Beauty Bible Loves... ELEMIS Pro-Collagen Insta-Smooth Primer

We’re always fascinated to watch other beauty editors’ stories about ‘empties’ – the products used from first dip to last swipe, which tells you everything about how effective something is. (Especially if you dash right out to replenish.)

So, today, we’re revisting a review of ELEMIS Pro-Collagen Insta-Smooth Primer, which has been Jo’s go-to since we first highlighted it back in 2021 – she’s now on her fifth or sixth tube (‘cos a little goes a long way’, she says). There’s no greater compliment to a product than for us to repurchase something time and again…

So, do you have long days (or evenings) coming up, when you need your make-up to go the distance? Does your make-up tends to fade faster, now that the central heating's (at least intermittently) on?

Then this needs, um, INSTANTLY to be introduced into your make-up kit: a completely brilliant primer from ELEMIS's very excellent Pro-Collagen collection which really does smooth instantly, like prepping an artist's canvas, with lines and wrinkles less visible. According to ELEMIS, this is down to natural marine extracts which create 'long-lasting, smoothing and tightening effects'. There is also a tangible hydration boost, straight away.

What happens next is indefinable, though. First time we used it, we applied make-up as usual, then glanced in a mirror later that morning and thought, 'Gosh, you're looking really OK today!' Didn't put two and two together. Second time, happened again. And without quite being able to explain this, that's the effect, every time: a sort of 'glow' (even though, unlike many primers, this doesn't have any light-reflecting 'radiant' particles, simply leaving skin dewy, not gleaming). As if it somehow dials up the power of your make-up just a tad.

Beyond that, it really does make a difference to staying power, so that your make-up doesn't simply fade away by teatime, which is a problem for lots of us, especially as skin's becoming drier with the season.

Call it love at first swipe.

£62 for 50ml – buy here

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