A few years ago the concept of using a primer was totally new to me, it seemed a like a bit of a fad the beauty industry had made up to squeeze even more money out of me! At first I thought of them as products for more high-end beauty brands and makeup artists but I grew more and more curious as affordable high street stores started introducing their own versions. Now they have become just as regular in my makeup bag as my eye liner and concealer are. The basic principle of a primer is that it helps makeup to stay put for longer, meaning less touch-ups and longer lasting results. Two of my favourites right now are the Photo Finish Foundation Primer by Smashbox (£25/30ml) and The POREfessional by Benefit (£24.50/22ml).
Photo Finish glides on smoothly leaving my skin baby soft and minimises the appearance of pores on my chin and nose. POREfessional’s lightweight balm feels like silk when applied, creating a luxurious canvas to apply foundation. Although I can’t praise these two high-end cult beauty products enough, unfortunately they both come with a rather hefty price tag. So I was relieved to find out that two of my favourite low-budget high-quality beauty brands both have their own versions; the MUA Pro-Base Primer and the Makeup Revolution Ultra Face Base Primer. I’ve compared these two brands due to their similarities; MUA and Makeup Revolution are both sold exclusively at Superdrug, their packaging (especially their lipsticks) is almost identical to one another, the have a very similar price range and they are both quickly increasing in popularity and publicity.
Makeup Revolution Ultra Face Base Primer (25ml/£5)
So my first discovery was how light the tube was, I thought someone had already used the bottle as a tester! The formula is a similar consistency to Photo Finish; a thick but lightweight clear gel that quickly sinks into skin to give a lovely soft matte finish. I was really impressed with how only a little amount of this product left my skin feeling silky and smooth! I applied my foundation (Clinque’s Stay-Matte Oil-Free Makeup) over the primer and wore it throughout the day checking its effectiveness. This primer really helped my makeup to last much longer than it usually does. It didn’t have the same staying power as POREfessional or Photo Finish but at a fraction of the cost I was still very impressed with it’s longevity! I would definitely purchase this again as it provides a lovely inexpensive base for my foundation.
MUA Pro-Base Primer (27ml/£4)
My first impression; very similar, if not identical packaging to Ultra Base! However, I found that I wasted a lot of this product due to the tubes large tipped nozzle and the primers rather runny consistency. This primer is a lightweight cream rather than a gel and, all though once applied feels velvety soft on my face, I felt the Pro-Base wasn’t as effective as ‘sinking’ into the skin, as it was a lot more wet than the Ultra-Base. I felt that it was a little heavy on my face and took a lot of effort to ensure it had completely dissolved. Once applied however I felt Pro-Base matched Ultra-Base’s staying power and effectiveness at preserving my makeup throughout the day.
These are both great products considering their price. If I had tried MUA’s Pro-Base first I would be happy to keep using it and sing its praises… however I feel I would rather invest that extra pound in Makeup Revolution’s Ultra Base having compared them both. I prefer the texture of the gel rather than the cream as it’s less runny but still dissolves effortlessly into the skin. I also feel it’s consistency is easier to apply and works better with the packaging making it less wasteful than MUA.
Each product has pros and cons but I feel that Ultra Face Base by Makeup Revolution has got that slight edge on MUA – I still think both are amazing brands. I’d love to know if you agree or disagree with my review! Please leave a comment below and don’t forget to add me on bloglovin to keep up-to-date with my latest posts!
