Smashbox photo finish primer. The holy grail primer

You will have heard me mention this in favourites posts a hundred and one times at this stage, but the Smashbox photo finish is my absolute holy grail primer, and I can’t believe I haven’t dedicated a full blog post to it yet!!

The Smashbox photo finish primer has won a serious amount of awards including, Winner of Best of Sephora Award for Best Primer, one of Marie Claire’s “25 Products That Will Change Your Life,” and an InStyle Best Beauty Buy. As a result of such rave reviews and massive sales, Smashbox launched a whole range of primers on the back of it, to suit every skin type and skin condition.Yet still this is a bit of a marmaite product and I find when I talk to people about it, they either love it or hate it. For me, it is true love, more pure then with most products I own. This primer is a match made in heaven for my skin and I have weird skin, that is oily, dry and normal all in the space of a week.

The Smashbox photo finish primer is a colour free, paraben free, oil free lightweight primer that applies to the skin like silk. It is neither oily or sticky on the skin, but it does have a silicone feel to it, that turns some people off. The silicone feel doesn’t actually bother me at all, and I find it helps to give the skin a more even surface. I do find however, that you have to work fast with this primer. Once applied, I apply my foundation almost immediately, as the primer has got a tendency to ball on the face if you apply your foundation after leaving the primer to dry in for too long.

There are so many benefits to the Smashbox photo finish primer. It definitely reduces fine lines and wrinkles like Smashbox claims it does, but let’s be honest, it isn’t a miracle worker. What it will do, is stop your foundation settling in those fine lines and give your skin more of an even finish.  It also gives the skin a velvety finish, that allows your foundation to go on smoothly and stay in place for much longer than without a primer. It reduces the amount of foundation that you need to use, as your foundation goes much further due to the smooth finish the primer gives to your skin. It reduces the oiliness of the skin and as a result your foundation lasts longer and finally it fills in your pores to stop your foundation settling in them and magnifying in size.

The primer itself comes in a plastic squeezable tube, which I love, because when you can’t squeeze and more out, you can cut the tube open to get every single last bit of primer onto your face.

To me this is my ultimate holy grail primer. It is pricey, but considering the benefits, it is worth the price tag and it does last a long time. I get a good 3 months out of my tube. You can buy the Smashbox Photo finish primer for €32 in Arnotts, but if you are flying off anywhere you can pick it up in The Loop Duty free for €26. You can even buy it in advance and collect it when you get there!!