Just like our bodies’ needs shift as birthdays pile up, so will our skin’s. Fine lines, texture and the occasional uneven spot or blemish can make achieving a smooth, airbrushed finish seem like a distant dream. Fortunately, makeup primers are the hidden gem of the beauty world and can make your skin look smoother, brighter and overall more even.
These little wonder products are designed to do far more than prep your skin. They can help even skin tone, reduce shine and create a balanced, flawless canvas for makeup that stays put all day long. Some are even formulated with added skin care benefits to make your makeup work twice as hard. But choosing the perfect primer for your skin type can feel like a puzzle, especially when walking down an endless makeup aisle.
That’s why we set out to swatch, wear and review the best primers on the market. We reached out to women in their 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond with skin types at various stages — textured, menopausal and beautifully wrinkled — to test each primer for several weeks and get their honest reviews.
Tatcha’s Liquid Silk Canvas Primer is a lightweight, liquid version of the brand’s beloved Silk Canvas Protective Primer, designed to smooth, blur and perfect the skin’s texture.
You’ve probably spotted e.l.f. in your drugstore beauty aisle. Its Liquid Poreless Putty is a weightless, hydrating primer that helps to create a smooth, poreless canvas for makeup — all for only $10.
Bobbi Brown’s Vitamin-Enriched Face Base is a luxurious moisturizer and primer packed into one, designed to hydrate, smooth and prime the skin for makeup.
Tatcha’s silky-smooth primer, enriched with Japanese superfoods like green tea and rice, created a seamless base for makeup while protecting skin from environmental stressors. Its velvety formula struck a perfect balance of oil control and hydration, making it suitable for all skin types and textures. Whether worn alone or under foundation, it also enhanced makeup longevity and provided a soft-focus effect, leaving the skin radiant.
Why did Tatcha’s primer win us over? The buttery formula, pore-minimizing effect and matte finish stood out from the other primers in our testing pool. Contributing writer Isla Harvey gave this primer a glowing 5 out of 5, impressed by its lightweight, nongreasy texture that quickly absorbed into her skin. She loved how it kept her makeup in place with a beautiful matte finish throughout the day. The formula evened out her skin tone, providing noticeable color correction. She also appreciated its lighter feel, particularly for her oily skin, and would use it again with and without makeup.
Our health, fitness and food editor, Tobey Grumet Segal, also appreciated its smooth texture and oil-free feel, which added a subtle glow to her makeup. Tester Laura Schoenheit agreed, praising its silky, moisturizing formula. She found it reduced redness slightly and helped minimize pores and fine lines, with noticeable results on deeper forehead creases. She also noted that it’s available on Amazon’s Subscribe and Save program for under $50, making it a great value.
Despite the rave reviews, different skin types do react differently. Although contributing writer Andrea Smith found the formula smooth and easy to apply, she didn’t see much color correction or line blurring with her sensitive skin, which had some sun damage. Tester Janet Gendron also found the formula heavy on her skin despite it absorbing well and leaving a matte finish. She noted the primer provided only about 60% color correction but did blur pores and made makeup application easy. Overall, however, testers appreciated Tatcha’s lightweight formula and long-lasting effects, though a few found it a bit heavy.
Our testers were impressed with e.l.f.’s affordable but powerful putty primer. Infused with squalane, a noncomedogenic moisturizing ingredient, e.l.f.’s primer glided onto the skin effortlessly to blur imperfections. It also minimized the appearance of pores, all with a soft, satin finish. Unlike traditional putty primers, this liquid formula absorbed quickly and provided a more comfortable, breathable wear. Ideal for all skin types, it helps to extend the wear of foundation and keep makeup looking fresh throughout the day, all while maintaining a natural, dewy finish.
We loved e.l.f.’s primer for more than its extremely affordable price tag. Reviews editor Suzanne Kattau gave e.l.f.’s primer a 5-star rating, praising its silky-smooth texture and fast absorption. The primer worked wonders on her fair skin tone and minimized redness, all without looking cakey. It also blurred her skin as effectively as higher-priced primers from Strivectin and Dr. Brandt. Although she doesn’t use foundation or blush, she would repurchase the $10 primer. Harvey also found the primer evened out her fair skin tone and made her skin look and feel smoother.
Another standout feature our testers loved? The scent-free formula made it a winning budget pick, especially for those with sensitive skin. Harvey praised it as a great bargain compared to other options.
The primer from e.l.f. did have some drawbacks, though. Gendron found the formula didn’t agree with her skin type because it felt oily, leaving her skin shiny. “The color correction was minimal,” she says, with only about 75% coverage due to the tint. Managing editor Rachel Quigley didn’t notice significant color correction but thought her skin looked and felt great. Despite the product not being as effective as other higher-end brands that she prefers, she says it’s solid budget option and she would use the e.l.f. primer again due to its affordability.