I wish I didn’t love it so much. I went in wanting to hate it but the GLOW won me over.
Photography by Carter Fish.
I appreciate the honest review! I worry so much about the Bader cream being too heavy but I am inching closer to trying it out. Where I live is so hot and humid that I don’t want to splurge then have the lotion melt off my face.
You might like The Cream then, it’s a lot lighter. Or this! And if it’s really hot and humid I’d maybe save this just for night and do something lighter during the day.
I really hated The Rich Cream because I found it extremely difficult to spread across my skin…if that makes any sense. So in turn, I ended up using more of the product than I would have liked.
Oh interesting! I would recommend warming it up a bit in your palms before application, kind of like they recommend with La Mer.
OR, you may like “The Cream” better – it’s a bit more viscous!
Sounds like a lush product! Thanks for the review, Grace! ❤️✨
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
You’re so welcome!
Love your honest take on this! Happy Tuesday!
Thanks Jenn! Have a great week ahead 🙂
I can feel my will power to not spend insane amounts of money on skincare products in 2020 slowly ebbing away. I looked at the ingredients for the serum and it is definitely intriguing! Though I’m surprised they developed something that goes under The Cream when the whole thing about The Cream is that you’re supposed to use it as the first product on your skin. I mean, can I just use Vintner’s Daughter and save some money?! (I kid, except, for real, that’s less expensive and that’s saying something). Please do the serum, cream, VB primer review so I can know if I just need to make the investment and then get to live my life with VB skin – or something like that…
Thanks for the review, always appreciate the honesty.
Oh these products have the most gorgeous packaging!
Lisa | lisaautumn.com
Oh, man! I HATE how much I LOVE this product. But the glow is so, so good. I’ve been on the fence about trying AB so thought this might be a good gateway. One of the things holding me back from AB is not being able to test whether I would prefer the Cream or the Rich Cream. And they’d be very expensive to test.
Love your honest reviews and I’ve been very happy with the original Bader creams. At what point would you apply SPF? Would the order be: cleanse, Bader cream, VB primer, SPF, foundation?
I have been using this over a vitamin C serum or just by itself and it seems to moisturize, but the big problem is every one of my foundations pills over it. I have tried La Mer. I have tried Tom Ford, and some other serum foundations. All of them pill on top of this primer. What can I do differently? Like the consistency of it, but I hate wasting my money.
Hi! Stumbled across your blog & having fun binge reading during ISO in rainy Melbourne. Thanks for the in depth review, have been idling on both these products for a while but you’ve convinced me to give them a go.
Google Penn Smith VB primer review – she is an esthetician from Oregon & she Compares VB’s primer with the ingredient list btw the 2 Bader creams – TFC8 sits higher in VB’s primer than either of the creams.
Love, Becca xox
Thank you, will do!
Hello,
Have you had a chance to try the VB serum? Just curious as I seem to recall you mentioned in an earlier post that you would like to. Also, how are you liking the Dennis Gross LED therapy mask? Thank you so much for all the information on here – I am thoroughly enjoying the Royalfern Essence – unbelievable!
Tami
I did! It was not my favorite, but I have a lot of readers who liked it! I ended up passing mine to a friend, I prefer the rich cream, solo!
And love the LED mask!