Primers, Plus: 6 Makeup Primers With Skin Care Benefits

Think your skin care routine stops at moisturizer and sunscreen? Think again! With so many skin care-inspired cosmetics available, you can blur the line between skin care and makeup once and for all. Case in point: makeup primers. Not only do primers prep your skin for makeup application, many of them come with a side of skin-benefiting features, too! From blurring imperfections to hydrating the complexion to illuminating dull skin and minimizing the appearance of large pores, we share six makeup primers with skin care benefits we deem best, below.

BLUR

If you’re looking to blur the appearance of surface imperfections, look no further than the Touche Éclat Blur Primer from Yves Saint Laurent Beauty. Formulated with four nourishing skin care oil extracts— corn oil, apricot kernel oil, passiflora oil, and rice bran oil— this makeup primer can not only blur the look of imperfections, it can help to hydrate skin, too!

Yves Saint Laurent Beauty Touche Éclat Blur Primer, $52

HYDRATE

Dry skin types, listen up! NYX Professional Makeup Hydra Touch Primer is formulated with skin soothing and moisturizing ingredients such as, chamomile, green tea extract, and ginseng root extract to moisturize, hydrate and replenish the look of your complexion, making it the ultimate primer to use on dry skin year-round. Use it on its own or under your favorite lightweight foundation for silky smooth, radiant looking skin.

NYX Professional Makeup Hydra Touch Primer, $14

ILLUMINATE

If your complexion is looking a bit dreary, brighten it up with Maybelline’s FaceStudio Master Prime Blur + Illuminate. Formulated for all skin types— especially those with dull skin— this lightweight primer can illuminate the appearance of your complexion and protect your skin from the sun because it is formulated with SPF 30. The best part (aside from all of its skin care goodness)? You can pick it up from your local drugstore for less than $10 a pop!

Maybelline FaceStudio Master Prime Blur + Illuminate, $9.99

COLOR CORRECT

At Skincare.com, we are all about trying new trends in makeup and skin care. Case in point: color correction. Color correction is a makeup technique that uses colored concealers to camouflage blemishes, dark circles, dull skin, and other imperfections that might be getting in the way of an otherwise flawless complexion. With NYX Professional Makeup Color Correcting Liquid Primer, you can color correct and prime at the same time! For more on color correction, check out our color correction cheat sheet, here.

NYX Professional Makeup Color Correcting Liquid Primer, $14

PORE MINIMIZER

If you love Maybelline’s Baby Lips, you’ll love the brand’s Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser. This lightweight primer works like magic to blur imperfections, minimize the appearance of large pores, and give you baby soft-feeling skin. In addition to helping to give you flawless-looking complexion, this drugstore primer is formulated with antioxidant-rich bitter cherry extract. So, not only can it temporarily perfect your imperfections, it can help to shield your skin against environmental aggressors.

Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser, $6.99

BRIGHTEN & TIGHTEN

Whether you are experiencing some premature signs of skin aging (think: fine lines, wrinkles, dull skin) or need an extra boost of moisture prior to your foundation application, Urban Decay’s Complexion Primer Potion Brightening & Tightening is the skin-benefiting primer for you. Formulated with Matrixyl 3000, this anti-aging primer can reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and brighten and illuminate the appearance of dull skin. The result? A softer, smoother, more youthful-looking complexion.

Urban Decay Complexion Primer Potion Brightening & Tightening, $31