To prime or not to prime? Many of my beauty-blogging friends, including Gaia at The Non-Blonde, insist that a base layer is necessary: it helps makeup to apply smoothly, keeps it color-true, and makes it last longer.

I like the general idea of primers, so I started trying them about six years ago, but I wasn’t happy with the results. My skin has some surface oiliness, so I never felt like the primers really adhered. Worse yet, most primers’ heavy doses of various silicones clogged my pores if I used them on any regular basis.

The happy exception to the above, and the only primer I’ve ever repurchased, is Korres Quercetin & Oak Anti-Ageing Primer.

Korres describes this product as a “silicone-free, skin-perfecting face primer that helps to smooth the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and instantly provides an even and perfected skin surface for long-lasting make-up wear.”

Silicone-free! Yes. Korres’s primer is a welcome alternative to most brands’ slimy, slippery gels. It’s a white cream that blends invisibly into the skin. It has a faint citrus smell that fades away after a minute. And it has never irritated my face or caused break-outs the way so many other primers, from high-end to drugstore, have done.

Here’s the ingredients list:

You’ll notice that the quercetin and/or oak (oak trees belong to the Quercus genus, so it’s all a bit confusing) falls at the very bottom of the list, so I’m not sure how much it’s really contributing to the product. And my general philosophy about so-called anti-aging skincare is that nothing actually prevents us from aging (duh), and that there’s no way to erase or totally prevent wrinkles, but ingredients that moisturize and protect the skin help to keep it looking healthy, which makes it look younger.

So I won’t claim that Korres’s primer is working any miracles for me, but a very thin layer patted onto my skin (over moisturizer, before makeup) does make my face feel even smoother, while softening fine lines and visible pores a bit, and I do think that my makeup holds up better throughout the workday when I use this product.

For me, these are very good results.

Have you tried anything from the Korres Quercetin & Oak skincare line? If so, feel free to comment!

Korres Quercetin & Oak Anti-Ageing Primer is available at Sephora and the Korres website. It sells for $33 for 1 ounce. One tube has taken me a year to use up.

Disclaimer: I purchased this product at Sephora.

Images: Woman painting, via Corbis.