I considered posting this on Skincare Saturday this weekend, but ultimately decided it would be disingenuous to do so, since I don't use it as a skincare product. Which is why this rant ended up happening instead. Whoops? The good news is, while Clearprep FX hasn't done anything for my skin, it has completely knocked my socks off as a primer. I feel stupid typing Clearprep, since it's not a word, lawdy, so I'm just going to refer to it as "the primer". Scratch that: The Primer. There we go.
Um, where was I? PRIMER. RIGHT. (I should probably just go to bed.) The Primer is clear and somewhat silicone-y, though not as much as Too Faced or Amazing Cosmetics' primers, so I find I need a little more of The Primer to cover my face than I do of the Too Faced, but it's totally worth it. Where the TF primer keeps me shine-free for a few hours and works well with my Revlon foundation but not MAC, The Primer keeps my foundation (whether MAC or Revlon) completely intact for the entire day. I italicized that to try and draw your attention to it, but in case that didn't work: completely intact foundation for the entire day+. I find I need to blot with my hand 6 hours in, but even then, the shine is very mild. The Primer grabs onto foundation like whoa, so I find I need less (on the flipside, it's also more obvious when I've overapplied). Of course I still use my Kryolan finishing powder, so the awesome wear isn't due entirely to The Primer, but compared to other primers and the lack of it, the difference is amazing. I've also worn it on hot days (~80 degrees, because our spring has been frackin schizo), and it (meaning my makeup) survived the sweatiness almost unscathed. And let's just say: I am as sweaty as I am oily, so the fact that The Primer got through both is just ridiculous.
If you have oily skin, you need The Primer, in spite of its ridiculously long name. And somewhat cringe-inducing price, $38 for 1 oz. Yeah. I know. It hurts. But flawless makeup? And the possibility that hey, it might be helping my skin? Is priceless. Alright, that was a little melodramatic, but seriously: this stuff rocks. I've got a full size in my Sephora cart, that's how much I love it.
$38 for 1 oz, available from Sephora
Image via Sephora
I got a 0.25 oz sample tube of The Primer as a 100 point bonus from Sephora (sidenote: I remember when reaching 100 points was really exciting, and rare. That is no longer the case...), which was great, because I was going to order the 0.33 oz travel size Hourglass primer for $17 but I'd really been wanting to try this one all along, so I was able to save that money (okay, part of it; I spent $10 on a small tube of Benefit They're Real! mascara, which I'll review at some far-distant point when my awesome mascara is no longer awesome [I dread the day!]). (Aside: I sure do know how to pile on the parenthetical asides, don't I? I should probably work on that. Stay tuned to see if I do! [Hint: I probably won't.] OH ALSO, I finally got to watch one of the episodes of Frozen Planet on the Discovery Channel, and there were penguins and they were SO. CUTE. I couldn't stop giggling. There was one scene where a seal was trying to catch a penguin to eat it, and they were both trying to waddle around on the land and neither of them were any good at it and I couldn't stop laughing at how pathetic it was. The seal ended up catching the penguin, but then the penguin escaped! And was subsequently caught and eaten. Such an emotional rollercoaster.)Um, where was I? PRIMER. RIGHT. (I should probably just go to bed.) The Primer is clear and somewhat silicone-y, though not as much as Too Faced or Amazing Cosmetics' primers, so I find I need a little more of The Primer to cover my face than I do of the Too Faced, but it's totally worth it. Where the TF primer keeps me shine-free for a few hours and works well with my Revlon foundation but not MAC, The Primer keeps my foundation (whether MAC or Revlon) completely intact for the entire day. I italicized that to try and draw your attention to it, but in case that didn't work: completely intact foundation for the entire day+. I find I need to blot with my hand 6 hours in, but even then, the shine is very mild. The Primer grabs onto foundation like whoa, so I find I need less (on the flipside, it's also more obvious when I've overapplied). Of course I still use my Kryolan finishing powder, so the awesome wear isn't due entirely to The Primer, but compared to other primers and the lack of it, the difference is amazing. I've also worn it on hot days (~80 degrees, because our spring has been frackin schizo), and it (meaning my makeup) survived the sweatiness almost unscathed. And let's just say: I am as sweaty as I am oily, so the fact that The Primer got through both is just ridiculous.
If you have oily skin, you need The Primer, in spite of its ridiculously long name. And somewhat cringe-inducing price, $38 for 1 oz. Yeah. I know. It hurts. But flawless makeup? And the possibility that hey, it might be helping my skin? Is priceless. Alright, that was a little melodramatic, but seriously: this stuff rocks. I've got a full size in my Sephora cart, that's how much I love it.
$38 for 1 oz, available from Sephora
