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If You Struggle With Acne, This $9 Putty Primer Is About To Change The Game
$9? Putty texture? Who else is intrigued?
Don’t sleep on primers, you guys — especially if you have an oily, acne-prone, or combination complexion. Sure, primers can ensure your makeup sticks around throughout the day. But choosing the right primer for oily skin or acne-prone skin can also will help you avoid that dreaded midday sheen and create a protective barrier between your delicate face and your favorite foundation.
Enter: the skin-perfecting Acne Fighting Putty Primer, courtesy of e.l.f. Cosmetics. Packed with ingredients like salicylic acid, it claims to help you fight stubborn breakouts while wearing makeup.
Are you as intrigued by this holy-grail-sounding primer as I was? To get more info, I turned to professional makeup artist Cara Lovello to find out what acne sufferers should be looking for when it comes to their makeup base — and if the e.l.f. Cosmetics Acne Fighting Putty Primer fits the bill.
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How To Best Prime Acne-Prone Skin, According To A Beauty Pro
According to Lovello, those with acne-prone and oily skin should be on the lookout for labels that include mattifying, smoothing, blurring, or pore-minimizing when shopping for a primer. “These will help smooth out your skin and keep your makeup matte and in place all day,” explains Lovello.
Meanwhile, primers that are described as illuminating or extra-hydrating are probably best to be avoided. They may end up adding additional oils to your already-dewy complexion. Some other ingredients to avoid? Fragrances and alcohol. Both can actually make acne worse, according to Lovello.
If you’re experiencing a lot of redness, you may also want to consider a primer with color-correcting capabilities. By counterbalancing the red tones in your complexion, a color-correcting primer can help make an irritated complexion look less so before you even start applying foundation.
How The e.l.f. Acne Fighting Putty Primer Measures Up
As it turns out, e.l.f.'s Acne Fighting Putty Primer checks all the above boxes — and then some. It smoothes over and blurs pores, as Lovello pointed out is a must in a primer for oily skin. But what makes this primer extra special is that it contains salicylic acid that both prevents the development of future breakouts and reduces redness on the skin.
“The built-in acne-fighting ingredients make this product really unique,” shares Erin Frier, e.l.f.’s Product Development Team Manager. “It not only helps minimize the appearance of pores, [but] it fights future breakouts at the same time.”
In addition to its starring ingredient of blemish-busting salicylic acid, it also boasts zinc to help further reduce any lingering inflammation, as well as kaolin — a type of clay that promotes oil control and draws impurities out of the skin. It’s a striking cocktail of skin-perfecting ingredients.
And get this: It retails for a shocking $9. A really bangin’ primer for a really bangin’ price? I couldn’t have you missing out.
Here’s How To Use It
e.l.f.'s Acne Fighting Putty Primer has a unique, putty-like texture that applies smooth as butter every single time. It goes on clear, yet still lightly color corrects, and completely grips your makeup for all-day wear.
To use, simply apply a thin layer after completing your moisturizer and sunscreen steps. (Remember: Products with chemically exfoliating properties will make your skin more sensitive to the sun, so SPF is a must.) After waiting 30 seconds for the primer to set to a velvety finish, you can apply the rest of your makeup (may I suggest e.l.f.’s matching and equally budget-friendly Acne Fighting Foundation?) as normal.
Easy, right? Just note that while the acne-slaying ingredients in this primer can help with skin-care struggles, you can get too much of a good thing when it comes to salicylic acid. Salicylic acid is a powerful BHA chemical exfoliant and can dry out your skin faster than the Sahara desert if you use too much of it. So be mindful of what other products you combine with this kind of primer. If you have a toner that’s also a chemical exfoliant, you might want to discontinue use before trying out this acne-fighting primer. But so long as you’re following these simple precautions, then you should be totally set to try this game-changing primer for yourself.
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