If you haven’t already incorporated primer into your daily repertoire of makeup products, you might wonder if it’s totally necessary. But if you’ve taken the time to apply the perfect face of makeup, the last thing you want is to look in the mirror and find it all melted away just a few hours later. Besides helping your looks last, a good makeup base makes applying the rest of your face makeup a breeze and contributes to the overall health of your skin. Ready to learn how to apply face primer? Here’s a step-by-step guide to making the most of primer in your daily makeup routine.
Pick Your Makeup Primer
Depending on your skin type and the effect you want to achieve, we have three signature primers, perfect for every day.
The Smooth Affair® Brightening Face Primer is a great option for most skin types, especially those with mature or maturing skin. This skin-quenching primer contains green and white tea leaf extracts to promote anti-aging benefits while minimizing the appearance of pores and wrinkles.
Looking for the best primer for oily skin? If you want to control shine, the Smooth Affair® Mattifying Face Primer specifically formulated for those with oily skin. State-of-the-art mineral science and revolutionary PoreAway™ technology come together in this primer to even out the skin, smooth blemishes, and achieve a matte finish.
If a dewy skin is more up your alley, our newest Smooth Affair® Illuminating Glow Face Primer is the product for you. Hyaluronic acid and shea butter lock in moisture and mica creates a soft-focus pearl finish. If you’re looking for the “natural glow” look, look no further!
Prep The Skin
While primer can certainly help to add moisture and even out skin tone before applying the rest of your makeup, it isn’t a replacement for a good skin care routine! Keep things simple with the jane iredale four-step BeautyPrep™ Skincare System to achieve a clean, moisturized base before beginning.
Clean Hands Are Key
You don’t need any brushes, sponges, or other beauty tools to apply primer—your own two hands will do the trick. Since this product is made to fill your pores, it’s important to make sure that your hands are freshly washed to avoid clogging them with any extra dirt or oil from your fingertips.
Squeeze Out No More Than You Need
Start out with squeezing a pea-sized amount of makeup primer onto the back of your hand. Doing this instead of applying directly to your face allows you to control the amount of product you use at a time. You can always add more as you go, but this simple method helps to reduce product waste.
Focus on Areas You Want to Smooth the Most
While you want to create a flawless makeup base everywhere for your foundation, you’ll want to focus more product on the T-zone to minimize your most visible pores. The same goes for any other areas of the face with fine lines that need smoothing before applying the rest of your face makeup.
Be gentle in your application to avoid irritating or damaging your skin! This is especially important for the thin, delicate skin around the eyes. Apply product in this area with your ring finger to ensure you’re using the lightest pressure possible.
Allow the Primer to Set Before Continuing
The goal when applying primer is to create a flawless, smooth barrier for the rest of your makeup to glide onto, but mixing primer with your foundation intentionally is a great choice if your goal is to create a sheerer coverage with the products you already know and love!
Simply start by squeezing your Glow Time® Full Coverage Mineral BB Cream onto the back of the hand, along with a bit of your primer of choice, and mix them together while on the hand before applying to your face. You can play with how sheer your coverage gets by experimenting with your foundation-to-primer ratio when mixing.
Once you incorporate primer into your daily beauty routine, you’ll notice a difference not only in how your makeup applies, but how beautifully it wears throughout your busy day. You can spend less time worrying about touching up raccoon eyes or patchy, uneven foundation. Set yourself up for success by not skipping this simple step at the start of your process.