Review: Tatcha The Silk Canvas Protective Primer

Hello, my friends! Today, I have a review of the Tatcha The Silk Canvas primer, something that I’ve been meaning to try for a very long time. I have to be honest, I’m one of those people who don’t “believe” in primers. It’s not that I don’t think they work, it’s just that I normally don’t have issues with my makeup fading or breaking up throughout the day, so I’ve always felt like my skin doesn’t really need them. However, when this came out, I was really intrigued by the blurring properties of this primer. During last year’s winter Sephora sale, I decided to buy the mini so I can test it out. Tatcha is definitely a luxury brand, so I thought the mini would be a good way to try the product without spending so much money on the full size.

THE BASICS

A velvety priming balm of pressed silk that smooths and makes makeup last longer while keeping it out of skin, helping to prevent clogged pores and breakouts. This multitasking skin-protecting, makeup-perfecting primer is for face, eyes, and lips.

Its star ingredients are (taken from the Sephora website):

• Silk extracts nourishes the skin and diminishes the look of pores, fines lines, and imperfections.
• Silk powder makes makeup glide on more evenly and last longer, minimizing excess shine.
• A protective layer derived from botanicals acts as a barrier between makeup and skin, helping to prevent clogged pores.
• Anti-pollution natural active ingredients fight immediate attack from environmental stressors and help support the skin’s barrier function.
• Hadasei-3: A complex of three anti-aging nutrients reveal soft, youthful-looking skin

Essentially, the Silk Canvas has four purposes. Besides blurring and priming the skin like most primers do, it also protects the skin from the environment and from skin-clogging ingredients in makeup, it enhances the skin by giving it an even skin tone, and it also contains anti-aging ingredients.

The full size retails at $68 for 20g, and the mini retails at $28 for 7g. It is available at Sephora and the Tatcha website. This product is cruelty free, and has a “Clean at Sephora” stamp.

 

THE PACKAGING

The Silk Canvas primer comes in a beautiful white-to-purple ombre compact with a cap that completely twists off, like a balm. The full-sized primer comes with a little disk that is meant to be used as a spatula for scooping the product out. The mini does not come with the disk, so I use a spatula that I had left over from a skincare product I had used previously.

 

THE PERFORMANCE

I use this like a regular makeup primer, on top of skincare but underneath foundation. The texture of the Silk Canvas is a creamy balm. It applies so silkily and spreads easily onto the skin. My skin feels velvety smooth after applying this, like my skin has no texture whatsoever. The end result is a blurred, poreless look with no visible tint. I can see why some people use this on its own!

My personal preference is to wear this underneath foundation. The Silk Canvas provides a completely smooth, silky canvas (get it?) that allows the foundation to glide on flawlessly, leaving a perfected complexion. It doesn’t pill on top of skincare, or cause other products to pill.

With its smoothing capabilities, I thought this would help smooth over any dry patches, but it doesn’t. If I have dry patches, they still appear when I apply my foundation. Luckily this isn’t an issue that I deal with often, but it would have been nice if this was something it could fix.

Tatcha says to apply a rice-sized amount of the primer, which is surprisingly too little for me. I have a small face, so I tend to use less product than most people. However, I definitely use more than a rice-sized amount – it’s somewhere closer to pea-sized, I think.

 

 

This has a light, floral fragrance that I love – the same scent as the Tatcha Dewy Skin Cream. It’s non-offensive and fades as soon as it is applied, but people that are sensitive to scents may still want to stay away.

This feels really hydrating on the skin, almost like a moisturizer. It just feels really nice and nourishing on the skin. However, I can’t verify whether this has any long-term benefits for my skin as it claims, such as anti-aging or improving the moisture barrier. It doesn’t clog my pores, but I also don’t necessarily think that it has enough of the ingredients needed to see any marked improvement any skincare issues. Makeup usually lasts all day on my face without breaking up, so I also can’t attest to whether this extends the life of my makeup – I can say that it doesn’t break it up strangely, though.

THE INGREDIENTS

Cyclopentasiloxane, Aqua/Water/Eau, Glycerin, Saccharomyces/Camellia Sinensis Leaf/Cladosiphon Okamuranus/Rice Ferment Filtrate*, Hdi/Trimethylol Hexyllactone Crosspolymer, Propanediol, Dimethicone, Ceresin, Titanium Dioxide, Squalane, Dimethicone/Peg-10/15 Crosspolymer, Sericin, Hydrolyzed Silk, Silk Powder, Caesalpinia Spinosa Fruit Extract, Kappaphycus Alvarezii Extract, Yeast Extract, Distearyldimonium Chloride, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Zinc Stearate, Aluminum Hydroxide, Stearic Acid, Ethylhexylglycerin, Peg/Ppg-18/18 Dimethicone, Peg-9 Polydimethylsiloxyethyl Dimethicone, Polyglyceryl-2 Diisostearate, Biosaccharide Gum-4, Disodium Edta, Silica, Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Parfum/Fragrance, Isopropyl Alcohol, Phenoxyethanol, Mica (Ci 77019), Tin Oxide (Ci 77861), Iron Oxide (Ci 77491). *Hadasei-3.

As you can see, this contains fragrance, but also silicone in the form of dimethicone. I’m personally not opposed to silicones in my products, but some may find that it can clog their pores.

 

THE SUMMARY

Pros:

-Provides a blurred finish to the complexion
-Beautiful packaging
-Provides smooth canvas for foundation application

Cons:

-Expensive
-Does not smooth out dry, flaky skin
-Contains fragrance

I was a little shocked at how hard I fell for this primer. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I’m not big into primers, but this does everything I imagine a primer should do – it smooths, it blurs, and it feels good on the skin. You guys, I really wanted to dislike this primer – it’s seriously expensive, and I didn’t want to fall in love with something that would become an expensive habit! I will definitely be buying the full size, maybe during the next Sephora sale.

Have you tried this primer? What’s your favourite primer?