How To Apply Primer To Minimize Pores

If you listen to any beauty guru or professional makeup artist, they’ll tell you that a good primer is the quick answer to reducing the look of pores, fine lines and textural imperfections that can interfere with a flawless complexion.

But does how you apply that primer impact how well it works? In my opinion, when it comes to smoothing and pore-filling primers, YES.

I actually hated pore filling primers for years, because I felt they didn’t really do anything to hide my pores, but after tweaking how I applied these types of primers, I’ve come to change this opinion and now, I’m reaching for my smoothing primers on the daily…

*this post contains affiliate links*

pin me for later!

What Is A Makeup Primer?

A makeup primer is a skin-prepping product that’s applied after your skin care to create the perfect canvas to apply your foundation or BB/CC creams or concealer on top of. A good primer will help your makeup stay on longer and improve some of your skin issues at the same time. How?

Some primers focus on boosting hydrating for drier skin types. Pore filling primers are usually silicone based (using dimethicone) and work to minimize pores and smooth the surface of the skin.

Mattifying makeup primers are designed to control oil and shine on oily skin types. Some primers do some of these things all at once, there are a ton of options to choose from out there to give you a flawless complexion.

 

How To Apply Primer In General

Primers are best applied with your fingertips and is always applied after all your skin care has been applied and before makeup is applied. Whatever type of primer you use, always apply it in thin layers and add more as needed. 

Some primers will need to be applied heavier based on your skin type, while others can be applied more sparingly, so some trial and error might be required!

 

How I Apply My Pore Filling Primer

My primer application epiphany came last year, when I decided I had several primers in my collection that really needed to be used up or tossed.

My makeup vanity is quite petite, so excess products take up space that could be used for my more well-used items. Deciding to give my pore fillers and smoothers another go, I thought I’d experiment a bit…instead of massaging the primer into my skin as usual, I decided to use a bit more primer but gently patted and pushed the primer onto the areas where I have larger pores.

A small change, but an important one, I realized that my dislike of pore-fillers was on me, because I wasn’t applying them correctly all this time! After using my gentle patting and pushing approach, my primers worked much better and blurred my imperfections quite well.

Why It Works

When you overly massage pore-filling primers onto your face, you actually thin out the amount of primer you’ve applied, making it less effective for smoothing and filling. Instead, by gently patting/pushing the primer onto the areas that need smoothing, you are creating a thin layer of primer that sits on top of the skin and fills in all the imperfections below it – just be sure to smooth out the edges of the primer; you want it to sit seamlessly on the skin and not look noticeable or heavy.

Need an example? Think of buttering your toast in the morning; if you spread a small amount of butter all over the entire toast, there’s less butter sitting on the surface and most of it seeps into the holes and doesn’t always completely fill them in. However, applying a slightly thicker layer and gently spreading the butter over the toast leaves a layer of butter on top to fill all the holes.

RELATED READING: NYX Pore Filler Primer

Shop pore-filling primers!

 

 

How do you apply your pore-minimizing and skin smoothing primers?