Buy, Dupe, or Splurge

Milk Makeup Hydro Grip Primer is worth buying if your foundation slides, separates or fades by mid-afternoon and your skin is normal, dry or combination. It’s a clear gel that dries tacky, and that stickiness is the whole point: makeup clings to it instead of sitting on top of it. If the price stings, the best Milk Hydro Grip Primer dupe is e.l.f. Power Grip Primer, which uses the same sticky-gel idea, costs less than a third as much, and gets close enough that plenty of people stop there. It’s a little stickier and comes in a smaller bottle. If what bothers you is pores and texture rather than wear time, neither one is your primer. Hourglass Vanish Airbrush Primer is the splurge, and it solves a different problem.