Do you believe in primers?
Some people totally don't and they just wear their foundation on a bare face. But not me, I was always a big fan of the idea of priming your face and adjusting it before putting makeup on.
I can understand the argument, that companies just give you more products to use so they can make more money. Probably, that's the case with some brands too. But that doesn't mean that priming is a myth altogether. After many years of wearing foundation on my face, I can tell that primer and foundation just don't work well together or that I need a slightly different primer to make everything work perfect.
I own many primers, I really like multi-priming and targeting different areas of my face with a particular primer that can help with any of my concerns. I use every type of primer, from mattifying, hydrating, illuminating to pore filling, oil controlling and skin protecting. I like to have options, if you cannot already tell.
Many brands have many primers but the ones that sort of stand out to me are the Maybelline Face Studio Primers. There are so many options, but they are a little pricey for me to just go and grab a few of them, so I was very excited when I got to test them. Maybelline is sending me some products to test in exchange for a several reviews online and I am very happy to be participating in this testing, I really like many of Maybelline's products.
For the testing itself, I picked the Illuminating Primer, because that was something, I didn't already own. As I was using it, I liked it so much that I decided that I just need more, so I waited untill Rossmann had a big sale on Maybelline products. There are times like these but it's not very often. Once, when I was in Brno I picked up the Hydrating Primer, because I owned a lot of foundations that were looking dry on my face by the end of the day and hydrating primer sounded like a good help for that. Also, you cannot say "no" to hyaluronic acid. The second time was when I went to check out a new Rossmann store near my job and they the sale going on, so I just went and picked up the Protecting Primer with SPF 30.
Also because I was using them so much and I was so excited about them, I thoughts that maybe someone could use a little information about how they work and why do I like them on my face.
The Common Facts
First, I want to focus on stuff, all these have in common. You get 30ml of product, which is decent for a primer, for a price of 249 Crowns, somewhere it can be more or less, but this is in my opinion the average drugstore price of these. They do have multiple other variants, but I feel like these three are the newest. I also heard about color-correcting one and a pore-filling one. I believe, you can buy them at basicly any drugstore that holds Maybelline, so it shouldn't be a problem to get a hold of them.
They come in a squeezy tube that's quite hard and you cannot tell if it's getting empty, because it holds its shape very well. It has a twist-off lid and under it is a thin "pipe" that the product comes out of. The product descriptiong and all the ingredients are listed on the back of the packaging.
To show you the differences in these primers, I decided to do a little swatch test. Pictures can show the texture better than a description, so here you have them.
From top to bottom:
Illuminating Primer
Hydrating Primer
Protecting Primer
The Illuminating Primer
The Illuminating Primer says on the front that it has micro-pearls. It says, that it visibly illuminates skin and that it will appear smoother. It does have a fragrance in it and you can tell, when you smell it. However, it dissolves very fast and you cannot smell that when it's on your face. When you squeez it out of the tube is appears light pink and it has texture similar to a lotion.
It feels soft, not oily, but when you spread it out, it has a little bit of the silicone-like slip and a little bit of tackiness. It seems like a strange combination, but it does make your skin very smooth and ballanced with the silicone ingredients and it gives that slightly tacky feeling, I guess because of the glycerin. There are plenty of ingredients on the back, I'm judging based on the highest ones that I know.
It does give a nice subtle sheen. There's no glitter in the primer, so I feel like if you like dewy skin, you could use this even without a foundation. Also the color sheers out and it doesn't stay fully pink, once you spread it out. On the swatch above, you can clearly see the slightly pink sheen.
The Hydrating Primer
After using the Illuminating Primer, I wanted to use the hydrating one so bad. I like the sheen it gives me, but when I want my matte foundation to still be matte and not have that glow within, I need something without these pearl pigments. That's where the hydrating primer comes in.
It's one of the most used primers in my rotation. It has hyaluronic acid in it, which attracts moisture into your skin from the environment, and I really like it as an ingredient in my skincare and makeup. The primer says to make your skin appear smoother.
It doesn't have as strong of a smell as the Illuminating Primer, it smells way less because it doesn't have fragrance in it. Also you can tell from the ingredients that there are multiple oils and for example shea butter, so I can tell that this probably is very hydrating for your skin.
It's white and looks and feels like a lotion at first. It makes your skin very smooth and gives less tackyness than the previous one, but still contains glycerin. I have found, that this primer just makes my makeup last so well, in fact, all three of them. But if you have dry skin and you enjoy a good moisturizing primer, this is one of my top recommendations.
The Protecting Primer
This one is the last one I purchased. It has SPF 30, which is amazing, because it's very difficult to find a good SPF to use under your makeup. It says, it's supposed to blur skin imperfections, smooth it out and defend it from sun. All claims that I am very happy to hear.
I didn't find parfume in the ingredients, so I suppose this one doesn't have any fragrance as well. However, it smells stronger than the hydrating one. It looks a little light pink when it comes out but is again transparent when you spread it out. It doesn't give me a white cast, that most SPFs do and it doesn't ball up, which is also a problem I have with my SPF.
I has that same slick, tacky texture as the previous two. I haven't worn this one as much, because I got it very recently, but I can imagine that I will use it to substitute my SPF and use another primer on top, if I need any special function in my primer, that this one doesn't have. However, it has been a great everyday kind of primer for the past week and I haven't broken out from it, my makeup performs great and overall I am very happy with it.
Final thoughts
There are so many primers on the market right now and I am having a blast going through them all. However, sometimes I feel like my money just goes out of the window, because some of the primers I own just don't perform as I want them to. These are not that case.
All of these primers from Maybelline are very good in terms of keeping your makeup together, making a good surface for the foundation to glide on and the little differences in the primers are very visible and they're not just made-up. The illuminating one really gives matte foundation a nice sheen, the hydrating one makes a drying foundation less dry at the end of the day and it's hard to prove, but I think that the protecting one does work, because of the tan my neck has and my face doesn't have.
I also like that Maybelline has consistent elements to all these primers. I feel like they grab the foundation the same, they go on very similar and have the same lasting power. Basicly, you can focus on which focus you really want your primer to have, without loosing its ability to make your face smooth, ready for foundation and making it last for the whole day.
As you may have guessed, I would like to recommend these to everyone who's been looking at them and thinking about getting them...just do it. It's really a good buy, especially if you get them on sale. They are comparable and maybe better than some of my more expensive primers and they made their way into my daily routine, and there are many primers, which fight for that spot in my drawer.
Do you have any favourite primer I should try? Let me know down below and I hope you had fun reading!