- sylviajast
Review: Tatcha Silk Canvas 💜💛
Another day, another Tatcha product to review LOL! This one is super interesting because it’s a makeup item – a makeup primer, to sit underneath your foundation. I have a funny relationship with primers. I get the concept and that it is meant to help your makeup look better plus last longer, but for me, they just don’t tend to do anything. I don’t notice that my makeup lasts longer when wearing a primer and unless its ‘illuminating’, it doesn’t make my foundation sit or look different slash better. I also generally wear a seperate sunscreen (daily) on top of my moisturiser. The thought of putting on another layer in-between my sunscreen and foundation just seems like ‘too much’ especially when I’m in a rush. So when sussing out the Tatcha Silk Canvas, I was very intrigued albeit sceptical…. I should also point out that my skin has changed a lot in the last year or two. Mostly because I had a resurgence of acne which changed the texture of skin quite a bit. Perhaps age has something to do with it also (it’s hard to tell but I did turn 30!) so the smoothing qualities of a primer appeal to me. I have more visible pores on my nose, but also on my cheeks which is weird. I just hoped that the primer wasn’t all promises and theory!
The Tatcha Silk Canvas just looks beautiful… I was surprised how big the pot (I don’t know if you’d call it a ‘pot’ but I don’t know what else to call it lol!) was. It’s not chunky however – maybe because of the round, smooth edges. It sits nicely in the palm of your hand and is just so aesthetically pleasing to the eye. It really does remind me of an old container of ‘face paint’ you might have found at a theatre back in the day, in a carrier of special effects makeup – or something a Geisha would have used (and still do!). I know that’s where the concept for this product came from, but they’ve really kept true to the packaging style for the primer. The container is made from plastic so it is quite light and durable. I wouldn’t hesitate to travel with this product as it’s very sturdy (but they do mini’s of the primer, CUTE!).
But let’s get to the qualities of the primer 😊🧐
THE SILK CANVASFilter Finish Protective PrimerVelvety priming balm of pressed silk smooths and makes makeup last longer while keeping it out of skin, helping to prevent clogged pores and breakouts. Why It Works This multi-tasking skin-protecting, makeup-perfecting primer for face, eyes and lips.
Blurs: Silk extracts feel nourishing on skin and instantly diminish the look of pores, fines lines and imperfections for the perfect canvas before makeup.
Primes: Silk powder makes makeup glide on more evenly and last longer, minimizing excess shine with a soft focus finish.
Protects: Protective barrier derived from botanicals acts as a barrier between makeup and skin, helping to prevent clogged pores that can lead to breakouts. Anti-pollution natural active ingredients fight immediate attack from environmental stressors and help support the skin’s barrier function to act against future attack, visibly reducing the appearance of wrinkles and dullness.
Enhances: Pink and gold pearl helps even skin tone for a healthy look.
Anti-aging: Hadasei-3™, a trinity of Japanese superfoods, green tea, rice and algae, visibly restores youthful radiance. How to Use Glide the spatula lightly across the top of balm. Dot with fingertips and massage into skin. A little goes a long way. Use a rice-sized amount for the whole face.Can be used alone or with makeup. Apply after SPF, before any makeup. Suitable for use on face, eye and lips. Replace the lid tightly after each use.Dosage: Rice grain size.
Here’s my first issue. You get a little round spatula applicator thing with your primer. If you read the instructions that come with the product pamphlet (pictured above) you are to glide the spatula across the primer. Once it reaches a line marked on the spatula, you know you have enough product for your entire face. The spatula is nifty don’t get me wrong, but you also get waaaay more product than a rice grain amount (mentioned in the product description/how to use info on the website). Because the edges are round and the spatula is big enough for you to comfortable hold, you just end up with way too much product. For a while I thought you should be using a lot of product and that’s how it was designed because the consistency is quite thick, but no. I’ll come back to this point in a bit!
