40 Days and 40 Nights of Primers

Review by cavewoman
photo from: Sephora
Primer #14

Today's primer is Nars, a true cult item and a favorite of many makeup artists and cosmetic divas everywhere. Our Annie provided me with a generous pot of this product and I was eager to give it a whirl. Annie swears by this primer, (and her complexion always looks perfect!) so of course I was happy to test it myself.

First of all, the scent of the Nars primer is lovely and fresh, but that could be a bit off-putting to someone who does not like scented products on his or her face.
It is a light-textured gel-cream with none of the silicone thickness or pore-and-line-filling properties of the Smashbox types I've reviewed already, and the Nars took quite a long time, several minutes in fact, to dry on my face. It felt a bit tingly, not unpleasant at all, but certainly unexpected. It has a very refreshing, cooling effect and I think I'd like that on a hot Summer morning. But it's going to snow today in Ohio, so there wasn't much benefit to the cool effect today! I was also pleased to find that when the Nars primer did dry down, there was a definite 'tightening' feeling, and sure enough, upon close scrutiny, that tightening effect was nicely visible. My foundation applied smoothly over top, and it was easy to achieve an even application.

At first I was not happy with the way my foundation looked over the Nars. It was very glossy looking and showed all my lines and pores. But I allowed my foundation to dry, and checked again. The tightening feeling of the Nars remained for several hours, and my foundation looked pretty and natural and soft. The Nars does not add any thickness at all. But within just a few hours of applying my foundation, I re-checked in the mirror, and was shocked to see cracks in my face! I had definite, visible lines where the foundation caked in my creases, especially under my lower lip in that crease above my chin, and also from nose to lip. I looked like a scary old lady with pancake makeup poorly applied! I smoothed it out with my finger and later checked again. Same thing! And in addition, where my reading glasses rest on my nose, creases there too! I did not know I had creases there!

To its credit, my crepey cheek areas still looked okay, and I liked the tightening and cooling effect and the scent, but I'm very disappointed in the Nars overall. My foundation would have looked much better without this primer. I'm glad I did my research on the Nars primer in the privacy of my home! I'd give it a few points for the nice cooling and tightening effect, but under my foundation, not good.
Product rating, 3.