Pat, Wait, Then Foundation: The Routine That Makes e.l.f. Power Grip Primer Stick
A primer that is supposed to feel sticky? That is the whole trick. We read 100 UK reviews of e.l.f.'s Power Grip Primer to find out when that tack turns into all-day hold, and why a cluster of buyers say their tube arrived watery.
Most face primers are built to vanish: silky, silicone-smooth, gone in seconds. e.l.f.'s Power Grip Primer does the opposite. It pumps out as a clear, cooling gel, sits slightly tacky on your skin, and that tack is the entire point. Foundation pressed onto it stays pressed on. The listing's own slogan is "grippy. sticky. no icky.", which tells you exactly what you are signing up for.
We read the 100 most recent UK reviews on the Amazon listing, where the product carries a 4.5-star average across more than 41,000 ratings. In our sample of 100, seventy reviewers gave it five stars, and the dominant theme is hold that outlasts full working days. But the one-star column has a pattern of its own, and it has nothing to do with grip. Below: what is in the gel, the waiting step that seems to separate good days from patchy ones, who it suits, and how to check that the tube you receive is right.
Sticky on Purpose: What Is in the Gel
The formula is a water-based gel rather than a silicone cream. The box's ingredient list opens with water, butylene glycol and glycerin, and further down you will find sodium hyaluronate (the salt form of hyaluronic acid), niacinamide, plus rosemary, lemon balm and peppermint leaf waters with a touch of menthol. That last pair explains the cool-on-contact feel several buyers mention. Even a two-star reviewer, Caitlin, conceded the formula "feels nice, light and cooling on the skin".
e.l.f. positions it as skincare-adjacent: the hyaluronic acid is there to hold moisture for a plumper-looking base, the finish is clear and translucent so it works across skin tones, and the listing describes it as non-comedogenic, fragrance-free and part of the e.l.f. Clean formula range. It is also 100% vegan and double-certified cruelty-free by Leaping Bunny and PETA. The box carries a 6-month period-after-opening symbol, worth noting if you only wear makeup occasionally.
None of that is why people buy it, though. They buy it because of what happens about a minute after you pat it on.
Featured15% OFF*Limited offer
One Sunday. A week of food, sorted.
23 high-protein recipes, cycle-synced for women who lift.
23 recipes · 60-page PDF · Instant download
£19.20 £16.32
See it on Etsy*Seller's discount on Etsy - may end at any time.
The Waiting Step That Decides Everything
The directions on the box are specific: apply evenly with your fingertips, pat it into skin so the warmth melts it in, then allow it to set before makeup goes anywhere near it. The box says 30 seconds; e.l.f.'s own FAQ panel on the listing goes further and recommends letting it dry "for a full minute or two", explicitly to prevent piling or patchiness. The same FAQ confirms the gel is supposed to feel slightly sticky at first, and that the tacky feel disappears once foundation is on top.
The five-star reviews are full of people who treat that pause as part of the routine. Emily, whose review is titled "Holds makeup all day", waits it out deliberately: "Once patted onto the skin I leave it for about 2 mins before I apply anything on top", after which she says it "becomes tacky and holds the makeup in place for over 6hrs without looking cakey".
Now compare the one-star review from MelD, who found the coverage went on unevenly: "The make up sticks before you can apply evenly", leaving patches of thicker foundation. The review does not say how long MelD waited, so we cannot claim the pause was skipped. But the failure described, foundation grabbing mid-application and going patchy, is precisely the one e.l.f.'s FAQ says the drying wait is there to prevent. If you try this primer and your base goes on blotchy, the first fix to test is cheap: give it two full minutes.
When It Grips, It Really Grips
We counted 23 of the 70 five-star reviews that specifically describe the hold: makeup staying put through work days, nights out, or in one case a whole day and night. The most entertaining of them, from a five-star reviewer with 27 helpful votes, claims that once it is on, "your makeup is basically glued to your face like it has signed a legally binding contract". Gaby put it more bluntly: "Holds my make up hostage all day and my face is OILY."
Oily skin comes up repeatedly on the positive side. "This has been so good for my oily skin," wrote one reviewer; another confirmed it "works well with oily skin". That tracks with how the product works: a tacky, hydrating film gives slippery skin something to hold onto.
