Review: Hard Candy Skin Illuminating Primer

I have another Hard Candy review today, for their Sheer Envy Skin Illuminating Primer. Previously, Hard Candy only had one primer, the one that comes in the white bottle, but they recently came out with two new ones, Skin Illuminating Primer (this one) and Skin Perfecting Primer (I have that one too, it comes in a pink bottle). They come in a 36g 1.3oz bottles. These retail for around $8 at Walmart.

These are described on the Hard Candy website as "Sheer Envy Primer helps to even out the skin while reducing shine. Improves foundation application while minimizing skin imperfections. Make-up lasts longer and skin is left velvety smooth. Skin Perfecting Primer - A skin tone perfecting primer that brightens dull or sallow skin. Fills in fine lines, wrinkles and pores for a flawless, smooth finish. Gives your face a beautiful, natural color complexion that lasts all day long. Evens out skin tone and diffuses redness and blotchiness. Can be worn alone or under makeup. Illuminating Primer - A purple tinted, light translucent primer that gives a healthy, luminescent glow. Restores skins natural radiance, smooths skin and gives an overall airbrushed look! Can be worn alone or under makeup."

Lots of companies make primers, and they can be really helpful in aiding in makeup application and keeping your makeup stay on throughout the day. I like them because my skin is dry and it's often difficult to apply foundation to it, primers help to even it out and foundations tend to glide on easier. A good drugstore one to try out is the Monistat Anti-chafing gel, it's not intended as a primer, but some of the ingredients are the exact same and many people use it on their face for this purpose. I have also used primers from MAC, Gosh, and Smashbox. They all pretty much do the same thing, the textures can differ, so it's just a matter of preference.

As you can tell the product itself has a purple tint, and has lots of shimmers. It's kinda cool to look at.

Once you blend it in your face the purple tint does go away and you are just left with a translucent base. I find this quite mattifying too. The ingredients in this product include: Cyclopentasiloxane, Isopropyl Myristate, Dimethicone, Divinildimethicone, Silsequoxane Crosspolymer Caprylyl Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Sorbic Acid. And "may contain" Mica, Titanium Dioxide, Bismuth Oxychloride, Ultramarines, Carmine, Ferric Ferrocyanide.

If you're a fan of shimmers, this is a nice primer, and the first illuminating one that I've used. As you tell here blended on my hand, the shimmer is still visible. However, when you apply product over top, especially thicker foundation you won't notice the shimmers anymore, and it defeats the purpose of having an illuminating primer.

After wearing it for a few days, I did notice bumps on my skin what looked like whiteheads, and so I stopped using this. It was shame because I did like it, but it took a toll on my face. I did break out from Hard Candy's tinted moisturizer as well, so perhaps it's something in their products that is irritating my skin. 

Would I recommend this product? If you have sensitive skin, definitely not. I broke out from this and have read others have too. No other primer has ever reacted to my face in this way, so it's definitely has something harmful to my skin in it.