Your Guide to Face Primers

I live for collaborating with an artist who has a vision, but who also allows you to create within that and add your own input. Florence Welch of Florence + The Machine is a client who lets me do just that. I worked with her when she performed at the MTV Video Music Awards; her VMA makeup won praise across the board in the press here and in her native Britain.

While you may not be onstage under hot lights with the media flashing millions of close-ups, there are a few ways for you to set your face with primers so your makeup lasts throughout your day’s performance and keeps you looking picture-perfect till the end.

First, prep your canvas. A skin primer soaks up oils and fills in fine lines and large pores, ensuring a smooth, long-lasting foundation application. Apply a thin layer through the center of your face. It’s not moisturizer, and since foundation rarely goes from hairline to chin, an all-over application isn’t necessary.

To keep eye shadow from sliding, I love using an eyelid primer. The pigment also smoothes out your lid’s color; some are made with brightening pigment that makes them beautiful on their own.

Lastly, I love a lip primer. A lip primer kept one coat of lipstick on Florence’s lips from the red carpet, to her performance, to the press interviews and back to her seat again. And it helped keep that red right where it should be. Lip primers usually have a bit of pigment in them, which evens out your lip tone and keeps your lipstick true to its color. It takes the uncertainty out of wearing a bold lip color by making it feather-proof, so you can drink from your coffee mug during your big meeting with ease.