Of course, because we are apostles of primer, we needed to address this comment from last week:
can primer make you break-out? that has always been my biggest worry and why i’ve never tried it…
M.
All we can say is: Everything makes us break out. This is the reason we are going to wrinkle, horribly and soon, as every sunscreen on the market makes us break. But we will say that we regularly wear primer. We wear it much more regularly than we remember to use that Philosophy cleanser on our face. But we’re not breaking out.
Above: This is our favorite primer. Fresh FreshFace Face Primer, $30
And this is our second-favorite. We tried this on last week at Sephora, which we are using as our personal make-up counter, and it did the job. Smashbox Photo Finish primer, $36
So that’s our experience. We think of primer as a less-moisturizing kind of moisturizer. As Fresh says: "Beneficial for the skin, FreshFace Primer can also be used as a light moisturizing lotion for the face." So now we ask: Has anyone had a bad, breaking-out-type experience?
I used Laura Mercier primer and it made me break out like crazy. Although I wear her oil-free makeup every day and I love it.
Nars primer (with sunscreen) is my second favorite primer (and it is very much like a moisturizer) – no breakouts…
And Smashbox primer is my reigning favorite, because it glides on like glass and seems to really smooth your canvas, I mean face, for a ‘make-up artist’ like look!
Have you tried Clarins UV Plus SPF 40? Practically everything on earth makes me break out too, but for some reason I’ve had really great luck with this. It also has a peculiar mattifying effect but without the dreaded white look that sometimes happens with mineral sunscreen. And also, SPF 40!!!, which practically makes up for all the time I spent in tanning beds during high school.