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Face primer is a must-have product for any makeup routine. It can be tricky to find a primer that will hydrate your skin and give you the added benefits you need from a face primer, especially if you have dry skin.
Let’s take a look at the eight best primers for dry skin, each with its unique benefits so that you can choose the best primer for your individual skincare needs.
The Best Primer for Dry Skin You Can Buy
The Best Overall Primer for Dry Skin: L’Oreal Paris Magic Perfecting Base Face Primer
Price: $9.40
This silky, lightweight formula reduces the appearance of pores, fine lines, and wrinkles. It creates a smooth, matte base for your foundation.
L’Oreal Paris Magic Perfecting Base hydrates your skin without leaving oils behind. It’ll leave your makeup looking radiant and “just applied” all day — what more could you ask for?
The Best Primer for Dry Skin on a Budget: Maybelline New York Face Studio Master Primer Blur + Smooth Primer
Price: $7.79
Looking for a dry skin primer that won’t break the bank? Maybelline New York has a full line of primers with different benefits at a budget-friendly price.
The Blur + Smooth primer minimizes the look of pores and other skin imperfections, leaving behind a smooth base for applying your makeup. Bonus: this primer gives you an airbrushed look and photographs like it has a built-in filter.
The Best Splurge-Worthy Dry Skin Primer: Dermablend Insta-Grip Jelly Primer
Price: $33
If you’re headed out for a special event or need your makeup to stay put for 24 hours, this professional-grade jelly primer is worth the splurge.
The 3-in-1 formula provides continuous hydration, 24-hour lasting wear, and a sticky formula to grip your foundation and prevent slide or wear-off. It has some added benefits, including firming the skin and erasing pores, fine lines, and wrinkles to give you a flawless look from day to night and beyond.
The Best Drugstore Dry Skin Primer: Maybelline Master Prime Primer Base
Price: $7.49
Maybelline Master Prime Primer Base acts as a moisturizer and primer in one — and can be found at any drugstore.
The weightless, water-based formula minimizes skin imperfections and even color corrects to create a smooth base for any foundation or BB cream that you choose.
The Best Primer for All-Day Wear: The Ordinary High-Adherence Silicone Primer
Price: $11.95
High-adherence primer has advanced technology that adapts to your skin. It smoothes, blurs, and mattifies so that your skin is ready for whatever makeup you throw at it.
Use it alone or as a makeup base — the Ordinary high-adherence primer goes on smooth, stays put, and lasts all day.
The Best Dry Skin Primer for a Glow Up: Elizabeth Mott Thank Me Later Face Primer
Price: $15
This hydrating primer is packed with light-reflecting particles to give your skin a lit-from-within glow that lasts all day.
It has a sweat-proof and waterproof formula, perfect for a night out of dancing in the club or dancing in the rain.
The Best Dry Skin Primer for Minimizing Pores: Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser Primer
Price: $5.46
This pore-blurring primer fills in pores to give the skin a poreless matte finish. In a rush? Apply this primer as a standalone product for a smooth, fresh-faced look. Or use it under your favorite foundation for a smooth and even finish.
The Best Dry Skin Primer for Smooth Skin: NYX Professional Makeup Marshmallow Smoothing Primer
Price: $16.97
This fantastic primer smoothes the skin and much more. It boasts ten super benefits in one. It smoothes and soothes, hydrates, blurs, extends makeup, evens out skin tones, minimizes textures, keeps makeup fresh, and has a soft-focus finish.
Bonus: It has actual marshmallow root extract in it!
Our Hot Take
Gone are the days of skin drying face primer and limited primer options for dry skin. With so many options to choose from, you can now get that glowy, smooth, poreless, matte, all-day wear primer to help you create that Insta-worthy makeup look! Want a filter-ready primer? Try the Maybelline New York Face Studio Master Primer Blur + Smooth Primer. If you’re shopping on a budget (hello, post-Covid finances), the Maybelline Master Prime Primer Base is a smart choice. No matter what primer you choose, your dry skin will be looking and feeling its best in no time.