In the last 2 years I have become a foundation primer 'ho. Yes, I said 'ho. I've tried more of them than I can remember, looking for that elusive smooth skin look and feeling for under my makeup. A friend sent me a few samples one year as part of a gift, and I was hooked.

LORAC is a company I am quite familiar with, and I own many of their eye shadows. It's a company that, in my mind, stands for quality, so I was excited to try their makeup primer.

The idea behind a primer is to smooth out your skin and provide a better surface for the foundation to stick to. Primer is designed to go on after your moisturizer and before your foundation. Believe me, I thought it was all hype ... until I tried some. The smooth looking skin I started noticing was worth it all to me.

About this particular face primer (from the company):

"A revolutionary water-based makeup primer.

What it is formulated to do:

Moisturizes and prepares your skin for silky smooth makeup application with a lightweight, colorless gel texture that's oil-, fragrance-, and silicone-free.

What else you need to know:

aquaPRIME contains sodium hyaluronate, which hydrates and helps diminish the appearance of fine lines, creating an ultra smooth canvas for perfect, long-lasting, luminous makeup."

Well it sounded okay, and like I said I was eager to try it.

I used mine for about a month and I never really did like it ... actually I feel it's my least favorite of all the foundation primers I have tried to date.

The problem for me was not in the packaging - it comes in a nice, easy to use squeeze tube. Though many of the primers I have used do use silicone it seems (and this one doesn't) this product always seemed too runny to me. I had read that the silicones can be bothersome for people's skin, though one of my very favorite primers has silicone and I've found it performs beautifully!

I never really got to enjoy using the product and I didn't like touching it. I faithfully put this on every morning even though I didn't like the feel of it, because I thought maybe it would do something good on my skin. But I don't think it performed well in that area either.

My face never felt really smooth after using it - and it seemed to take longer to absorb or "dry" on my skin than other primers I had used. Also, I didn't see that smooth "canvas" as I had with the others ... especially when I used my powder foundations that I had grown to love. My face didn't seem less oily and I hated how my skin looked throughout the day. To me, LORAC Aquaprime Oil Free Makeup Primer never really seemed to be doing much of anything ... and at a $30 price tag I felt it should be doing a lot!

So maybe I am meant to like silicone primers, and ignore the ingredient warnings ... what do they know anyways? All I know is that LORAC Aquaprime Oil Free Makeup Primer was not an enjoyable experience for me and it's not something I'd recommend or purchase again.

Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Sodium Hyaluronate, Sodium Dehydroacetate, Polysorbate 20, Triethanolamine, Phenoxyethanol, Methylisothiazolinone, Di-Sodium EDTA.


Other primer reviews:

Smashbox Photo Finish Mini Foundation Primer

Bare Escentuals Barevitamins Prime Time Primer





Recommended: No