Primers are what deemed as optional product. Some people don’t think it’s necessary while some like me couldn’t live without primer for the face and for the eyes. My skin goes through ups and downs. Sometimes I had makeup meltdown and sometimes it’s as fresh as applied in the morning. It drives me crazy!

As I said before in my On The Rocks Holiday Collection, Smashbox is the least talk about brand. The only time I heard or saw Smashbox is either on Photo Finish Lid Primer or Full Exposure Palette. But the most talk about is still their wide range of primers. Overall there are a total of 10 primers within the brand, eight of them is face primer while two is lid primer and under eye primer.

Smashbox Photo Finish Hydrating Under Eye Primer (RM99 / 10ml)

I’ve used eye cream or eyeshadow primer but not under eye primer. In fact I’ve never heard about it before! It took me half an hour of trying to get my head around this product. Why would anyone need a primer for the under eye? Having the need to apply eyeshadow primer is already a lazy chore for me so why would I need to use one? I soon found out why and that I fall under the category of people needing it.

Most of us never heard about this Photo Finish Hydrating Under Eye Primer before because of two reasons. (1) Like I said, Smashbox is a brand that has the less hype and (2) this is the first primer ever invented dedicated to the delicate skin under the eyes. Smashbox by far has the most primer available so what they do is that they take their signature silky primer texture and infused it with 10 breakthrough benefits such as hydration, dark circles, puffiness, radiance, fine lines and wrinkles, texture, skin tone, age spots, clarity, soothing. You remember the part where I said I fall into the category of people that needs it? You must still remember how dreadful my under eyes look with all the wrinkles so this primer’s job is to keep concealer looking fresh, not cakey or settled into fine lines and the setting powder applied on top doesn’t settled in as well. Plus it has a light-reflecting formula that instantly brighten the under eye area so the eyes will always look well-rested.

I like the slim tube as I can slid it into any makeup organizer I had on my vanity table. It comes with a silicone flexi tip so I can either apply directly onto the under eye or I can squeeze some out onto my ring finger and apply. Usually I go with the second choice because I don’t want my sunblock or face primer to get into the hole.

Photo Finish Hydrating Under Eye Primer is in a light pink shade. It is quite true to the color of the tube itself. The product is quite light and slightly thin texture. Once it goes on the under eye and blended in, it turns to clear all together. When I got this tube, my sleeping time was back to 2am to 7am and so I had really dark circles. I applied this under eye primer and probably due to the fact that my dark circles is really dark, I can see a huge difference. Almost instantly my dark circles is covered and my eyes brightens up. I did freak out with how dark my under eyes are so I started to sleep early again 😛

This one and only under eye primer comes with four main key benefits:

• Wear alone to instantly brighten.
• Wear under concealer to keep it looking fresher, better.
• Unlike moisturizer, signature silky primer texture prevents concealer from slipping off and settling into fine lines.
• Infused with anti-aging, good-for-your-eyes ingredients such as caffeine, peptides and optical diffusers.

Eventhough the primer works as it claimed to be, I feel that the texture can be slightly thicker so users could skip concealer all together especially on non-makeup day.

I wish I was told not to rub my eyes too much when I was younger otherwise I won’t be suffering from dreadful fine lines on my under eye. These fine lines are one of the thing that makes me insecure and I have to live with it now. Almost all concealer creased on me especially after I set it with powder. I find that Smashbox Photo Finish Hydrating Under Eye Primer improved the condition a lot. Concealer still creases on me but at a minimum rate. I would say about 60% lesser? Here’s the Before and After.

Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer (RM145 / 30ml)

Smashbox face primers legacy started with award winning Photo Finish Foundation Primer being a staple in many celebrity makeup artists kits. Since then it has expended into a wide varieties of primer such as Photo Finish Foundation Primer Light, Photo Finish Foundation Primer SPF 20 with DERMAXYLTM COMPLEX, Photo Finish Hydrating Foundation Primer, Photo Finish Luminizing Foundation Primer, Photo Finish Color Correcting Foundation Primer – Adjust, Photo Finish Color Correcting FoundationPrimer – Blend and Photo Finish More than Primer – Dark Spot Correcting.

I thought you will like to know that all Smashbox primers are scentless. For skin care I would prefer something that smells nice but for foundation primer, I like it to be plain. This Photo Finish Foundation Primer is in gel form and it’s colorless. It looks like a primer similar to mattifying primer that I had but in fact this is not the mattifying primer. Once spread over the face, the oil-free formula instantly helps to mattes out the skin surface slightly by giving it a velvety-smooth finishing. This is my favourite feature because I don’t like the yucky residue from sunblock so it really helps. It also reduces the appearance of fine lines and pores. On my pores, well…not so much. You know me and my out-of-the-world pores. It’s not fixable anymore so I wasn’t putting up hope on that at all. Even after all the primer applied on the face (I apply a lot heeee!), I don’t feel anything at all. Primer is suppose to be lightweight so this Smashbox one is right down my alley.

When a product cancels out the appearance of fine lines and pores by diffuses the light hitting skin to blur out imperfections for an even, soft-focus look, that is when I have problem with taking the After photo. The camera just couldn’t and wouldn’t focus properly. Urrgghhh! On a brighter side, that means it works just as it is suppose to be. You can also apply this foundation primer on it’s own. It will blurs out all imperfection 🙂

I don’t find my face to be oil-free the whole day but I can see that excessive oil secretion was reduced. Makeup is flawless and the primer keeps my makeup intact but not entirely the whole day. My jawline is the first to have a meltdown usually as I like to rest my hand on my jaw when I’m thinking. I would say this will work so much better on normal or dry skin than on mine. On a good day, my face is less oily and makeup do stays on the whole day. On days where I ‘accidentally’ piled up too much foundation, that’s when I have problem. You see, I do my makeup 6am in the morning. I can’t see a thing at all. So I kept layering and layering LOL. On weekend where I can see better with day light, my makeup is flawless with lesser foundation on. Overall, I quite like it. I like primers that mattes of the face 😀

The question is, do you need a foundation primer? It’s really up to your skin and your preference. I’ve tried putting on makeup without primer and I look awful. My face look tired because I was lack of sleep and the foundation wouldn’t blend in. I could also see all the under eye wrinkles. The whole look is just too haggard. Primer helps my base makeup to stick better and blends with my skin so that it will look smoother and well-rested. I also happen to like my face that is less oily when I have foundation primer on. Some girls are lucky as their makeup still look nice even without prepping with foundation primer. So it’s really up to you. Once you started using primer, you will not want to go back to the days without primer 😀

Disclaimer: Product was sent to me for review consideration. This doesn’t affect my judgement in the review in any way.