Everybody likes to speed up their makeup routine and everybody likes a good cheap products, right? Well, this one may be able to tickle both of these spots.
We all probably know Essence from our local drugstore as one of the cheapest brands. Recently, they came up with new range of products denoted as "My Skin Perfector" which included this tinted primer I am really excited about. Ever since I figured out that full coverage beat is not really a way to go for every single day, I've been looking for ways of making my makeup more effortless and faster. Since I'm very comfortable with light coverage and I don't usually have much to cover up, tinted primer sounded amazing to me.
The Essence My Skin Perfector Tinted Primer can be worn as a primer underneath foundation of just by itself. It's more of a mousse when it comes to texture and it comes in three shades. That's not a very great range considering they go from light to medium. I have the shade 10 Light Beige, which is the lightest.
It comes in a squeezy tube and you get 30ml of product. It claims to blur imprefections, give you natural matte effect and make your makeup last longer if you decide to use it under makeup. It should also boost the coverage of your foundation. It retails for about 100 Crowns, I cannot find the exact price I bought it for. It's also cruelty-free and vegan.
It has an interesting texture, it's very moussey but also quite slippery. On the skin it feels a lot less dry than I thought it will. The coverage is very light, so if you are used to full-medium coverage foundation on the daily, this might not be enough. But I think it can be built up with a concealer a little bit and actually look quite nice.
The only think I could really compare it to is my e.l.f Skin Shielding Tinted Primer with SPF 50, which I love using and which actually has very similar texture. The tones are very different. The e.l.f. one claims to have a universal tint and it works really well for me, especially after I adjust it with a concealer and powder it down.
Wear test
I wanted to use it in both ways, as a slight tint by itself as well as a primer under foundation. In both cases, I applied the primer with my hands first, because I feel like it's the fastest way and it glides on very easily. Then I take a sponge and bounce it in to get rid of any finger traces and uneven parts. Everytime I do that, it looks very flawless and smooth.
Day 1
The first day I decided to use it by itself just with a concealer. I took the Revolution Conceal & Define Infinite concealer in the shade C3.5. It blended very well over the primer and the base overall is looking very nice. The primer feels a little slippery which is weird considering it's supposed to be matte. The texture is very unique. Still, I felt like I need to powder it a bit, so I powdered mostly the concealer and my whole face a little with the Lottie London Ready Set! Go Loose Setting Powder. With added base products (all powders), you wouldn't even be able to tell I'm wearing just a tinted primer. It all looks very nice and almost skin-like. Let's see how it lasts through the day.
2 hours in: It's starting to look a little dry and it's sinking into my pores a little bit. I have large pores on my cheeks so that happens with majority of products which are a little slippery. Overall though, I really like that it doesn't look or feel heavy.
5.5 hours in: I went to pick up a package from a local store, but as we all know that requires a respirator or a similar thing to protect yourself and everyone else. That's very makeup unfriendly as we all know, but after 30 minutes of sweating my whole face below the mask the complexion looks pretty neat. It's not more disrupted than it already was and it didn't even stain the mask, which I'm very grateful for.
Wear time 8 hours
I always work out in my makeup, even though I know it's not good for your skin. It's one of the few physical activities that I do these days so I wanna see how the makeup holds up. To be honest my face looks better than expected after a kettlebell HIIT workout session. It's a little tacky and a little disrupted between my brows and on my chin. Other than that, the most problematic area are my cheeks in the places where my glasses hover above them. That's probably because of the mask which was sitting on my face somewhere in those places. I'm also looking a little bit shiny, but not too much. Overall though, I feel like I could look way worse.
Day 2
Today I decided to try it on one side of my face with a foundation on top. I applied it on just a half of my face to really see the results. For my foundation I used the Physician's Formula Healthy Foundation, because it's my favorite foundation and I know how it performs because I wear it all the time.
After the application, it's visibly more blurred on the primed side. Without the powder it was a lot more visible, not it's just noticable if you look really up close. Both sides of my face feel the same and with the powder and setting spray and everything, they look pretty much the same. At least on the photo you cannot really tell the difference.
List of used products
Essence my skin Perfector Tinted Primer, shade 10 Light Beige
Catrice Hydrating Prime & Care Spray
Physician's Formula Healthy Foundation, shade LN3
Catrice Liquid Camouflage High Coverage Concealer, shade 010 Porcelain
Coty Airspun Loose Face Powder, shade Translucent
Revolution PRO Blush & Lift, shade Peaches
Fenty Beauty Match Stix Matte Skinstick, shade Amber
Benefit Precisely, My Brow Pencil, shade 2
Trend It Up Brow Gel Filler Waterproof, shade 020
Revolution Cut-crease Canvas, shade Halo
Revolution You Are The Revolution Pallete
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil, shade Baby Blue
Physician's Formula Eye Booster, shade Ultra Black
Maybelline Falsies Lash Lift Mascara, shade Black
Ardell Magnetic Gel Liner, shade Black
Trend It Up Magnetic Lashes
Maybelline City Bronzer, shade 200 cool medium
Sleek Highlighter Pallete, shade Solstice
Maybelline Lasting Fix Makeup Setting Spray
Bell Cosmetics Long Wear Lip Pencil, shade 03
Essence Plumping Nudes Lipgloss, shade 08 My Big Moment
Wear time 8 hours
To be honest, there is quite a difference between the two sides. They both look very nice and flawless, both are a little broken appart around the nose, but that's just my fault. Just the primed side is a little more blurred where the un-primed side starts sinking in to the pores. This foundation just always performs very good on me and I love it but I must say that the primed side looks a lot more glam.
The foundation usually looks more natural and medium coverage, now I would mistake it for a different foundation for sure, because it looks a lot more full coverage.
Final thoughts
Overall I really like the idea of a tinted primer because I enjoy light coverage on daily basis. I also think that products with lighter coverage are more forgiving when it comes to touching your face...which I do a lot of. Little breaking appart or patches missing aren't as noticable on light coverage product like this.
The only negatives this product has are really the shade range and the fact it doesn't have SPF, at least for me. I understand that SPF is not for everybody but I appreciate it in my lighter coverage products because I don't have to layer five products to get everything I need. However, if you don't like SPF in your products because it causes breakouts or irritates your skin, this might be a great product for you.
Overall, I'm happy with its performance and for its price I would say it's a good purchase and I will wear it often probably in the summer. There are not many products like this in the drugstore, so there's not really much competition at this price point. So if you feel like trying a tinted primer or you don't like foundation and just want a little something, this might be a great option for you.
Its performance as a makeup primer was actually very impressive as well. It added coverage and blurred my pores for sure. Even at the end of the wear test the difference was still noticable and I like the more full coverage appearance it gave to the foundation. I would also say that it didn't change the consistency of the foundation too much. It just felt and looked a little more matte. Maybe if you have dry skin, using it as a primer might be too drying. But I really liked how it worked and I can recommend it if you're interested in this type of primer.
Have you tried any tinted primers or SPFs? Let me know in the comments below and thanks for reading!
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