Every good artist knows that the base to every masterpiece is a skillfully primed canvas. It provides the necessary base to hold and maintain an artist’s skill; whatever the medium may be. That being said, I cannot begin to tell you how shocked I am by the number of people that haven’t been introduced to the miracle I call primers — so lets start with the basics.

The function of face primers is pretty self explanatory; they prime! And for those of you still drawing a blank, may I suggest a quick dictionary.com search of the verb ‘prime.’ They essentially prime your face for whatever make-up delight you’ve planned for yourself that day, giving you more stay power, greater pop in your pigments, a barrier between your makeup and skin, and much more. But that’s all still pretty ambiguous just plainly listed, so lets delve a little deeper into the benefits of using primer.

Stay Power!

How many of you have applied your makeup flawlessly in the mirror and found yourself melting after a few minutes of clubbing, a humid walk on the pier, or even at complete rest in completely comfortable weather? I’ll admit to have had problems with all three. The solution? You got it … PRIMER! Primers essentially acts as a middle layer between your skin and your makeup and creates a barrier between the tendencies of your skin and whatever products your applying. But once again, lets get specific since that too is a little ambiguous.

• Oily skin? Then you’ve probably been battling the constant melting of your makeup. There’s nothing more unattractive or frustrating than your facial masterpiece becoming a puddle in the rain. Primer will actually help stop the melting process by becoming a barrier between the oils your face creates and your actual makeup. It might not stop you from melting completely, so slight touch ups might be necessary, but you’ll find that you’ll be able to retain the majority of your makeup in its intended application. Slight touch-up definitely beat the inconvenience of re-applications since its not always convenient or plausible to do so.
• Dry skin? You’ve probably experienced some slight melting in extreme situations yourself, but nothing to make you go run to the store hoarding all the primers on the shelf, so you’re probably wondering if you’re getting the bang out of your buck. Answer? Most definitely. If you have a problem with looking dry and patchy even after exfoliating and moisturizing, then primer can help trap and retain the moisture creams, balms, etc. provide, preventing you from looking dry and patchy for much longer than usual.
• Normal skin? This is probably what I fall under as well, so I’ll start out by saying that its not always necessary to apply, but certainly beneficial. It generally helps me look fresh on hot summer days, while clubbing, etc. Depending on which temprament your skin leans toward, primer will probably be more of a commodity than a necessity its probably not immediately necessary unless your dressing to impress. It’ll help you maintain that fresh, bright, just put my face on kinda look all through everyone else’s melting process. *wink*

Pigment Pop!

If you’re a fan of eyeshadow, then you’ll probably know the pain of finding that perfectly pigmented shadow. There’s nothing more frustrating than finding the perfect color eyeshadow in a pan, only to find that it doesn’t deliver on the eyelid. What primer essentially does is even out the skin tone, smooth out your skin on the eyelid, and gives your eyelid a more adhesive quality allowing for a more seamless application. That is, it basically makes your eyelid more sticky, not oily, so the shadow clings onto your lid better and longer giving you more pop for your pigments with minimal amounts of eyeshadow. This is especially beneficial if you’re not part of the fortunate masses that can afford to hoard expensive, high-pigments shadows in large amounts. Using primer before applying eyeshadow can often make mediocre eyeshadows look top notch by bringing out their pigments. It’s definitely something to think about for those of you entertaining the idea of buying a Costal Scents or Artistik palette as an alternative to MAC. MAC users can also revel in the fact that a more adhesive eyelid translates to less product usage and therefore less product replacement. Granted, primer can’t solve every pigment problem, but it will definitely help you get more bang for your buck.

*Quick tip: If you run out of eyeshadow primer, applying some concealer, or liquid foundation to the lid before applying eyeshadow does a pretty decent job mimicking the stay power of eyeshadow. Doesn’t really do that much for helping eyeshadow pigments, or preventing creasing so it wouldn’t recommend it as anything more than a quick fix for those that have that problem.

Beautiful Barriers!

This is a benefit that I can’t personally vouch for, but have heard a lot about. By creating a barrier between your skin and makeup, primers actually create a sort of film on top of your skin preventing the actual makeup product from touching your skin. This is especially beneficial for those whose skin reacts badly to makeup (ie. breaking out …). Granted, you should probably be scouting for a different product if your current lineup isn’t agreeing with your skin, but this will probably help.

Make-up is rarely a one stop shop. So if you’re still using the same make-up you were 2 years ago, and not 100% satisfied with your collection, then you’re not maximizing the options today’s make-up market has provided for you.  And by this, I don’t mean replacing your collection with popular, branded products since that’s not always monetarily possible or smart. Instead, I’d suggest looking into employing the use of primer, which I generally like to call make-up aids, to bring out the best of your product!

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