*plays Ella Henderson's song in the background.*

I never knew face primers existed until I went to makeup school. When I started using a really good one for weeks (shout out to my forever fave, Nurturing Force Blot Out Offensive!), I learned that primers are essential in makeup application. I saw how it keeps the base I've worked so hard on intact, how it keeps the oil at bay, and how it makes foundation and concealer application really easy. I always use a face primer before anything else that the idea of not using one is so strange and unnatural to me. Seriously, if you're not using one, do yourself a favor and try even a small bottle. Your makeup game will change forever. ;)

Today, I'll be reviewing a face primer that I've recently used, both on me and on a client. I got this 8ml in a warehouse sale for S$5. It's the VDL Lumilayer Primer. 

When I purchased it, it didn't come with a box or a card where the product info is so I just turned to the VDL site. According to them, the Lumilayer Primer contains a Violet Lumilayer Pigment, a combination of red light and blue light that brightens and clears skin, respectively. The pigment gives the primer its highlighting properties which makes the skin look radiant and highlighted.

The primer is a white liquid with an eyelash glue consistency, only this doesn't get tacky, obviously. When you spread it out, it reveals this wham bam thank you ma'am glow. Just look at the swatch above. It's so freaking glowy and it's not even caused by the natural light in the room where I shot the photo. I don't know if you can see it but there's a pinkish sheen to the product that sort of helps in giving some color to the skin. On the glow department, it's oh so friggin good.

One thing I'd like to note though is that I when it dries or sets, there's glitter. Yes, glitter.  The glitters help enhance the glowiness (is that even a word?) of the primer. It personally doesn't bother me that much but I know some people hate anything with glitter, specially on the face. The glitters are really small and don't really shift around so I guess that's why I'm not bothered with them on my face, Plus, you'll put a layer of foundation on top anyway. That kind of seals the glitters in.

Now onto the part where I apply it on my face. I applied it on just half of my face to compare it to the other side.

Can you see how my right side (your left) is so light and glowy? It has so much life compared to the other side. And can you see the light? Ugh, it's gorgeous, it's not even funny.

Look at that glow tho! Ignore the brows tho.

Next, I applied foundation on top. I'm currently trying the local foundation I got days ago, and so far, I love it. I'll definitely blog about it in the future. But for now, here's what the primer looks like on top of the foundation.

Thankfully, I'm not a pale person so you can really see how highlighting the primer is even under a layer of foundation. The foundation I used is a semi-matte (they claim it's matte but it isn't that matte) so it's nice that the primer added some dimension and glow back to the face.

Primer + foundation vs. Foundation only. 

Overall, I like this primer as a highlighting product. As a primer, it's a okay in keeping the base intact but it's not the best primer to use for oil-control. Around 30 minutes after applying it, my T-zone started oiling up; around an hour after applying a full face makeup on a client, she started oiling up (thank the heavens above for setting sprays). I think it's safe to say that this isn't the ideal product for someone who has an oily skin type. It won't keep oil at bay and it'll make an oily face look more oily because of its illuminating properties. This is perfect for normal to dry skin types, though. It highlights the face really well and brings back glow to the skin that might've been masked by foundation. If you're not feeling it as a face primer, you can just use it to highlight the cheekbones, browbone, nose bridge, and cupid's bow. You can also add a drop of the primer to your foundation, so that you have a subtle glow, instead of a strong one. It's versatile (and gorgeous) like that.