The texture of the primer is thick and balmy like. It does contain silicone, so it has some ‘slip’ to it. It’s no where near the same texture as say, Smashbox’s 24 Hour Primer, but it does have that velvety feel and ‘glide‘. I find the primer doesn’t make my skin feel heavy with product and greasy. That’s quite impressive considering that I have acne prone skin! What else is SUPER impressive, is that if I’m experiencing some skin ‘peeling’ (which happens thanks to my tretinoin/vitamin A skin treatments – but this can also happen to you because of heavy duty exfoliating treatments) it seems to be able to ‘manage’ this and stop my foundation from rolling up and flaking as a result. It’s like the barrier it provides between my skin and foundation is thick enough, to seperate the two as much as possible… This is super impressive because to-date nothing has helped my skin in this regard! When your skin is peeling even mildly, foundation and all makeup just looks crap sitting on top of it. It’s kinda the same when you have flakey skin around your nose, but it just happens everywhere lol… so the ‘thick’ balmy texture of the primer is not a negative in my eyes at all. Despite maybe applying too much product sometimes cough cough this also doesn’t appear to be a ‘negative’ and it doesn’t adversely effect my foundation application or end appearance. What I do recommend, is to work and massage the primer into your skin as much as possible. Work it into problem areas, so it gets into every nook and cranny! A little does go a long way, so use as little primer as you can get away with.
Does it eliminate pores? Not totally, but it does reduce their appearance. Maybe this is also thanks to the blur like effects of the primer, but either way, it does help reduce them slightly. I also don’t know if I can see the ‘blurring’ effect the primer is supposed to radiate (this is all starting to sound so sci-fi!) but it does soften the look of pores and imperfections. I’ve tried all different types of foundation on top of this primer (dewy, matte and full coverage to sheer) and it works well with all of them! Foundation does apply on top of the primer beautifully and smoothly.
The skin loving ingredients in the primer (besides being excellent antioxidants, hydrators and all that good stuff!) come in second in my consideration of this product. Why? Because the function of a primer and pretty much all makeup is to sit on top of the skin so those beneficial ingredients aren’t going to get to where they need to be. To me they are a bonus and if they do ‘do something’, then awesome! Perhaps the hydrators (like glycerin and squalene) help provide comfort to the skin and stop it from becoming dehydrated in some small instance, but I would imagine (and Im no chemist by the way…. lol) that it helps your foundation look better and sit more naturally on the skin.
From what I can tell on the Tatcha website, silk extracts primarily work to help make the skin feel softer and more velvety. Silk protein is called sericin and is also in the ingredient list of this primer. From one study out there (Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry, January 1998, pages 145–147)it may have some antioxidant properties and antioxidant functions, but one study probably isn’t enough to tell…
Has it changed my mind about primers? Maybe a little 😊 It’s a lovely product and definitely helps my temperamental skin look better! I probably use it more often on days when I’m not wearing sunscreen or have time to play around with my makeup. It’s not an everyday staple for me, which is probably a good thing because it is expensive lol! You receive 20g in the full sized product. Visually, it looks like you get waaaay more… From the few primers I have, it looks like 30ml is your standard sizing. At Mecca here in Australia, you can pick up the Silk Canvas for $80. Unfortunately Mecca doesn’t sell the travel sized minis of the products…On the Tatcha website, you can pick up the Silk Canvas for $52 USD.
It’s a luxe product and definitely makes me feel ‘fancy’ when I use it as part of my makeup routine, but it’s totally up to you to decide if it is worth it! It probably won’t become an everyday product for me just because sometimes my skin is looking better than usual and looks great either sans makeup, or with traditional foundation on it’s own.
Let me know what your thoughts are on primers! I’m still of the opinion that the majority of them are useless and just not necessary (especially on young, normal skin that doesn’t have any serious issues lol!) but hey, that’s just me… 😉🤪😅
Catch ya next time Beauties,
Beauty Bee~
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