Elf Poreless Putty Primer VS The Ordinary High-Adherence Silicone Primer

The Ordinary High-Adherence Silicone Primer, leaning on the ELF Poreless Putty Primer, on a white dressing table.

Close up shot of the Elf Poreless Putty Primer, open with lid resting just aside, revealing the light pink putty in pot, with lines from scooping product out. A blob of the opaque Ordinary High-Adherence Silicone primer sits in front, with a smooth but thick consistency.

Ariel shot of the open Elf Poreless Putty Primer, with lid resting on side of pot and blob of The Ordinary High-Adherence Primer adjacent, comparing the difference in the thin, light pink Elf Poreless Putty Primer and thicker, white silicone The Ordinary Primer.

Well hello there again! Now don't be deceived by the pictures. Yes, I actually pictured and planned to post this post in January but alas, as you can see, that for whatever the darn reason, that didn't happen! Irrespective though, I thought we could look past my slightly post-festive red lip and gold eyes and still enjoy the fruits of a good old product comparison! So today, as I'm off out on a good old shopping trip with my mum I thought it would only be fitting to share this long awaited Elf VS The Ordinary primer review, in the spirit of me browsing the beauty isle later today.

Now I've had a love hate relationship with The Ordinary High-Adherence Silicone Primer, as some of you may know from some of my previous posts (Huge Beauty Empties 2020). Last year, when I finally started to wear my makeup more again, I decided it was high time I invested in a new primer to try and went straight for gold picking up the Elf Poreless Putty Primer. I must say, from first use I was most impressed.

Now I've found The Ordinary High-Adherence Silicone Primer can perform pretty decently when it wants to but other times not so much and I found myself in a bit of a pickle, wondering, which one is actually the better of the two primers? So naturally, in true old school beauty blogging style, a product comparison it was! So here is my Elf Poreless Putty Primer VS The Ordinary High-Adherence Silicone Primer review!

The details...

It was a full day wear test
I used my one of my usual, most reliable foundations (Elf Flawless Finish Foundation - shade Porcelain)
I used my usual, average powder (MUA Professional Loose Setting Powder - Mattifying Translucent)
No touch-ups were made
I went about your average normal day around the house, in other words nothing crazily strenuous (I didn't run a marathon!)

Now I'd just like to make a disclaimer here... slap me on the wrist and laugh at the bad blogger I am, after going to all the trouble, but fun I may add, of doing the day's wear test and primer comparison I went back to my note book to start writing up the post and... I forgot which side I applied which didn't I.

Only I, I know. Only I!

So, in short, I wrote down "left = ELF; right The Ordinary) however it then came to my attention "to which way did I mean that?". In other words did I mean my actual left and right of my reflection or the left and right of my face you the readers get to see through my camera. Oh deer I know! So with a bit of note reading and reflection on how the wear test went (and a few additional test days) I have as accurately as possible identified which side is wearing which primer in the pictures below! God help me I know! So...

To your (the reader's) left - Elf Poreless Putty Primer

To your (the reader's) right - The Ordinary High-Adherence Silicone Primer

...

Head shot straight after makeup application. Equal and even base coverage to both sides. Rest of makeup look including warm gold eye look, pink blush and red lip.

Aprrox 10:00am - just applied Approx 12:25 - first check in

At first application everything was looking and seeming swimmingly happy. My foundation applied over both primers very much the same and they both applied with an even and equal coverage. I noted that the application appeared marginally smoother to the left, the Elf Poreless Primer side, but it was not significantly noticeable. There were no issues with makeup application over either of the primers. The Ordinary Silicone Primer had a thicker consistency, which was still smoothing but with more of a, obviously, silicone feel to it. The Elf Poreless Primer had more of a filling and smoothing effect, with a lighter feel.

Approximately two hours later, at 12:25, both sides felt equally comfortable and, as you can see, there was minimal change (forgiving that the change in the Winter light may just have had a slightly sheering effect to the look of my base - the limited Winter lighting was not the best to work with as you can see in the pictures ahead). Now, at this point The Ordinary Silicone Primer did began to show signs of flacking with more prominent smile line breakdown, compared to minimal breakdown to my left smile line. Likewise, I noticed a little patchiness to the side of my nose on the right with The Ordinary Silicone primer at this point too. I did feel there was a little patchiness and texture to the left side of the chin with the Elf Poreless Primer however it was hard to see and I wondered if this area of my skin may just have been more textured to begin with, before applying my makeup. Oil control was good on both sides at this point two hours in and there was no real issues with coverage as noted and visible in the second picture.

