Combine high humidity, busy schedules, hormonal challenges like menopausal hot flushes, sliding glasses or sunglasses on and off and well, it’s a big ask for makeup to stick around from 7am until after dark.
While we’re not adverse to a touch-up or two – with the above to contend with, it’s absolutely necessary – but what really helps with longevity is the use of a dedicated makeup primer.
It can feel like adding another step between even a very simple skincare routine and applying your makeup is excessive. It certainly isn’t essential, but it can help counter the challenges mentioned above, so if you’re time-poor, occasional use is certainly an option for a special event or hot day.
What is makeup primer?
Makeup primer is a base product applied before foundation or other makeup to create a smooth, even surface. It helps makeup go on more evenly, last longer, and stay in place throughout the day.
Primers are designed for different skin types like normal skin, textured skin, oily skin, dry skin, and combination skin.
In the past, most primers relied heavily on silicone – usually listed as dimethicone – to deliver a blurring effect and to help keep shine at bay during the day.
For smoothing pores and skin texture this approach is still hard to beat, but it can cause makeup to ball up or pill. For controlling sweat and shine there are now impressive new formulas that work well but also those that add more hydration for skin types that can get dry and flaky as the day goes on, a common challenge for aging skin.
If you tried a primer a number of years ago and thought it felt heavy and left skin looking too matte and flat, many newer versions offer more of a pre-makeup skincare step, infused with active ingredients and glitter-free hydrating glow that delivers a flattering, healthy-looking radiance.
The point is, the variety on offer is significant. Your choice depends on the result you’re looking for.
A loose rule of thumb:
• Oily skin: mattifying or pore-blurring primer.
• Dry skin: hydrating or illuminating primer.
• Combination: target oily and dry zones separately.
Try these: Go-To Very Glowy Primer; bareMinerals Prime Time Original Foundation Primer; Kate Somerville HydraKate Power Plumping Primer; Natio Ageless Illuminating Primer; ONE/SIZE Secure the Sweat Primer.
Go-To Skincare’s Zoë Foster Blake says she’s long relied on a primer for big red-carpet events, so she developed two new options to cover off varying desires. Go-To Very Glowy Primer is an illuminating primer that preps, supports, and perfects the skin and provides radiance with little effort, while Very Mattifying Primer is a shine-controlling primer that minimises oil and smooths imperfections for matte, makeup-ready skin.
“If by lunchtime your beautifully applied makeup has all but disappeared, you definitely should be using primer, because it acts as a ‘wall’ between your skincare and makeup and holds everything in place,” Foster Blake explains. “It gives makeup something to grip on to for the day.”
If you live in a very hot climate or you’re heading on holiday somewhere known for its steamy humidity, a specialist product can be useful. The most extensive range for this we’ve found is the primer range from ONE/SIZE that includes very different targeted ingredients in four different products.
“Secure the Sweat is a primer that absorbs any sweat,” says founder Patrick Starr, who created it for people that battle facial perspiration. “I mainly use it over the summer around the forehead. It’s designed to apply in a very thin layer just where you need to target.”
It takes one minute to dry and set before you can apply makeup.
ONE/SIZE’s Oil Sucker primer is for oily skin types and has an all-day mattifying finish. “I love using this on my nose. The ingredients in it work very differently to Secure the Sweat because oil and sweat have different properties,” says Starr. “Sweat comes from sudoriferous glands and oil comes from sebaceous glands.”
The brand also makes Secure the Blur, a blurring primer that smooths skin texture such as acne scars and pores particularly around the cheeks and chin, and Secure the Glow, a smoothing, radiance-boosting makeup primer for those with dry skin.
How to use primer
Primer works best on a fresh canvas, so carry out all your skincare steps including cleanser, moisturiser and SPF application and wait for it to sink in for a minute or two.
Apply a small amount and spread it over skin. The warmth of your hands helps the primer melt into the skin with your fingers, but using a brush to apply can help with even distribution all over. A pea-sized amount is usually enough; too much can cause makeup to slide or ball up. Then apply your foundation and other products as usual over the top.
The eyes have it
If you don’t like the feeling an extra layer leaves on skin, but find your battle with product longevity is mainly when dealing with eye makeup, another option is to use an eye primer only. Dispensed from a wand like liquid concealer, in a pot like a cream eyeshadow or scribbled over lids like an eyeshadow stick, eye primers are now easily accessible at a range of price points.
Eye primers help anchor colour cosmetics and eyeliner in place and also help intensify the colour of eye shadows that are too sheer for your liking. Those with oily eyelids or that experience makeup gathering in the folds of
the eye will find them particularly useful.
Skeptical? They’re the kind of product you might think is unnecessary until you try one and realise the real difference they make in the look and performance of any eyeshadow applied on top.
“Eye makeup will never last the distance without a longwearing base to avoid creasing,” says experienced editorial makeup artist Kiekie Stanners. She says you don’t have to shop for something that specifically says ‘eye primer’ on its packaging, but using something of a similar consistency will work similarly.
Many artists like using a cream colour product in a subtle or complementary colour to create that base, rather than a dedicated primer.
“Always start with a long-wear cream all over the eyelids first before starting with any powder or liner products. Any colour is fine, but a warm neutral can be used under any style of eye makeup,” says Stanners. For a coloured option she suggests M.A.C’s popular Pro Longwear Paint Pot eyeshadow as a base. Groundwork is a taupe brown shade that works well under neutral and darker shadow tones.
Fellow makeup artist Kath Gould also rates Mecca’s Mecca Max Zoom Shadow Sticks in Matte blended over the eyelid for this use. “Use it as an eye base and apply eyeshadow on top,” she advises.
