I have found that using a moisturizer and primer are the best products to set the stage for a perfect day of mineral makeup wear. Stick with the moisturizer that you already use or better still, see if the mineral makeup brand you use has a moisturizer. Generally I find the best luck with products when I try to stay within the same brand family. Brands generally formulate and develop their products to work seamlessly with each other, maximizing the benefits of each. Once you begin to mix brands, you may find that suddenly, things aren’t working as they should. That being said, my moisturizer is completely different from my mineral makeup brand and somehow it all works! Ha!
My moisturizer has SPF within it. I’m a proponent of not weathering my face with sun exposure so SPF coverage is a must in my facial moisturizer. I have combination skin so I tend to use my moisturizer heavily on the drier parts of my face and minimally on the oil-ier parts. Play around to see what works best for you. Tip – make sure your hands are clean prior to applying moisturizer. This keeps unwanted bacteria away from your face.
Next up is primer. There used to be a day when I never used to wear a primer. I’m not sure what I was thinking! Primers are designed to provide a smooth canvas for you to work with. They act like sticky fingers (without the actual effect of sticky fingers!) and keep your foundation glued to your face. The worst is looking in the mirror in the afternoon before a big meeting or event, and realizing your foundation has simply disappeared! If you haven’t used a primer before, I encourage you to give it a shot. You likely won’t go back!
For the most part, I would suggest again using the primer that is designed to accompany your brand of mineral makeup for the same reasons outlined above in moisturizer. Most of the time, this will yield the effect you are shooting for – a smooty and long lasting appearance! However, in my case, I have combination skin which means part of my face can get oily. Some brands produce great primers that combat the oil and others don’t work as well for my face. Because of this, I’ve had to mix up my primer/foundation brands to find the right partnering system. Of course the fun part of this adventure is trying out new brands – the not so fun part? Finding the right combo that works!
Keep in mind that you can find powder and liquid primers. Both are excellent options – it really will depend on what how your skin responds. Either way, I usually wait just a couple minutes between applying moisturizer and primer. I apply moisturizer right after a shower when my pores are open, and then go about my business for about 10 minutes.
- For a liquid primer, I generally apply this with clean fingers, warming the primer up in my hands first. If you are a visual learner, click here to see how I do this. I generally tend to go light with primer all over my face, applying just a touch more to the parts that tend to be more oily. Once applied, I again go about my business for another 5 minutes before beginning my makeup process. I like to have the primer absorbed in to my skin, prior to applying concealer/foundation.
- For a powder primer, I use the swirl, tap and buff method as I usually do for mineral makeup, focusing specifically on my oily t-zone area
Word to the warning – a makeup artist once advised me to apply primer with the same brush as I use for my foundation. I strongly caution you against this. The primer on the brush ended up clumping the mineral makeup, and eventually made it impossible to use.