Stila One Step Correct Primer – Oily Skin Review

[Gifted by Marks and Spencer’s] The Stila One Step Correct Primer is a product that I’ve long admired in shops and had on my “one day, I’ll eventually try that product”, so when I was lucky enough to be sent it last year, I held if off whilst I worked my way through my primer collection – and was happy when all my part finished ones were at their end and I could finally give this a whirl.

Stila has been a brand that I’ve developed quite a love for over the past year, for the most part I’ve loved absolutely everything that I’ve tried, and as the One Step Primer is a product that has been long standing in Stila’s line up for quite some time (I remember seeing it way back in 2010) means you’d think as it’s clearly a well loved product (and therefore good!) in a current beauty market which seems to see brands reinvent their core products every two years.

The only thing that seems to have changed with this product is it’s packaging, merging to Stila’s most recent transition to a softer champagne gold. Like most of their products it comes in a gold cardboard box. The packaging of the actual product I actually really love, The packaging is high quality, but it’s not heavy and bulky – making it good for the makeup bag, and not taking up too much space in the drawer, whilst still feeling a bit on the luxe side thanks to the gold cap and pump.

The clear plastic sides again are fab – it helps you admire the way that the product is put together, in a swirled helix design of the different colour correcting formulas suspended in a more clear gel it’s just pretty to look at, but it also helps you easily see when you’re close to running out. The packaging also cleverly squeezes every drop of product up the bottle. I did wonder, when I first hand this whether over time it would disturb this product’s delicate design, but I can confirm, now I’m half way through, that it doesn’t become an ugly blob.

I don’t normally opt for colour correcting primers as whilst I have a little bit of redness, I find that it’s usually easily hidden by any medium coverage foundation. The gel base combined with the creamy colour correctors makes for an texture that feels like a light moisturiser on the skin, it feels hydrating and my skin seems to lap it up. I tend to put this on before I do any of my makeup, and then wait for my skin to absorb it a little whilst I do my eye makeup. I find that I need just short of two pumps to cover my whole face, and as a result I feel like I’m running through this a lot quicker than I would my average primer.

I’ve spent a good amount of time paying close attention to how my complexion changes after applying this primer. Inspecting anywhere where I can see a change – what I’ll say is that it’s slight and I feel like it’s not an instant change. If you have heavy areas of discolouration or redness, I think this will only act as a mild remedy, however won’t offer the same levels of correction as what a concealer type product would. If you’re looking for something to add a little balancing pre makeup then this is a fantastic option.

Stila One Step Correcting Primer on the Skin

I’m oily skinned and I’ve given this a pretty long road test with different foundations to see how it worked. At the moment, whilst I am oily, I’m still feeling a bit dehydrated, this primer has been helping me feel more moisturised without being overloaded. This primer claims to be a colour correcting, brightening, priming, and an anti-aging serum all in one product.

Funnily, the first foundation which was Stila’s Aqua Glow foundation I didn’t enjoy this primer with at all. For the first week of me trialling this primer, I was using it with the Stila foundaion which I’d had on my to finish up list and I was cursing just how bad it was. That foundation is serum based and on my complexion which gets oily through the day this combo just didn’t work for me at all and I found it breaking down way too much as neither was balancing the other out.

I next moved on to comparing with the Jouer High Coverage foundation, my favourite and not one I normally wear for work where I’m normally choosing ones I’m trying to finish up. The Jouer foundation is very matte, very high coverage and long wearing. I’ve found that mattifying primers with this foundation tend to be a bit much, even on my complexion. I’ve tried shimmery strobe-creamesque primers too easily hidden by the intense pigment of the foundation, but this has been a dream pairing. My skin has a glow to it whilst still keeping the high coverage pigment whilst still retaining a more natural finish as my skin doesn’t look super dry or matte. Once I’ve removed my makeup at the end of the day, I feel like my skin feels more hydrated than it normally would have been.

The Stila One Step Correct Primer won’t be for everyone those who only love silicone, pore filling primers will be disappointed by this, but I’ve felt quite surprised about just how much I’ve liked this as it is a step away from what I normally opt for. I can see that this would work really well for dry and normal skins too with it’s broad list of qualities.

This primer is available from Marks and Spencer’s here for £26.

Have you tried the Stila One Step Correct Primer before?

Product was gifted for consideration of feature or review from Marks and Spencers. My review is honest with my experience of the product. Post contains affiliate links.

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