Using a skin-blurring makeup primer before you apply foundation is a given for most beauty obsessives—but one of the go-to ingredients, silicone, remains debatable. “Silicones smooth and plump the skin while locking in moisture due to their occlusive nature,” says Melodie Reynolds, founder of Elate Beauty. However, concerns have risen amongst clean beauty fans and environmentalists alike that silicones—a rubber-plastic hybrid— may not “simply dissolve as they go down the drain,” as Reynolds puts it. While research is still ongoing, opting for a silicone-free makeup primer can help assuage any worries. Ahead, shop our editor-approved formulas that smooth skin and lock in makeup, all without silicone.
Hydro Grip Primer
Milk Makeup’s fan-favorite primer is silicone-free, oil-free, and fragrance-free. The brand credits blue agave extract as the star ingredient for creating that even, canvas-like look.
True Skin Radiant Priming Serum
A makeup product for skincare fans, this priming serum is lightweight, silky, and high performance.
Always An Optimist Illuminating Primer
Rare Beauty’s silicone-free primer is like a cheat code for great skin. It’s made with glow-boosting shimmers that instantly light up your face, sans highlighter or complicated beauty routine.
Paging oily skin types. LYS Beauty’s silicone-free serum primer is a game changer, since it does all the work without making your face slick or shiny. (We also would vote to put niacinamide in every product, but that’s another story.)
Set The Stage Hydrating Priming Serum
If you’re super into vitamin A, your skincare routine might already have rosehip seed oil in it, one of the many serum-like ingredients in Lawless’s primer. But this also contains Pentapeptide-59, the brand’s redness-minimizing hero.
Perfect Canvas Clean Primer
Agave extract makes an appearance in this primer, which also includes probiotics to help get finicky skin into shape. Plus, we love the drama of a serum-like glass dropper.
Hydrating Pure Canvas Primer
Laura Mercier’s Pure Canvas Primer might be one of the most well known silicone-free formulas out there. It uses olive extract for skin-smoothing, and feels like an extra layer of skincare once you apply it.