Lately, I seem to be a big sucker for primers, and if a primer can also color correct skin imperfections then that is even better!
Recently Clinique sent me their new primers, which are multi-taskers that do both! (I fully admit that I was pretty excited about these and had already featured them the day before they suddenly showed up on my door, they’re in my There’s a Primer for That post over on Babble.)
There are 6 different shades, well 5 if you don’t consider the neutral to be a color. You can read more about how to color correct your skin, but the idea is that you use a corrector that is opposite of the problem color on the color wheel. For redness, you need a green corrector, the deep blues of undereye circles need a peach, sallow skin (usually too yellow, you’re washed out) should have a purple corrector. The depth of color should be deeper or more intense if you need to correct a more intense color or have a darker skin tone.
The 5 shades of correction for the Clinique primers above (left to right) are for Redness, Dullness, Discolorations, Discolorations in Deeper Skins and Sallowness (“Universal” is last and it is clear when applied). I’ve rubbed them in at the bottom of my arm and you can see that they do rub in pretty well, my arm doesn’t look like stripes of different colors. Always reassuring that the color corrector isn’t going to turn your skin all purple like Johnny Depp in Edward Scissorhands.
The primers are silicone based and you can feel that in the formulations, they’re almost like a dry lotion with slip. They apply easily on the skin and are great under foundation. I’ve tried all of the colors (yes, even the Discolorations in Deeper Skins) and all of them disappeared into my skin. The one that is most useful to me is the redness corrector with my rosacea, and it did correct some of the redness but I still had to use my FACE Stockholm redness corrector in some areas. I haven’t decided if this is because the corrector is yellow instead of the more traditional green or the sheerness of the formulation.
The primers are great under foundation, they definitely help to make any skin imperfections less noticeable and my foundation looks smoother. Clinique recommends using only one formulation of the primers at a time, so you should select the one for your main concern. You can still pair them with other color correctors, like I have, or also use a foundation that helps any secondary concerns. For example, if your skin has both redness and discoluration, use the redness primer with Even Better Makeup, Clinique’s foundation for uneven skin tone.
What do you think? I’ve been expecting color correction to become very popular soon, so this new line of primers wasn’t really a surprise to me. (After all of the contouring we’ve seen, this makeup artist secret seemed like an obvious next mainstream trend.)
Clinique
Product Sent for Review
I’m a doctor, a mommy and a bit of a beauty addict. If you let me, I can take 2 hours to get ready in the morning. Really. I'm on a quest for faster beauty that works!
Thank you so much for this review!!
i have the colour correcting primer at to be honest i dont see any improvement on my acne scars or redness.
i think it is a hype, but as much as the skin healing thing goes i dont think it works if your looking for a 'colour correcting' miracle although the primer is amazing under make up and does make them less visible with make up over.
Hello!
Great review. But I have some questions. I want to try the primer for redness, but can I use it alone, (before or after sunscreen and moisturizer?) ? Because I don't wear foundations or bb creams. Can you apply it with a brush or do you get a better result with your fingers? Thanks in advance, 🙂
You can use it alone, I'd use it after moisturizer/sunscreen! I think its fine with just fingers.