Garnier Miracle Skin Protector: BB Cream for Combination to Oily Skin

I picked this up by complete accident. Having used the infamous Garnier Skin Naturals BB Cream, I stupidly thought they'd just revamped the packaging and without reading, chucked this in my basket in the manner of a girl who knows exactly what she wants. When I did take the time to read the words on the tube, I realised that this BB cream was for combination to oily skin types – hence the difference in packaging. Not the one I'd bought before. But as it happens, this was a rather fortunate mistake for me, in the end that is.

I definitely don't have oily skin, but I do have the most atypical combination skin – throughout the day I see the shine creep into all the wrong places, especially t-zone area, in particular on my forehead, nose and chin. If I have the time or inclination, I do dust with a bit if powder at lunchtime. And then of course, there are the dreaded dry patches - nicely highlighted by using the wrong products. So as I'm the combi type, it tried using this anyway, I'd bought it and thought I at least had to give it a go.

Two things I noticed immediately were the colour and the consistency. It's much a much lighter shade than the original 'light' bb cream – in my opinion, much more suited to fairer skin (I have included a comparison) Consistency wise – it's much more of a liquid than a cream. I applied as I did the previous BB cream I had bought from Garnier, with fingers to the whole face. Wrong. A whole face was totally OTT, I was ghostly-pale and the mattifying properties clearly did not achieve a glowy look, more one-dimensional. However, as mentioned above, this spur of the moment purchase was not all bad. I watched a recent Lisa Eldridge tutorial where she used this product in a rather genius way . . . as a base and only on the areas where the shine creeps in. The result is fantastic, totally eliminating the lunchtime shine. Have you learnt any good tips from the make-up masters? Please share!