Aprrox 16:59 - second check in Approx 19:29 - last check in

I made my second check in at 16:59 and by this point, roughly seven hours into wear, there was slight wear to both sides as you can see but pretty decent for seven hours wear if I do say so and especially with my oily prone and temperamental skin! The Ordinary Silicone Primer on the right definitely seemed to have more patchiness to the side of my nose by this point and I did note that it seemed slightly oiler. In the picture I think this is hard to tell this and the flash (yes, the rubbish Winter lighting was mayhem to work with) actually makes the left side with the Elf Poreless Primer look a little more on the oily side. On the whole though I wasn't thoroughly dissapointed by either side but The Ordinary Silicone Primer to the right was definitely loosing it's strength quicker than the Elf Poreless Primer on the left.

My last check in of the day I made was at roughly 19:29, making that approximately nine and a half hours wear! Now for any primer and base I think over eight hours wear is pretty darn decent in my books, and for my skin, and as you can see from the last picture above there really was little I had to complain about with my base. It was still looking lovely! Closer up, as you can see in the two pictures below, and in real life I felt there was some noticeable wear to both sides. It was really hard to pitch the two together because each were different. Both showed patchiness to my forehead. In person. the Elf Poreless Primer actually appeared to have broke down a little more unevenly, more textured I'd say, but this was it's only most significant sign of wearing across the whole day. The Ordinary Silicone Primer to the right seemed ever so slightly oiler in person but it is hard to tell this in the pictures below.

Close up of the Elf Poreless Putty Primer to left side on final check in. Textured and some unevenness in wear but slight. One spot to upper cheekbones lightly showing, faded and light pink in colour.

Close up shot of The Ordinary High-Adherence Silicone Primer at final check in. Pretty similar wear to left side with the Elf Putty Primer but with a softer and slightly more even focus.

Elf Poreless Putty Primer The Ordinary High-Adherence Silicone Primer

...

And there you have it, after approximately nine and a half hours of wear here is my base over the Elf Poreless Primer to the left and The Ordinary Silicone Primer to the right.

It's really hard to tell the difference between the two!

And I think that really sums up the performance between the two, the Elf Poreless Primer and The Ordianry Silicone Primer. Wear to my usual and one of my most reliable foundations was minimal to each side, so much so that it really is hard to pick apart and pitch together the wear in the pictures. Any noticeable wear in real life was slight to the eye and, although a little more noticeable later in the day, still gave an overall even look to my makeup at the end of the day. I think you'd have to pick between the fine points in each primer's performance in this review and in all, although neither were bad, The Ordinary Silicone Primer on the right did show signs of flacking much quicker than the Elf Poreless Primer on the left. At the end of the day, although some last minute slight textured wear did show, the Elf Poreless Primer had less wear and appeared better put together.

After the wear test I tested both again against each other for another few days, on some occasions with difference base and setting combinations too. With the same foundation and powder, both performed similarly again but it appeared that more wear to both appeared more noticeable approaching the ten hour mark and significantly at the twelve hour mark. So maybe neither are the one for extreme twelve hour day wear but, true to theme, The Ordinary did show more signs of breakdown and again quicker than the Elf Poreless Primer.

With the Makeup Revolution Conceal & Hydrate Foundation the two primers gave a similar performance but I did note the wear of my foundation seemed softer to the side I wore the Elf Poreless Primer. Now when I switched this to the Makeup Revolution Conceal & Define Foundation the next day my goodness did The Ordinary Silicone Primer show its unpredictability! The Conceal & Define Foundation DID NOT apply well over The Ordinary Silicone Primer. On application my base kept coming away and it left my base looking uneven and blotchy. The Elf Poreless Primer showed no issues. The side wearing the Elf Poreless Primer looked lovely and had minimal wear to it. The side wearing The Ordinary Silicone Primer though was awfully patchy.

I found that with applying a setting spray (Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray) over the top of each primer, then applying my foundation and then using a setting spray to finish neither primer's wear was prolonged. Again the breakdown to my smile line where I wore The Ordinary Silicone Primer went first but strangely The Ordinary side seemed to last better than the Elf Poreless Primer side. By the end of this day with the setting spray combination though the breakdown to both sides was horrendously patchy. So, although The Ordinary Silicone Primer side lasted better, there was no outweighing added benefit with a setting spray worn over the primer before base application and over my finished makeup.

So all in all, I'd have to say, in the sheer competition of performance of the two, The Elf Poreless Putty Primer just had the edge but most significantly doesn't have that unpredictable let down factor The Ordinary Silicone Primer can have.

It goes to the Elf!

So there we have it. I'd have to say I'd recommend the Elf Poreless Putty Primer over The Ordinary Silicone Primer. It performs beautifully too and with a variety of bases and does give a really pretty smoothing effect to your base. And now I'll be off to shop! I'm hoping some beans of positivity will be coming my way as I've really been looking forward to a good old shopping spree in town again and having a good old mooch around Boots and what not but I've been feeling really a bit glum these last few days. If you'd like to see a little haul of what I pick up today though, if I do regain my sparkle, do comment below and I'll be sure to share my finds if it is a successful trip!

Till my next post,

Ellie Xx