The very best face primers are the key to long-lasting, fresh-looking, and locked-in glam. Similar to you’ll prep a canvas earlier than portray a masterpiece, your make-up deserves the identical therapy. A great primer—liquid, cream, or balm—may help blur the looks of pores, curb redness, stave off greasiness, and grant some further glow that shines by means of your basis and concealer. In spite of everything, there’s nothing higher than a beat that appears equally pristine at 8 a.m. because it does at 8 p.m. The choices are plentiful, with a spread of finishes and skin-loving components, so we went forward and rounded up the face primers we put on each day. Store ’em and indulge in your upgraded make-up prep routine.
Our Prime Face Primers
Regularly Requested Questions
Finest General: Armani Luminous Silk Hydrating Primer
Why it’s price it: Silky, however not on the expense of the grippines that makes a primer work, Armani’s Luminous Silk Hydrating Primer hits all the proper notes. Infused with shea butter, rice bran, and glycerin, the skin-care-makeup hybrid formulation boosts radiance, moisturizes swiftly, and smooths the look of fantastic strains and wrinkles. Layer it beneath Armani’s Luminous Silk Basis, conveniently our favourite basis for mature pores and skin, for an additional dose of dewy radiance.
Tester suggestions from Attract contributing commerce editor Deanna Pai
“True to its title, this primer actually does make my pores and skin look extra luminous. In my mid-30s, I have been coping with each massive pores and fantastic strains, so I really like that this multitasking formulation can deal with each with ease. It feels clean (however not greasy) and leaves my pores and skin trying airbrushed, particularly when layered beneath basis.” —Deanna Pai, contributing commerce editor
- Key components: shea butter, rice bran, glycerin
- Who it is good for: everybody, particularly folks with mature pores and skin
- End: glowy
Finest for Giant Pores: Smashbox The Unique Photograph End Clean & Blur Primer
Why it’s price it: Smashbox’s primer formulation are nothing wanting legendary, and the 2025 Better of Magnificence-winning Photograph End Clean & Blur Primer—a.ok.a.. the one which mainly invented the skin-blurring class again in 1996—stays an editor favourite. Full of nutritional vitamins A and E, it delivers critical hydration and smoothness, plus a soft-focus blur that makes make-up glide on seamlessly and keep put all day.
“The one primers I take advantage of are the blurring formulation that make my pores disappear, and this one is a ceaselessly fave. At first contact, it feels a bit of oily, however as soon as it melts into pores and skin, it smooths out in a couple of swipes and blurs imperfections into oblivion. Not like super-mattifying formulation, it leaves extra of a comfortable satin veil, so make-up glides on tremendous simply.”—Lily Wohlner, commerce author
- Key components: vitamin A, vitamin E, polymers
- Who it’s good for: folks with massive pores or texture
- End: satin
Finest Brightening: Refy Glow and Sculpt Primer
Why it’s price it: A facial curler and primer in a single, Refy’s Glow and Sculpt delivers glass pores and skin with each roll. We love utilizing it as a bit of self-care second earlier than make-up, particularly within the morning, to clean out puffiness. The primer packs niacinamide to brighten and calm redness, plus glycerin to maintain pores and skin hydrated. One step offers your pores and skin all of the glow of a full skin-care routine, with none further effort.
Tester suggestions from Attract commerce author Sarah Han
“I do not all the time put on primer, however after I do, I make certain it is a glowy one that can enliven my uninteresting, slept-too-little complexion. Refy Sculpt & Glow to the rescue! This formulation is infused with niacinamide, which everyone knows is a superb brightening agent, and the cooling impact of the applicator perks up my temper (and pores and skin). It has a shocking quantity of tack to it, too, so it grips onto make-up very well. I discover that it layers with cream merchandise the most effective and leaves such a seamless end.” —Sarah Han, commerce editor
- Key components: niacinamide, glycerin
- Who it’s good for: folks with dry, uninteresting pores and skin
- End: glowy
Finest For Dry Pores and skin: Benefit Nice Pores and skin Priming Moisturizer
Why it is price it: Few issues tickle Attract editors’ fancies greater than versatile formulation, so you may think about our pleasure after we received our innovation-loving arms on Benefit’s Nice Pores and skin Priming Moisturizer, we have been pumped. This cream is tremendous light-weight and filled with hyaluronic acid to assuage and lock in hydration, permitting make-up to go on easily sans pilling. These with tremendous dry pores and skin could desire a moisturizer beneath, however oily and combo pores and skin varieties can use this alone. It is non-comedogenic and fragrance-free, making it a secure possibility for folks with delicate pores and skin.
