The Smashbox Photo Finish Primer Water is a 3 in 1, primes your face, sets your makeup, and refreshes your skin during the day. I know it’s not easy keeping your makeup looking fresh all day especially if you’ve spent so much time slaying your makeup. You want it to stay put. If you have never used a makeup setting spray, you should think about incorporating one into your routine. Using a setting spray will help prevent your makeup from smudging, creasing, or fading quickly.
What is it
A three-in-one face primer and setting spray that hydrates, preps, and refreshes skin.
Claims
Use it as a primer before makeup, as a setting spray to help keep makeup in place, and as a misting spray throughout the day to refresh skin.
Ingredients
Water, Butylene Glycol, Caffeine, Magnesium Chloride, Calcium Chloride, Sodium Sulfate, Potassium Nitrate, Potassium Phosphate, Polysorbate 80, Diamond Powder, Fragrance, Limonene, Linalool, Citral, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Benzoate
Packaging
plastic bottle with fine spray nozzle
Texture/Scent
light mist / no scent
Available
$15/$32USD/1.0oz-3.9oz, Nordstrom Sephora
I love using travel size sprays because I can use it at home and take it go in my purse. This bottle does not take up much space. Love that it comes in a clear bottle so I can see how much product is left. Mist comes out super fine and distributes evenly. About 4-5 sprays is enough to cover my face. Feels very light weight and does not really have a scent. Absorbs into my skin fairly quickly taking a few seconds for the mist to dry leaving skin semi-matte.
This Primer Water is free of silicone, alcohol and oil. Formulated without parabens and phthalates. That is good news for me since I have a hard time using setting sprays that contain alcohol which tends to dry my skin out and making it feel tight. It has been a struggle finding a spray that does not contain alcohol while keeping makeup in place.
Using this alone as a primer before makeup application does not do much and does not provide adequate hydration. After moisturizing my skin and applying my daily primer, I will give my face a good spritz with this. Gives my skin extra hydration and wakes my skin up since it contains caffeine. Works well at giving skin a boost of energy & hydration but not good as a primer since it does nothing to smooth out or blur pores. Do not give up your primer & moisturizer routine in lieu of the spray.
Once I’ve got all my liquids, creams, and powders on, I’ll give another good spritz to set my makeup into place. This will help bond all the things I’ve put on my face into one layer so that there will be no separation later in the day. It will also help de-powder areas where it is too powdery. Spraying onto a sponge and pushing the product into skin works beautifully. My skin type is normal to dry sensitive and I find spraying this after my makeup application keeps my makeup in place for the majority of the day. Smashbox says you can also use the Primer Water as a skin refresher during the day, however I prefer to use other facial mists that contain more skincare benefits for the purposes of refreshing my face. I mainly use this as a setting spray.
There is a misconception between setting sprays and finishing sprays. Let’s not get confused on the two. As I mentioned before, the main purpose of a setting spray is to mesh all the different types of products you’ve applied to your face into one layer so everything sticks together and nothing more. It contains very little to no alcohol. With a finishing spray, this is what makes your makeup last longer. You spray this over your setting spray and it will prolong the longevity of your makeup. A finishing spray creates a barrier over the setting spray so your makeup is budge proof. This usually contains alcohol because you need it to keep your skin dry so makeup/oils are not slipping. Typically noted at the top of the ingredient list.
Overall, I like using this Primer Water as a setting spray and not as a primer. With just a few sprays, locks my liquids & powders together. My skin gets dry when I use setting sprays that contain alcohol, so I am very happy that this spray is alcohol-free. However, if you are on the oily side you may need something with alcohol in it. I’m still on a quest to find setting sprays that are alcohol-free, if you know of any let me know in the comments below.
Have you tried Smashbox Photo Finish Primer Water? What other setting sprays are you using?