First thing first : Primer's comparison

Sunday, March 13, 2011

First thing first : Primer's comparison

The importance of primers:

•  they help smooth your face after the moisturizer;
•  they prepare your face for the foundation;
•  they can be used with all kinds of foundation ( powder, liquid, cream);
•  they do NOT substitute the moisturizer. If it's too greasy on your skin it's not the best primer for you;

I currently have two different primers, one from Sephora and another from ELF.
They're diferent in texture, ingridients and effects.

The packaging, size and ingredients:

Sephora Smoothig Primer comes in a small matte dispenser flask. The information is on the bottle, in more than one language, which is quite handy if you forgot what this is or what is supose to do. It has really small letters so maybe a magnifying glass would be necessary.
It doesn't have directions though.
It has 15ml or 0.5oz of product but it will last you a very long, long time.
It's made in France.

• ingredients: Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethicone Cross polymer, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Butylsparaben, Ethylparaben, Propylparaben, Isobutylparaben.

ELF's Mineral Infused Face Primer comes in a black card box and all the information it's on that box. So if you develop some kind of allergy and, if you already trow the packaging into the trashcan, you will not be able to tell the ingredients to your doctor.
The box as all kind of direcctions and information stated in a clear legible way. No magnifying glass for this one!
The bottle is bigger than Sephora's but has almost the same amount of product : 0.49 oz.
It's also made with recyclabe plastic but glass beats plastic in ecopoints. So it's far less ecofriendly than Sephora's primer. 
A good thing about this is that it states that buying this product you will help ELF in charity works and also that this product has no animal testing.
It's made in China.

• ingredients: Cyclomethicone, Demithicone, Crospolymer, Silica, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Butylparaben, Ethylparaben, Propylparaben.

  
Texture and effects

 Just a squeeze on my hand. Sephora has a jelly texture and more solid ( almost silicone) than ELF's primer that spread all over my hand once I squeezed.  
Also ELF is more glossy than Sephora.
The finish effects differ. 
Sephora is a matte finish primer and ELF is a satin finish primer.

You can see it in the photo. ELF gives your face a sheer touch and Sephora a matte uniform finish.
If you have a mixed skin type like mine the best one is the Sephora's primer. Elf's good if you have a dry skin type. When I applied it it felt too greassy on my skin and I didn't liked it at all.

After applying foundation on my hand Sephora's primer turned it more darker than it is and ELF's  mantained the original color.


The veridict:
For me both has good and not so good aspects.

• Packaging, size, ingredients:

information : Sephora - 4.5/5 | ELF - 3/5
appearance : Sephora - 4/5 | ELF - 4/5
size: Sephora - 4/5 | ELF - 3.9/5
ingredients: Sephora - 4/5 | ELF- 3/5 ( just because ELF has too many stuff (parabens) on their products.

• Texture: Sephora - 4.6/5 | ELF - 2.5/5
• Effects: Sephora - 3/5 | ELF - 3/5

Final Pontuation:

Sephora's primer : 24.1 / 30

ELF's primer : 19.1 / 30