Tester suggestions from Attract commerce producer Sarah Hoffman
“I have been a fan of Benefit’s tackle skincare since they dropped their first serum in 2022, and the Nice Pores and skin Moisturizer is a worthy addition to the model’s actually nice lineup of merchandise. I hold this priming moisturizer in my make-up bag and use it just about each day as a prep step. It provides a layer of silky hydration to my pores and skin that performs nice beneath make-up, nevertheless it additionally comprises a biomimetic emulsifier that creates a blurred, suede-y end that is good for makeup- free days.”—Sarah Hoffman, commerce producer
- Key components: glycerin, hyaluronic acid
- Who it is good for: folks with delicate pores and skin, dry pores and skin
- End: blurring
Finest for Oily Pores and skin: Danessa Myricks Magnificence Yummy Pores and skin Blurring Balm Powder
Why it’s price it: On the lookout for a skin-blurring primer and tinted balm in a single? The 2023 Attract Better of Magnificence–successful Danessa Myricks Blurring Balm is mainly an IRL smoothing filter. Put on it solo or beneath basis (it even is available in a transparent model in order for you zero tint), and revel in a light-weight, breathable really feel—an enormous win for shiny pores and skin.
The balm-to-powder formulation melts into pores and skin with out leaving a greasy residue, actively mattifying because of blurring silicone, oil-balancing vegan squalane, and upsalite to take in extra sweat all through the day. There’s additionally a dose of hyaluronic acid for hydration, as a result of oily pores and skin nonetheless wants moisture to maintain the barrier wholesome.
Tester suggestions from affiliate supervisor of viewers improvement Melanie Curry
“I want an oil-free primer that retains my make-up intact, particularly within the humid New York summer time. Danessa Myricks Yummy Pores and skin balm does simply that—and extra. What I really like essentially the most about this bb is its cream-to-matte end and light-weight really feel. Plus, a bit of goes a great distance. So whereas this balm is not the most cost effective available on the market, it’s going to final you a very long time (like months), even when you’re carrying it on daily basis.” —Melanie Curry, affiliate supervisor of viewers improvement
- Key components: squalane, upsalite, hyaluronic acid
- Who it’s good for: folks with oily pores and skin
- End: natural-matte
Finest with SPF: Charlotte Tilbury Invisible UV Flawless Primer SPF 50
Why it is price it: What’s higher than a hydrating primer? A hydrating primer that comprises SPF, in fact. Charlotte Tilbury’s Invisible UV Flawless Primer has a bit of one thing for each pores and skin sort: nutritional vitamins C and E for brightening, hyaluronic acid for moisture, and a mixture of UVA and UVB filters to guard pores and skin from solar injury and pollution. Simply don’t neglect to use two fingers’ price of sunscreen for the advisable protection—or layer a standalone sunscreen beneath for added assurance. Since this formulation reduces flashback, it is a good choose for photo-forward occasions like weddings and events.
“My largest magnificence flaw is that I continuously neglect to use sunscreen (a complete pores and skin sin, I do know), however I haven’t got to stress about that when I’ve Charlotte Tilbury’s Invisible UV Flawless Primer SPF 50 in my make-up bag. Not solely does it present solar safety, nevertheless it additionally grips my complexion merchandise in place all day lengthy whereas feeling completely weightless on my pores and skin.”—Jennifer Hussein, former commerce author
- Key components: hyaluronic acid, aloe vera, camellia oil, ovobenzone 3%, octinoxate 6.79%, octisalate 4.5%, octocrylene 2.00%
- Who it is good for: individuals who desire a one-and-done, folks with dry pores and skin
- End: radiant
Regularly Requested Questions
What are the advantages of utilizing a face primer?
“Face primers may help prep the pores and skin, clean uneven texture, even the pores and skin tone, and will assist make-up last more,” says Dillon Peña, make-up artist and founding father of Leland Francis. When looking for a primer, hold your pores and skin considerations in thoughts to get extra out of the primer than simply grippiness. Oil-prone? Search for a light-weight mattifying or oil-controlling primer that employs components like silica or salicylic acid, says Peña. Individuals with dry pores and skin ought to search creamy, hydrating, or plumping primers formulated with hyaluronic acid or glycerin. When you have redness, Peña suggests choosing a color-correcting primer with a inexperienced tint to assist neutralize. (Soothing components like aloe or inexperienced tea may also assist.) Enlarged pores will fare effectively with a thicker, balm-like, or silicone-based primer that may assist clean the looks.
How ought to I apply a face primer?
Make-up artist tip #1? Enable the primer to dry totally for round a minute earlier than you set in your make-up. “The trick with any primer is to verify it is utilized in a small dime-to-nickel-size quantity and totally blended in first [before going in with foundation],” make-up artist Allan Avendaño beforehand defined. “Making use of evenly and sparingly is my go-to rule,” he provides.
