You know the feeling when you know you'll get a discount if you buy one more product but just don't know what to get? That's exactly how I ended up trying this primer.
There are plenty primers on the market, I have the majority of them and I just love trying new primers out. This summer, my primer fever started when I figured out that not many products with SPF are good for my skin on daily basis. That's probably how I ended up with the e.l.f. Beauty Shield Antioxidant Enriched Skin Protection. I bought it off the Douglas website and originally it's 419 Crowns, which is a little pricey for me, that's when I grabbed it when it was 20% cheaper. You get 30ml of product, which is pretty decent.
Anyway, there's a lot of positives about this primer. It has SPF 50, it's enriched with antioxidants, it helps against pollution and has some good ingredients. It also has Zinc listed as an active ingredient, so be careful if you're sensitive to that. It also says that it has a universal tint to it.
The packaging is nice and kind of irredescent. It's a tube with a pump, which is not my favorite combo ever, but it's still decent packaging. The cap doesn't fall off easily, which is usually my problem with pump-tubes, so that's good.
The most obvious thing about this primer is the smell. It's heavily scented, I would say it smells like a lemony cleaning substance you would clean your toilet with. Maybe it's just me and my boyfriend, but we both smelled that. The smell does fade after a while, but if your skin is sensitive to fragrances, beware.
The primer is tinted, which is quite new to me, I don't own any tinted primers. They say it's universal tint, which I'm not sure about. It's pretty sheer, it reminds me of a tinted moisturizer, and it has nice neutral undertone. I could get away with using it as my base for sure. But I'm really not sure how would it look on very pale or very deep skintones, but I'm sure there are reviews somewhere on the internet if you want to find someone with skintone closer to yours.
It doesn't feel greasy or oily, like SPF products tend to. It's very smooth and gliding on just right. This type of primer could probably be applied with a brush as well as with your hands. I do usually apply my primers with hands to feel how much is actually on. I wanted to do a wear test to see how it wears throughout the day and if it's possible to pull off that natural look using just the primer. Let's see how that went.
Wear test
I applied two and a half pumps with my hands all over my face. Maybe I went in a little too heavy, but I like that the primer has some coverage. I feel like I could get away with just putting some concealer on top and powdering it down. It feels almost dewy in a way. It smells quite odd, it reminds me of some cleaning substance I used to clean my bathroom at some point, but the smell fades quite quickly. It applied evenly and smoothly and leaves the skin looking quite juicy and evened out. It has very neutral undertone and it's quite light, so it suits my skin really well. Maybe it would be too dark or too light for other people. I'm not sure if it tries to adapt in any way.
Anyway, I like how it applied, the smell I can get over and the overall look is radiant, flattering and evened out. All big plusses.
List of used products
e.l.f. Beauty Shield Primer
e.l.f. Prep & Blur Stick, shade Sheer
Physician's Formula Healthy Foundation, shade LC1
Maybelline SuperStay Under Eye Concealer, shade 15 light
Fenty Beauty Pro Filt'r Setting Powder, shade Butter
NYX Sculpt and Highlight Brow Contour, shade Soft Brown / Rose
NYX Control Freak Eyebrow Gel, shade Clear
Sephora Cooling Eye Primer
I <3 Revolution Cranberry Chocolatte Pallete
Trend It Up Ultimate Sparkle Liquid Eyeshadow, shade 010
Lottie London AM to PM Eyeliner, shade mocha
Physician's Formula Eye Booster, shade Ultra Black
L'Oreal Bambi Eye False Lash Mascara, shade Black
Maybelline City Bronzer, shade 200 medium cool
Essence Contouring Duo Pallete, shade 10 lighter skin
Essence Prime & Last Daily Diaries Baked Blush, shade 01 you make me blush
H&M Illuminating Lustre Powder, shade Delicate Pearl
NYX Bare with Me Multitasking Spray
NYX Liquid Suede, shade Sandstorm
Wear time 10 hours
Sadly I couldn't make it any longer, because I got a glitter into my eye and I just cried half of my makeup off. Anyway, looking at myself, except for obviously wiped off parts of my face, mostly because of my glasses and some tissues, it looks pretty nice. I like that the pores still look pretty blurred and overall my face doesn't feel dry or cakey. It's more hydrating and nourishing and a little slippery primer, so it doesn't dry out the skin and also the SPF doesn't feel like SPF at all. It doesn't have that greasy heavy feel to it. It's not very lightweight primer, but doesn't feel like sunscreen for sure. Overall, I'm pleasantly surprised.
Wear test by itself
Today I went for a very no makeup look. I used the tinted primer as my base and piled on concealer and my Milk Makeup little goodies for a little creamy natural base. I didn't go too heavy on the eyes and set it all with powder. To be honest, I think I might prefer applying the primer with a brush than with my fingers. It's doesn't feel too heavy or oily on the face but on my hands, it feels like a slippery mess. It makes it a little tricky to work with all the other things with slippery hands. Also, I'm still not sure how much to apply, but I guess I'll figure that out eventually.
So far I like how it looks, it's just a little less polished than when I wear actual foundation. You can see lines on my face a little more and I think I overdid my blush a bit, so excuse that. I don't think that anyone in the whole building would say that I'm not wearing foundation, because it looks quite regular, but you know, I can tell and it looks less flawless than usual. It has a more natural twist.
Wear time 12 hours
I feel like this is not how you should wear this product. At least not for long periods of time. My face feels very gross and sticky and it's becoming quite cakey as the day goes on. Maybe if you have really dry skin, this could work and you could get away with using tinted primer as your base, by for me that's just too slippery and doesn't last set with powder long enough. Overall, quite a mess on my part. My skin is not too oily and still it was looking and feeling like it was. Weird sensation, but 12 hours is just too much.
Final thoughts
I feel like this primer is a really good summer SPF alternative. I don't really recommend using it by itself if you need to have flawless face for more than 6 hours, but with foundation and other products on top, it's actually pretty nice. I feel like it smoothed my skin really well and it feels very hydrating so I wouldn't mind to try more matte foundations on top of it, because it shouldn't let them dry me out.
The price is a little up there, but to be fully honest, I probably spend more money this summer just looking for a usable SPF and none of them worked out, so I would much rather spend 419 Crowns for something reliable and well working. That being said, I think it's worth the price and if you can get over the smell, I really think it's a good choice for skin protection and priming your face at once.
Have you tried any other good SPF providing primers? Let me know your favorites in the comments bellow and thanks for reading!
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