Tarte Timeless Smoothing Primer Honest Review

The is a product I’d heard beauty YouTubers like Tati rave about for years, but I’d never tried it myself. When Tarte were running one of their Custom Kit deals last year, I decided to pick up the primer and finally try it.

The Tarte Custom Kit deals allow you to choose six full sized Tarte beauty products from a selection for an amazing price, and it’s always for a couple of days max, so you can’t wait around if you want to take advantage of the deal.

“A melt-in smoothing primer from Tarte that works to deliver a surge of moisture, peptides and other naturally-derived elixirs to your skin for a firmer, smoother-looking appearance. With innovative blurring and filling technology and formulated to fade out large pores, fine lines and wrinkles, this Tarte must-have will give you a more youthful appearance that is perfectly primed for make-up application.“

The is £33 and contains a miniscule 15ml of product, within a clear glass jar. I honestly can’t believe how little product you get for the price. This is the full size too, but if you compare it to Benefit POREfessional Primer, you get 22ml for ££29.50, so it’s not the kind of primer you’re going to want to apply all over the face, or it’ll run out very quickly.

It’s a nude coloured, thick almost whipped balm, and feels very slimy, like all silicone-based pore blurring primers. You either love the slimy consistency or hate it, and it’s definitely not for everyone.

It’s quite a drying primer, so I can only apply it to the pores on my cheeks, otherwise my skin is left feeling even drier than normal. I find the best way to apply it is by pressing it into the skin, as it can ball up if you massage it in too much. I feel like the photo above shows you exactly why people rave about this primer – look at the difference between the part of my hand with and without the primer.

The is marketed as being a skincare-infused primer, but I don’t notice any other benefits apart from the blurring and pore-filling. If anything, I have to apply extra serum to wherever I’ve applied this primer during the day as it is so drying, but when my pores are looking particularly noticeable, it’s a good primer to own.

If you had a special occasion and wanted your skin to look better than normal – especially in photos, this would be an amazing primer, and I much prefer it to the original formula of the Benefit POREfessional, which for me is a little too greasy and slippy.

You can find the Tarte Timeless Smoothing Primer .