Primer Wars!

Does anyone else find the task of searching for the 'perfect primer' a little daunting? Well, I do. Every single one claims to be some form of miracle in a tube, one guarantees that your pores will be no more, another that your makeup won't shift all day, one to smooth your skin tone and another will keep you shine free and if you're lucky may even help with blemishes! I mean how are you even supposed to decide? I want one that does EVERYTHING...please. I refer to primer as the 'marmite' product, you either love it or you hate it. I myself have had an on off relationship with it, mainly due to the the fact that actually, you did not do what you promised me you would therefore I wasted valuable time adding it into my morning routine. However lately our relationship has been more on than it has off, and I think that may be that fact that I have narrowed it down to my favourite top three that really do seem to do what they promised they would ;)

First up - Benefit, the POREfessional - I love Benefit anyway and have quite a few of their products. I will be forever grateful to them for creating my dream mascara (They're Real!) so it made sense that being so impressed with previous purchases I gave this a try. I had heard so many rave reviews about it and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. At £24.50 for 22ml it is a little pricey BUT primer is so concentrated that actually it lasts such a long time. For me pores are a big problem so if anything is going to reduce them, I'm going to try it! Of course the packaging is classic Benefit and really nice (so far so good) another bonus, it smells really nice too. Very fresh so its actually enjoyable using it. They say that this silky lightweight balm can be applied both under and over make-up. I personally have never tried primer over my make-up but I feel like that would just be a bit too much? I don't like the feel of a lot of product on my face so just under make-up is fine for me. It's an oil free product that compliments all skin tones - I agree, its not a clear balm, its more nude so when you have applied it it does really seems to even out skin tone and with the added bonus of vitamin D this primer seems to be proving itself. My foundation went on so evenly and, wait for it...IT MINIMISED MY PORES!! They were  practically invisible, and to top it off no touch ups, it really did stay put all day. Well done                                                               Benefit...yet again you cease to amaze me :)

Next up - Smashbox, Photo Finish / Oil Free - Again, Smashbox is a brand I really like. I use the lid primer to help my eye make-up stay put and it works wonders, I am also a big fan of their eye-shadow pallets. Photo Finish has been classed as one of it's best sellers and the 'oil free' part is what really pulls me in! You can get 12ml for £12.50 which I really don't think is that bad. Smashbox say 'create a perfect canvas for make-up application with this silky lightweight blend with vitamins A & E, grape seed extract and green tea.' Sounds pretty impressive so far right? The texture of this is quite similar to the POREfessional, very silky, and easy to apply (unscented though!) it is however clear so it didn't seem to even my skin tone as much but proved to be a very good base for my make-up and yet again, my make-up stayed put all day without getting the usual appearance of a oily T-Zone a couple of hours after application. All in all, well done Smashbox. I can see why it's one of your best-sellers.

Last but by no means least - Maybelline, Baby Skin - Ok so I wanted to try something a little cheaper and see if it matched up to the bigger brands. Maybelline again is a brand I like and there was a lot of great reviews about Baby Skin. This is obviously the best priced primer at £7.99 for 22ml (bargain!) so if it does work as well as the others it will be a definite staple in the make-up bag. This 'blurring balm' has more of a gel like texture to it, Maybelline say: 'enriched with insta-blur technology it instantly transforms the look of your skin and in addition is enriched with cherry extract' I'm not quite sure what the benefits of cherry extract are...we'll see I suppose! This was really nice to apply and provided a great canvas for foundation and yes...really improved the appearance of my pores, they were close to invisible actually. All in all it seems as though it does what it says it's going to do. My only problem with it would be that actually it was not great for my oily/combination skin. It felt and looked fab when I applied it but halfway through the day that nasty T-Zone was back to say hi! For the price I think it's really great and have actually found that the days I chose to have a make-up free day it works well to blur out imperfections making my skin look a lot smoother and even. 

So the conclusion: I really did want to see the slightly cheaper products have their moment, which don't get me wrong they did. Like I said these are my top three! But Benefit really is the stand out for me here and I had a funny feeling it would be...it ticks all my boxes :) 

Have you tried any of these primers? Do you have the same thoughts as me? Or do you even have a recommendation that you think will completely change my mind? Let me know...