What Is Primer Makeup Used For

If you lot haven't been using makeup primer, so you're really missing out.

Whether y'all wear a full confront of makeup everyday or you lot adopt to go along it simple with BB cream and tinted lip balm, makeup primer is a godsend when trying to combat shine or create a smooth base for foundation.

Yet, many people oftentimes skip this step considering they believe they don't really need information technology, are unsure of how to apply it or don't think it's worth the investment. Yet, using primer underneath your makeup will make everything terminal longer, whether that'southward on your skin or in your cosmetics bag. We asked ii beauty experts to hash out the ins and outs of primer and why it'southward a must-have. Here's the deal.

Makeup primer is a base for foundation or face makeup that allows it to keep smoother and last longer.

Formulas are bachelor in cream, gel and powder. While moisturizer softens skin, editorial and celebrity makeup artist Stephen Dimmick points out that primer prepares skin for your favorite tinted moisturizer or foundation, giving it something to hold onto and so information technology lasts throughout the twenty-four hours.

Many makeup primers are formulated with silicone-based polymers, like dimethicone, because of their ultra-smoothing effects. But if you struggle with cystic acne and other skin conditions, exercise a patch test or bank check with a medical professional, as some people report allergic reactions to dimethicone.

Physicians Formula's makeup artist Joanna Schlip notes makeup primers can likewise help smooth whatever fine lines, wrinkles or large pores. If you're searching for a face primer to help color-correct rosacea or conceal acne spots, Schlip's get-to is a low-cal green primer, because lite green cancels out redness.

Primers are even available only for your eyelids to prevent creasing. "I'd recommend pairing a primer with actress long-vesture [eyeshadow or eyeliner] formulas for a await that will actually stay put," says Schlip. If y'all have oilier eyelids, Dimmick suggests you use a mattifying eyelid primer.

Using your fingertips to apply makeup primer allows y'all to really work the product into your skin.

Schlip thinks it's best to use primer with fingertips for areas larger than a quarter. "If simply using for pocket-size areas, I'd recommend a brush. I like to use a concealer or lip brush for this," she said. This spot-care for technique gives the await of a more than natural finish, co-ordinate to Schlip.

Taking this routine a pace further, Dimmick considers the process "an exercise for the face up." He explains that massaging primer onto skin with fingertips helps "to get the blood flowing underneath." We'll consider that the next fourth dimension nosotros're meditating while putting on makeup.

Primer is a life-saver for getting your makeup to stay put in extreme weather.

If you alive, visit or plan on traveling anywhere that experiences either hot and boiling or cold and dry temperatures, Schlip suggests having primer handy to help your makeup habiliment longer. However, Dimmick advocates for using primer year-round.

"No matter what the weather is similar outside, this actress step will salvage you a lot of time and try."

Primer tin even exist worn on its own.

Love the fresh no-makeup look but want to look a flake more polished than when you first woke upwards? Primer is your respond. The product tin exist worn on your eyelids and double as a low-cal eyeshadow, or it tin can serve as a lighter alternative to foundation.

In search of a groovy makeup primer? Store our editors' picks below. HuffPost may receive a share from purchases made via links on this folio.

YSL Touche Éclat Blur Primer

YSL

Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer

SpaceNK

Clinique SuperPrimer

Clinique

Mineral Clothing Talc-Gratis Mineral Correcting Powder

Doctor'southward Formula

Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer

Smashbox

Maybelline Facestudio Master Prime Blur + Smooth Primer

Maybelline

Benefit Cosmetics The POREfessional Face Primer

Sephora

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion

Urban Decay

NYX Professional Makeup Studio Perfect Primer

NYX

Tarte Make clean Slate Poreless 12-60 minutes Perfecting Primer

Tarte Beauty

Tarte Poreless Mattifying Primer

Tarte

Laura Mercier Foundation Primer

Laura Mercier

-- Priscilla Ono, celebrity makeup artist whose clients include Rihanna

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