I wasn't a primer convert until a makeup artist told me what I now consider to be the best beauty tip: Instead of dampening your sponge with water, which dilutes and wastes your foundation, massage it with a penny-sized amount of primer—the sponge will be supple but dry, and your skin will look noticeably softer and more even after (without that weird blurry effect). Since then, I haven't started a morning without the stuff.

This new La Mer Perfecting Treatment isn't your traditional primer (it's a bouncy gel-cream that can be used before moisturizer, mixed with your foundation, worn as a sleeping mask) and I avoided treating it like one at first—something about coating my cheap old sponge in $240 cream felt sacrilegious. But one morning, when my skin was looking particularly dry and I was sick of squeezing the last bits of my drugstore primer out of the tube, I dipped into this. It goes on like moisturizer that's been kept in the fridge—the cooling sensation and soothing kelp and algae La Mer is known for help with redness and puffiness almost immediately—but absorbs in seconds and transforms skin into a velvety canvas thanks to light-diffusing technology. After a week, I find myself using half my normal amount of foundation, and I swear my skin texture is getting softer. All other primers are on the backburner until I run out. 

La Mer The Perfecting Treatment, $240, nordstrom.com.

Alexandra Tunell is the Senior Digital Beauty Editor at Harper's BAZAAR, where she writes beauty features and covers industry news, health, fitness and wellness trends. She began her career in the Lucky beauty closet, then went on to work at Allure. When she's not testing the latest skin care treatments, the Los Angeles native is searching the city for the best Mexican food, binge-watching Bravo and escaping to the beach as often as possible.