My beauty love for Tatcha is on-going – to the point that I’ve been prepared to try out their primers which is a category I very rarely use. I’m not sure I’ve ever really made sense of them – a long way back in the day when they were far less mainstream than they are now, other bloggers and You Tubers used to rave about them and I was always a bit meh. Primers were very much make-up artist territory – a ‘pro’ product that felt like we had an inside glimpse into their mystical skill set, and I think primers generally fall into a category that has made it into most make-up bags as a direct result of the rise of first blogging, and then social media in general.
Tatcha has two primers; The Silk Canvas and The Liquid Silk Canvas. My preference, to my surprise, is the The Silk Canvas which is solid and almost balm like. The brand is always careful to relate back to their inspiration from Japan, and sure enough, geisha skin care rituals included pressing a thin layer of wax (bintsuke) into their skin to create a) a perfected canvas, b) help make-up last all day and c) eliminate shine.
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I don’t have particularly oily skin so what I was looking at was how much of a perfecting effect it could have and whether it would keep my make-up in place all day. That’s a big ask as so many factors come into play – I don’t really expect make-up to last a full day and if you touch your face a lot, or have oily skin, it has its work cut out.
I used The Silk Canvas over Murad City Skin Age Defence SPF50 and followed on with L’Oreal Glow Cherie and a touch of MAC crème blush as my base to give the Canvas every opportunity to pill or interact. There was nothing – nada! It didn’t pill and in fact, felt more like softening skin care than a solid primer which is probably down to the key ingredients, sericin and fibrin which are two proteins that make up silk. Not forgetting Hadasei-3 ™, Tatcha’s own proprietary complex of rice ferment, green tea and algae. I applied The Silk Canvas with a brush in order not to overload – I think you could encounter some issues if you plastered it on your skin but a brush ensured a fine veil. Somewhat incredibly, my complexion didn’t feel over-loaded – just beautifully moisturised and silky smooth.
When it came to removing my make-up at about 5pm, there was plenty to take off – more than usual certainly but I don’t think every last dot that I applied. If you need to cut down shine, you’d apply your SPF, The Silk Canvas, foundation and then set and finish with a powder. I cannot think, using that ritual, that a smidge of oil could seep up and shine. The best thing about The Silk Canvas is that it defied my preconceptions by feeling completely at home on my face and actually enhanced the smoothness both in feel and look. I felt that it gave a mild blur effect but the magic is really some time after you’ve applied when it’s all settled and you catch yourself in the mirror and notice that yes, your skin does look great today! Tatcha The Silk Canvas is £48 (remember a little goes a very long way) and Tatcha The Liquid Silk Canvas is also £48. You can find it HERE.
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2 comments
I was interested to read your article on the Tatcha primer. Like you I have never bothered with a primer. One step too many in everyday life! Can you explain the difference between the two primers and why you chose the Silk Canvas Primer over the liquid primer please?
Of course – I think with the canvas there is better ‘blur’ or soft focus – it’s discreet but does contribute to the overall look of the complexion. The canvas is not as light as the liquid in feel but you need very, very little and it’s quite skin softening. The liquid also feels like a skin care product more than it’s intended job of priming but for my skin, the canvas does it better. If I was twenty, I’d probably go for the liquid! So, upshot is canvas is ‘filter’ finish, liquid is lighter texture without the filter.