I know there are so many foundation primers out there and sometimes it’s hard to know which one you need and if they really make a difference, so I thought I would share some of my favorites. I wanted to break it down by skin types and I also wanted to go over different makeup tools and which one is the best fit for you. These are all things you need to think of when achieving a flawless foundation. Before I start, I do want to stress how important skincare is. You can spend hundreds of dollars on foundations and primers, but if you don’t have a good skincare regimen your makeup won’t make you happy. It’s like an artist with a painting, if the canvas has marks and lines, the painting won’t be smooth, your face is your canvas, so you need to take care of it to have a smooth surface for your makeup. I have to admit, skincare isn’t my strongest area so I don’t want to talk too much about, but I know a few things. For skincare tips y’all should follow my friend Jonathan here on instagram. He usually does daily tips and has a tips highlight on his stories of all the past tips he has given. I actually have a post with Jonathan where we talk about a basic skincare routine. I will link it here.
The few tips I do want to give is always, always, always, wash your face before bed. You never want to sleep in your makeup because your face repairs itself at night and if you have makeup on your skin can’t do its job. It can also clog your pores and cause breakouts. With that being said, you also need to wash your face in the mornings to wash all the old skin away to make room for the new. In Jonathan’s guest post he gives recommendations on a basic skincare regimen and explains a little more on what you need based on your skin type.
Anyways, back to makeup. I will first start out with primers for dry skin. Since tarte cosmetics is my favorite I do have a lot of their products to talk about, but I will add in other brands as well.
Tarte-Rainforest of the Sea quench hydrating primer. This product is vegan and has hyaluronic acid that helps produce moisture. It is also anti-aging, helps calm redness, and has antioxidants. This product is $32.
Tarte- Maracuja Oil. There are so many uses for this oil and using it as a primer is one. I actually have a post where I talk about all the different uses for it here. It helps your foundation go on so smooth as well as giving you skincare benefits. This is good for all skin types. It has natural vitamin C to help firm, smooth, and brighten the skin. It is also a natural anti-inflammatory so it helps to soothe and calm redness. This products has two sizes at $16 and $48 and a little goes a long way. My $48 bottle has lasted me over a year.
Too Faced- Hangover replenishing face primer. This primer is infused with coconut water that helps to hydrate the skin. It helps to smooth, brighten, and hydrate the skin. This product is $34.
I know most of those might be a little too expensive for some people, but in all honesty I haven’t tried any drugstore hydrating primers, so I don’t want to recommend any I haven’t tried. I have heard good things about NYX primers and one of my favorite drugstore brands is L’Oreal. If you want a more affordable primer check out those brands and look for hydrating ones if you have dry skin. Most of the time brands will have products in categories based on skin types. Now on to primers for oily skin.
Tarte- poreless mattifying primer. This primer is vegan and besides helping control oil it also minimizes the look of pores. It is a waterproof, silky, gel-like formula that also has antioxidants to help protect the skin from free radicals. If you aren’t familiar with free radicals, it’s the pollution in the air that causes wrinkles. This product is $32.
Benefit- POREfessional matte rescue. I have actually only used this a couple times but I like the original porefessional as well. They both help minimize the appearance of pores but this one also helps absorb excess oil. This product and the original porefessional are $32 but you can buy mini sizes for $13 if you want to try it. A drugstore dupe for the pore filling primers is Maybelline baby skin instant pore eraser primer that is $6.99.
Tarte- timeless smoothing primer. This primer is actually good for all skin types but it does help control oil. This primer is a little pricier, but I call it the Instagram filter in a jar. The main purpose of this primer is to blur out large pores, fine lines, and wrinkles, and it really does. This will make any foundation smooth and flawless. It also has antioxidants in it as well as peptides that help make the skin firmer and smoother. This product is $39.
If you have combination skin you could use any of these primers, but if you are more normal-dry I would do a primer for dry skin and if you are normal-oily I would try one for oily skin. Of course there are a ton of primers out there and they do different things so it just depends on what you are wanting your primer to do for you. A lot of people like smashbox primers and they have several different ones, but honestly they aren’t my favorite. Urban Decay also has several different ones but I haven’t tried them. Like I mentioned before I don’t like recommending products I haven’t tried, but I like to give y’all options.
Once you have your primer picked out the next step for a flawless foundation is foundation. I want to do a separate post for foundations for different skin types since this is already a lengthy post so I can go in depth for that as well. Since I am skipping foundation in this post I want to go over foundation tools next and I will be quick. I actually only have two I want to talk about and I won’t get into too much detail because I don’t want to overwhelm anyone. The two different tools you can use for foundation is a brush or a beauty sponge. It is really a personally preference, but it also depends of what type of coverage and finish you want for your foundation as well. If you want a fuller coverage you will want to use a dense brush and if you want a lighter, more dewy finish you will want to use a damp beauty sponge. If you have more dry skin I would recommend using a damp beauty sponge to give more moisture and it will help your foundation go on smoother. There are a lot of different types of brushes but my favorite is a flat top kabuki, mine is by tarte. There are also round brushes, paddle brushes, those new silicone ones, I haven’t tried a silicone one yet just because it seems weird to me, haha. It also depends on weather you are using cream, liquid, or powder foundation. I know that is a lot of information but almost all brushes tell what type of foundation they are best for. It cosmetics has good brushes and I also love Morphe. It cosmetics has different price ranges but are usually cost a little more and Morphe is the drugstore option. You can get both at Ulta. Real Techniques is also another drugstore brand of brushes that I like and they have a good beauty sponge as well as Tarte. I personally use Morphe brushes the most and they are very affordable. They also do a monthly brush subscription for $20 a month that is good if you are just starting out with makeup or just starting your brush collection. I used to do it, but after doing it for over a year I started getting very similar brushes.
After you have your primer, foundation, brush or sponge, you next want to set your foundation. I personally always use a translucent setting powder, this is because I don’t want to change the color of my foundation or add more coverage, I just want to set it. If you want more color or coverage you could use a powder foundation or tinted setting powder. This step is especially important if you used a liquid or cream foundation and you plan on using powder products on top of it, such as powder bronzer, blush, and/or highlighter. If you use one of those products directly on top of your cream/liquid foundation it could turn out splotchy. A couple of my favorite setting powders is the tarte smooth operator amazonian clay finishing powder and the Laura Mercier translucent setting powder. The tarte one comes in loose and pressed and it also helps blur the appearance of pores and stays on for 12 hours or more because of the amazonian clay.
Ok, I know that is a lot to take in, so that is all I’m going to talk about for this post. I hope y’all know you can always contact me on here or comment if you have any questions about anything or if I didn’t explain something well enough. You can also send me requests for posts anytime. I do what I do for y’all! I want to help make things easier for y’all and I want to help you feel beautiful and confident in all things you do!
