After Weeks of Testing, This Is the Primer I Reach for When My Pores Are Acting Up

I'm notoriously disloyal to my primers. I'll use one every single time I do my makeup for a month, then forget the category ever existed for the next three, while I obsess over a new discovery. In any case, I've never really viewed them as an essential, mostly because I've been lucky enough to have pretty unproblematic skin.

However, over the last year, I’ve noticed some pore widening that can come with ageing, and those first lines creeping in around my eyes. I can cope with the lines, but the appearance of my pores is making me dread a close-up. I always assumed that because pore size is largely genetically determined, there was not much I could do about them. That was, until I discovered this, quite frankly, magic primer, which made me rethink my entire attitude to the primer category as a whole.

Spotlight on Tirtir Flawless Pore Prep Primer

You may have come across Tirtir through their viral Mask Fit Red Cushion foundation, which blew up on social media a couple of years ago. It’s a Korean beauty brand (hence the product excellence), and while they have a few other primers, this one's primary function is to blur pores and create a perfect canvas for makeup. I quickly discovered, to my delight, that it not only addressed my widening pores and helped my makeup sit better, but also did much, much more.

It literally instantly eradicates the appearance of enlarged pores, without that horrible silicone texture that makes my skin crawl. Instead, it feels lightweight and cooling on the skin. It contains a cooling herbal complex to minimise the appearance of pores by lowering skin temperature and making skin feel instantly refreshed. Its unique Pore Defence Complex helps to balance excess oil and mattify the skin, and it uses a botanical complex to soothe and calm the skin. This makes it a great choice for anyone with blemish-prone, oily, or normal skin who wants a more perfected look.

And the best bit: the effects last all day.

How to apply the Tirtir Flawless Pore Prep Primer

You could apply this with your fingers, but I like to press it on and blend with a dry beauty blender sponge, as you would do with a foundation. You apply it after your chosen SPF, and before any foundations or concealers.

It feels so good on the skin—cooling and refreshing, and just like a moisturiser—so there’s a temptation to apply more than you need. Just a couple of pumps will do just fine.

A beauty editor’s honest review

I don’t use the word ‘magic’ lightly, but there's no other way I can aptly describe the results. I cannot believe how easily it made my pores disappear, all while feeling just like a light cream.

I don't know why I was quite so surprised—the formula has, in fact, been clinically tested for pore reduction and promises a 69.11% reduction in pore size immediately after use, which really is quite a staggering result. Plus, 50.73% of this effect is maintained after 24 hours, so you could apply it in the morning before work, and it will still be doing its thing (albeit less so) when you come to top up your makeup for dinner and drinks (as I can attest).

When I’m wearing this primer, I am so happy with how my pores look (i.e., basically non-existent). But above that, I love how it instantly mattifies the skin in a soft, hydrated way that makes the skin look uniform across the board while still allowing your natural luminosity to come through in a diffused way. My skin isn’t flat-looking; it’s just even, and not shiny or glowy. I also feel that the way it lowers the temperature of your skin (by 4.76 Degrees Celsius) also has a firming effect on the skin, or at least it looks like it does.

I've been so taken with this primer that I've already bought a backup in case I unexpectedly run out or leave it behind on my summer travels. I can't imagine going a day without it.