In addition to Paul & Joe Pearl Foundation Primer, I'm also using this 30mL1fl. oz. pump bottle of Moisturizing Foundation Primer L SPF18 PA+ in 01 Lavender. Note that in Japanese, this primer is simply called La Tout Eclat Foundation Primer and the "Moisturizing" is omitted. Also, unlike both the Pearl and the Sparkling Foundation Primers, the packaging (back of box and back of the bottle itself) only says "化粧下地" (keshou shitaji, makeup base/primer) and "美容液" (biyou eki, beauty essence/serum) is also omitted.
All pictures taken in natural light without flash.
Anyway, I've been using the Pearl Foundation Primers but within the past month or so. At the same time, the weather's also been extra dry and has snowed very little (climate change much?), which means everything else shrivels up as well, including my skin. Ha. The Pearl Foundation Primers were no longer enough and by the afternoon, my face would feel a bit taut around the cheekbone, under-eye area, and around my mouth. Since this La Tout Eclat has "Moisturizing" in its English name, I figured I'd give it a chance.
Welp, let's just say there was a huge learning curve. Even after a couple of months experimenting again and again with different amounts and different sunscreens, I'm still not sure I've figured out how to use and what works best with this primer. The first time I used this, I followed the instructions and applied 1 pump all over my face. Goodness gracious, big mistake was an understatement. One pump was way. too. much. For one, this primer is completely opaque, like a full-coverage lavender-tinted foundation in itself! For two, it has micro-shimmers for a faintly glowing finish. So using one full pump of it I might as well apply kabuki powder. Lavender-tinted, faintly pearlized kabuki powder. Yikes! I tried half a pump too, and that was still way too much coverage for me. I even tried mixing half a pump with the most translucent sunscreen milk I'm using right now, and still it was too much coverage.
Below are some swatches to illustrate how much one pump is given the primer's opacity. Also, I know my pictures aren't great, but in the angled pictures there's a faint lavender tint to the primer.
After doing the pump versus half pump swatches, I was still not satisfied and swatched the leftovers on my fingertip to show how opaque this stuff is. And after I made a swatch of the leftover primers on the my fingertip, there was still more extra on my fingertip and swatched the leftovers of the leftovers too! See how opaque this primer is? There's still coverage from the leftovers of the leftovers!
Here are swatches of the leftovers blended. As you can see, just dabs of it is enough to provide coverage and brighten up my arm, let alone a full damn pump! And these photos show the lavender tint and the faintly pearly finish better too.
I mean, wow, I love how just blending the leftovers of the leftovers was enough to give my arm a blurred, glowy, and flawless finish, but I really don't need or care for this kind of coverage. In the morning, I just want to hurry and get out the door to get my boys to school. Even if I had the time, I still wouldn't want this much coverage. And this is supposed to be a foundation primer! Holy moly are they joking?! I'm supposed to layer a foundation over this kind of coverage? Will my skin have any pore left to breathe after that?
To be fair, this primer is indeed moisturizing. In fact, it's so moisturizing that when I layered a sunscreen on top, even a quick-setting sunscreen milk had a hard time setting on top of this primer. I tried mixing half a pump of this primer with a quick-setting sunscreen and still it took about an hour to set. So now I'm down to using just dabs of it mixing with a quick setting sunscreen milk, but this isn't moisturizing enough and around after lunchtime, my cheeks and chin area start to feel taut again. In the end, I'm back to square one. Sigh. Anyone has any suggestions?
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