I Never Knew I Needed a Primer Until I Tried This One

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(Image credit: Zeynab Mohamed)

As much as I love beauty, I’m also the laziest person when it comes to my makeup application. I am all about that easy, low-maintenance look, which I’m sure is just a cover for my unwillingness to engage in a beauty routine that will take me any longer than five minutes. One step I was adamant not to include in my routine was a primer. I have always passed it off as an extra step, one I did not have the time for. No matter the results, primer was never a precursor to my makeup routine. 

Well, that was until I tried the Kjaer Weis The Beautiful Primer. Brand founder and makeup artist Kirsten Kjaer Weis says, "The right primer makes an impact. We didn’t want to create an extra step, but rather something that would enhance your routine.” I was sold—a skincare product and primer in one appealed massively to my lazy side. Tick off two steps in one and shave two minutes from my already super-quick routine? Yes, please.

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(Image credit: Zeynab Mohamed)

Unlike your traditional primer, the Beautiful Primer not only preps the skin for makeup application—creating a silky-smooth, glowing canvas—but it also functions as a hydrating serum. It's formulated with a blend of nourishing and firming botanicals, including lavender water, marshmallow root and oat extracts and cold-pressed olive oil, which work together to cool, calm and inject the skin with a boost of hydration. It also contains added vitamin E for barrier protection and Acmella extract, which has a Botox-like firming effect on the skin. So this is not just a primer; it works beyond the surface level for long-term skincare benefits, nourishing the skin and building firmness. 

And it doesn't stop there. The star ingredient is sustainably and ethically sourced mica, an iridescent mineral that has a light-reflecting effect. The end result is the most gorgeous lit-from-within glow. If you’re after that clean, dewy skin finish, this primer is your answer. I apply it after toner, in place of a moisturiser, only because I have combination skin. If you have dry skin, apply after moisturiser. But I find that it’s hydrating enough for my skin. I find that my foundation slides on perfectly into place, with no streaks or patchiness, and it lasts longer. Even with foundation and the rest of my makeup, my skin remains luminous, and it just gets better throughout the day.

6 of the Best Primers for a Dewy Look

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Freelance Beauty Journalist

Zeynab Mohamed is a London-based freelance beauty journalist, covering beauty, wellness, lifestyle and identity-related content. Her background in psychology and her identity as a Black woman has influenced a lot of her writing and has become a driving force to create engaging content that touches on a perspective that is often neglected and speaks to other Black women who love beauty as much as she does. She is inspired by how individuals engage with beauty and how beauty can make you feel but also how beauty holds the power to connect individuals across the globe to form communities. She began her career in beauty journalism with the British Vogue team, where she discovered that beauty isn’t just frivolous but can be a tool to empower individuals and give them a voice which they were not afforded.

Zeynab is currently a beauty contributor toBest Knockoff Luxury Clothing . She has also written for Stylist, Elle, Refinery29 and Byrdie, building on her freelance portfolio and expanding on the type of content she creates in the hope of reaching diverse communities. When Zeynab is not writing and hunting down her next story, you can find her travelling the globe and tucked away with a good book.