It's all about the base: Primer tips for flawless make-up

Get your fundamentals right by prepping your skin with a lotion that acts as a make-up base to help it last longer and look smoother.

Here are our top face primer application hacks for your most flawless make-up yet.

LESS IS MORE

One of the primary pitfalls of packing on primer? Pilling.

"When you slap on too much primer, the odds are it will pill under your foundation," said make-up master Dollei Seah.

The little lumps of product (the "pills") are incredibly irksome because they mess up your make-up and are the prime cause of a patchy complexion.

So resist the urge to go on a rampage. Restrict yourself to a raisin-sized ration of primer and all should be fine.

And give your face some time to fully absorb each layer before adding another.

A good rule of thumb: If your fingertips feel damp when you press them into your face, give the primer another minute, then do the test again.

OVER AND UNDER

Any beauty buff will know that primer is meant to go under foundation. What they may not know is that the stuff is also terrific for touch-ups.

A dollop over dry patches makes for an instant smoothening fix - but execution is of the essence.

When applying primer over your warpaint, here is a handy tip: Do not wipe.

Instead, use brisk "bouncing" actions to buff in your product so it doesn't ruin your carefully contoured cheeks.

GET NAKED

Pick a primer with a peachy-pink hue.

The universally flattering flush is fabulous as a brightening base on bare skin.

On no-make-up days, you could even get away with just layering this over your skincare and sunscreen.

PUCKER UP

A pillowy face primer does double duty as a soothing salve for your smackers.

Your lips will grab colour better with a smooth surface, so be sure to prep your puckers by slathering on a generous glob of primer as an intensive lip mask.

Give it a good 10 minutes to sink in, then take off excess with a cotton swab.

DON'T FORGET THE EYES

Eye primers may seem redundant, but they work like magnets to magnify the sheen and saturation of your eyeshadows, so you get more bang for your beauty buck.

Most formulas also come fortified with moisturising elements that can be deeply nourishing for dehydrated skin, so much so that they function almost like fillers in erasing fine lines.

Simply pat lightly the product onto the eyelids before make-up for better "grab" of pigments.

You can even add some to your under-eye region when it starts to betray signs of fatigue.

This article first appeared 
in Her World Plus 
(www.herworldplus.com).