...to stop wasting your money on primers.
Okay, it's time for a little myth busters: makeup edition okay?
Some of ya'll may disagree with me, but I'm about to drop a bomb on the beauty industry: Primers are unnecessary. Most of them time, they're actually contradicting what they're "meant" to do - which is prep skin for makeup, and extend the wear of foundation.
If you are properly prepping your skin, as in cleaning it, and hydrating it with a good quality moisturizer, prior to applying makeup, you absolutely are wasting your time and money by using a primer. I honestly believe that primers are just a trendy product that the cosmetics industry is feeding off of to make more money. People LOVE trends. Hell, I've seen people literally put bird shit on their skin because they think it's some magical thing that will fix all of their problems.
Primer is an additional product between your moisturizer and your makeup. They say "less is more".. and with makeup that is the TRUTH. The more products you layer on your face, the heavier, cakier, and more textured your makeup is going to look. Especially if you already have textured, or acneic skin. The best thing to do in this case is use as little product as possible. SIDE NOTE: Also, it's super important to note that the current craze of heavily applied/heavily filtered makeup featured on social media platforms such as INSTAGRAM have seriously distorted the way people view skin. Skin has texture. Unless you were just born out of the womb, it is NORMAL to have pores, and visible pores at that. Most of what we see in the media is skin that looks like porcelain, not because that is what the model looks like in real life, but because it is HEAVILY edited. So please try to change the way you view your skin. It is impossible for any cosmetic product (primer, moisturizer, pore filler, foundation/airbrush) to change the texture or appearance of your skin.
One tip I have for textured skin, or large pores, is find a really great moisturizer (I like either Embryolisse Lait Creme Concentre $16 on beautylish.com, or Sonia Roselli Waterbalm, $49 on soniaroselli.com). What I usually do when I'm applying my makeup is start with a clean face, put on my moisturizer, and let it really sink into my skin while I apply my eyebrows, and then I go in with my concealer and foundation.
They do make "primer" like products such as Benefit's Porefessional ($32 at ulta) which I have used, and I do find they can help slightly with texture issues, however I feel like it is usually a temporary fix and not super long lasting, and these products often hinder the performance of my foundation. Because one of the main ingredients in this product is silicone, it often leaves my foundation breaking down much sooner than if it was worn on its own. (I will talk about silicone a little later in this post) Occasionally I will use this product, but I don't reach for it super often. I find that if I apply it over my moisturizer, and then apply foundation with a brush, it just moves the product around so it doesn't end up filling in as much as I want it to, or I'll apply it on top of foundation, but then it moves my foundation around and it doesn't provide as much coverage in that area.
A nice alternative to this product, is using an HD silica based finely milled setting powder (such as Make Up For Ever HD Powder $36 at Sephora, or e.l.f. High Definition Powder $6 at CVS) over your moisturizer, but under your foundation. Silica based HD powders fill in pores very nicely, but because they are not filled with other ingredients like silicone for example, it won't change the longevity or finish of your foundations. The process I would use with this technique is apply your moisturizer as usual, and then use a small fluffy brush to gently buff in a very small amount of this powder ONLY in the areas where you have large pores or fine lines. Then I would apply my foundation as usual on top.
For those who use a primer to aid with oil control, try the formula 10.0.6 seriously shine free mattifying oil free moisturizer ($6.99 at Ulta). This product is known to help IMMENSELY with oil control, HOWEVER it does contain salicylic acid, so beware what other products you are using with it, because it can cause drying and flakiness if used too often or with a harsh regimen. I wouldn't recommend daily use, but if you know you need to get some serious longwear out of your makeup for a specific occasion, this will WORK. Another thing I'd like to add, going back to my last post about foundations - Estee Lauder Doublewear ($42 at Macy's)has been my holy grail for my oily-ness.. It will last 14+ hours without any oil breaking through at all, with even my regular moisturizer (if you are prone to break outs this does have one pore clogging ingredient, so I don't wear it every single day, only if I know I need my makeup to last literally forever).
Back to the basics - one of the main issues I find with primers, is that almost all of them are silicone based. If you really pay attention to ingredients, most foundations also have silicone in them. Silicone will not adhere to silicone. If you put a silicone based primer on your skin, and a silicone based foundation on top, the foundation is literally going to slide off your face. So if you're wondering why your foundation isn't lasting very long, or breaking down quickly.. this is probably the reason why. A good foundation DOES NOT NEED A PRIMER.
With that having been said, opt for a setting spray instead. I really like the Skindinavia Setting Sprays ($29 skindinavia.com) - they make a variety including an oil control one.
Thanks for listening to my rant, I hope this helped! Please let me know if you have any questions as always! Happy Friday!
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