beauty battle: ranking my favourite glowy primers
In which I pit similar products against each other for no reason other than my own entertainment.
Charlotte Tilbury’s Hollywood Flawless Filter has to be one of the most-duped products of all time. I don’t know why she’s dragging the arse out of the Pillow Talk range when this, to me, is her signature product. Searching “Flawless Filter dupe” turns up dozens of facsimiles, ranging from budget to high-end, but the fact remains: CT is the blueprint.
I would be a fan of a multi-use glowy product, myself. While I haven’t tried Flawless Filter’s most famous dupe, the Elf Halo Glow, I have tried quite a few others. I will review and rank them for you, as I feel it is my duty to do so.
Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Flawless Filter, €50
I have written about this so many times. You know what it is, I know what it is. I still use this in so many different ways – mixed into foundation, applied before foundation, dotted on after makeup as a highlighter (especially at the outer corners of my eyes, because of this Olsen twin photo). It’s an incredibly versatile product, and especially great for a more full-glam moment.
It’s quite metallic, and if you apply it all over your face it can look a bit wild, but I find it’s very effective when kept to the cheekbones, forehead, and nose (but not chin for me personally as I don’t wish to highlight my spots). It will probably always be in my makeup bag. However: As you can see above, the packaging gets absolutely wrecked after like five minutes, leaving red and gold flakes all over your face and makeup bag. Even when you think it’s finished shedding, more appear. Please fix this, Charlotte.
Saie Glowy Super Gel in Starglow, €24.80
I was #kindlygifted a mini version of this (lol at me using influencer speak when it was my friend who did the #gifting) and since I love the Saie Dew Blushes so bloody much, I figured this would be right up my alley. And duh, it is. This feels more like skincare than the Flawless Filter, so I wouldn’t say it is a dupe, but they fall into a similar category. It reminds me a little of the Glow Recipe Niacinamide Dew Drops, but shimmery (the criteria for this ranking was that the product has to have some sort of shimmer in it, or we’d be here all day). So a very fresh, dewy finish that isn’t ever going to be “too much.” I like this as a daytime glow-provider, and find myself using it most often with the Glossier foundation. It won’t give the seen-from-space glow of the Flawless Filter, but it’s a sheeny, moisturised base for the rest of your makeup.
Rimmel Multi-Tasker Better Than Filters, €17.99
Rimmel weren’t even trying here, were they? They want you to know what this was inspired by. Fortunately for them, they have created something that can actually stand apart from the product they’re referencing. I was influenced to try this by an Aussie TikToker who is forever on my FYP (yet I cannot find her now to credit her of COURSE). She used it almost like a skin tint, and I was interested to see if it would work like that for me.
While this looks very similar to Flawless Filter, on application, I find them to be quite different. The Rimmel product has a thinner consistency, and a more subtle sheen. I wouldn’t use Flawless Filter all over my face for fear of looking like the Tin Man, but this… yes. It’s definitely glowy, but it’s more soft-focus, and certainly not metallic. For that reason, I think it works really well paired with just concealer or a lighter base, like the Lisa Eldridge Enhancing Skin Tint. Those two products = my dream summer skin at the moment. Think of it as FF’s less hyper-glam (but still gorge) little sister.
L’Oreal Lumi Glotion, €16.99
If, like me, you have been watching American YouTubers for about half your life, you will know that this came out in the US years ago. In fact, this may predate Flawless Filter. I can only imagine they’re kicking themselves for not launching it worldwide until now, seeing as it’s quite late to the party.
This was very recently available for €12.99 with the Boots Advantage card, so of course I picked it up. Out of the four products mentioned here, this one gets me the closest to “glass skin”. The shimmer is barely visible, leaving a glossy, almost reflective glow. It’s intense, but not metallic, just b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. Elle Fanning wore this at the Met Gala, and you can see how her skin gleams without looking glittery. Do I hate the word “glotion”? Yes. Am I a fan of the product? Also yes.
Now, let me release my official ranking…
4. Saie – A lighter option for more natural days, but not my first choice.
3. L’Oreal – New to me, but the finish is just so gorgeous that I predict I will be reaching for it a lot.
2. Charlotte Tilbury – I still love this, use it all the time, adore it as a highlighter, but…
1. Rimmel – I know! It just suits what I want from an all-over base more. Long may it reign.
Thanks for reading Vanity Project! I’d like to do something like this again with different makeup categories, so let me know what you want to see next. Bye for now!