TOUCH BASE
Prime your look for all-day wear
Adding another step between even a very simple skincare routine and applying your makeup can seem excessive. The benefits of primer, once you’ve found a good one, will be enough to convince you otherwise, but the journey to that point can be frustrating. Ineffective primers can feel thick and paste-like, cause foundation to ball up and pill, or feel oily and slick.
A good one though, is akin to wearing Spanx beneath a slinky dress. It’ll smooth and flatter, keeping everything where it should be, and making anything worn on top look even better than it would alone. Primers really come into their own in warmer weather, when makeup can vanish with the heat, and added SPF works more comfortably than using sunscreen alone.
Primers used to rely heavily on silicone – a ‘polyfiller’ of sorts – the benefit of which is a blurred, Facetune effect on skin that’s hard to beat, but newly released options offer a wider range of solutions from dousing skin with line-plumping hydration to clever pigments that correct colour imbalances like excessive redness or a dull, lacklustre complexion.
SKINCARE SOLUTIONS: 1 Colour Correcting Clarins SOS Primer in Coral,
$64 Green-toned correctors that balance redness have their place but we love this newbie, a coral tone that helps to diminish the appearance of acne scars, dark spots and pigmentation.
2 Makeup perfector Giorgio Armani Fluid Master
Primer, $88 Makeup addicts know one of the things Armani Beauty excels at are its primers. The price will make you look twice but it’s a great match for the brand’s famous Luminous Silk Foundation, for a soft, flattering mid point between matte and real-skin radiance.
3 Pore smoothing Elizabeth Arden
Flawless start Instant Perfecting Primer, $61 A classic all-rounder to choose if you want to refine a textured complexion and give makeup serious staying power.
4 Mattifying Huda Beauty Mattifying
Primer, $56 US makeup artist Huda Kattan went on a very public hunt for an ideal unconventional makeup base. The results inspired her own unique blend that works brilliantly, particularly for oily skin types. It can also be used as a spot touch up, which is particularly useful for a 3pm shiny nose or chin.
5 SPF protection Coola
Daydream Mineral Primer SPF 30, $65 A happy discovery on the search for a clean, vegan, zinc-based SPF and the smooth, reliable, shine-balancing base for makeup was a bonus. Great for sensitive skin too.
6 Glow giving YSL
Top Secrets Ultra Moisture Glow, $100 Skin often dries out as it ages, and dullness is a constant challenge. This is more like a moisturiser that leaves no discernible ‘film’ on skin, just ‘sparkle-free’ luminosity.
7 Cooling Smashbox
So Chill Coconut Primer Water, $51 Spray primers add hydration to clean skin so that it holds on to foundation. Category masters Smashbox extend their reach with this limited edition that also sets makeup as a final step too.
New-gen primers are working hard to convert the skeptics