Several buyers push the hold further by pairing the primer with a setting spray. Abigail calls the combination a "makeup sandwich" that "basically makes your foundation bulletproof", and Miss M. Gaine describes the primer as "like glue for make up" with a finishing spray locking everything in place. If your current makeup slides off by mid-afternoon, that two-product routine is the strongest recommendation in this entire review set.
The Catches: Touch-Ups and Dry Patches
The grip cuts both ways, and the most useful critical review in the set explains how. A three-star reviewer posting as Amazon Customer, with 11 helpful votes, found the product "works well, almost too well": when they touched their face and tried the usual trick of smudging existing makeup around to cover it, "it lifts all the make up off with this product, making it look even worse". No mid-day rescue, in other words. Once the base is set, it does not want to be moved, and that includes being moved by you.
Mr Adrian Guy learned the same lesson through hay fever. Warm weather, high pollen, a day of nose-rubbing, and "all the foundation had rubbed off my nose" leaving a patchy finish. His one-star conclusion: great primer if you never have to touch your face. If you are a face-toucher, allergy sufferer or glasses-adjuster, factor that in.
Dry skin is a split decision. Nelson, at two stars, warns against it outright: "in my case cheeks, it will dry it even more" and "the make up will look cakey and patchy". Yet Rebecca C., five stars, comes at it from the opposite corner: "I've always struggled with dry skin and foundation just seems to flake off", and over this primer she "couldn't see any flakyness at all". Two dry-skinned buyers, two opposite outcomes. Our reading: the hyaluronic gel can help foundation sit better over mild dryness, but it is not a moisturiser, and on properly flaky patches the grip may emphasise what is already there. Prep with your usual moisturiser first rather than expecting the primer to do that job.
Ten Reviews, One Word: Watery
Now the pattern that dominates the low ratings. Ten of the 100 reviews describe a tube whose contents arrived watery, runny or with a consistency that felt wrong, and eight of the thirteen one-star reviews are about exactly this. These are not first-time buyers who misunderstood the product; most identify themselves as repeat customers who know what the gel should feel like. Holly, a three-star reviewer of several years' standing, found the latest tube "much more watery and drippy, and not as effective" and suspects it has been "watered down to increase profit margins". Chantal received product "runny like water, rather than the usual sticky texture" and adds "Can't get refund for faulty product either". Katie Warne, a regular user, was blunter still: "the consistency of this was watery, which it is not supposed to be".
What is actually going on? The reviews offer three competing theories and no verdict: a changed formula (Natalie: "a lot more watery and not as tacky as before"), a bad batch or quality-control slip, and outright counterfeits (Libby: "This is fake", a claim echoed by another one-star buyer). We cannot settle that from the outside, and it is worth remembering these complaints span several months while thousands of tubes ship without incident. Three reviews in our hundred also flagged under-filled tubes, including one "half full" and one with "a quarter at the top just filled with air".
The practical takeaway is a simple arrival check. A right tube dispenses a thick, clear gel that turns noticeably tacky on the back of your hand within a minute or two. If what comes out runs like water and never gets sticky, do not talk yourself into it: return it through Amazon straight away as not as described, while the return window is open.
Sizes, Sister Formulas and Our Verdict
One housekeeping note before the verdict: Amazon pools reviews across the Power Grip family's sizes, so some of the 100 reviews we read reference the mini or the jumbo tube rather than the 0.811 fl oz size on this listing. The formula is the same; the fill is not, so check which size you are ordering. The listing also shows two sister formulas alongside the clear original: a Power Grip Matte Primer for reducing excess shine, and a Power Grip Primer + 4% Niacinamide with a glowy finish. The one reviewed here is the clear, dewy-finish original with hyaluronic acid.
Our verdict: 4.2 out of 5. The core promise holds up emphatically. Across our 100-review UK sample the average sits at 4.19, seventy reviewers went five stars, and the thing they praise is the thing the product is named for. For oily and combination skin especially, this is one of the cheapest routes to makeup that survives a full day, and pairing it with a setting spray makes it close to immovable. Marks come off for the no-touch-up trade-off, the gamble it represents on very dry skin, and that cluster of watery-tube reports, which is why we would order it somewhere with easy returns and run the tack check the day it arrives. At the price e.l.f. asks (check today's price on Amazon below), a tube that arrives right is an easy recommendation.
e.l.f. Power Grip Primer
Clear, hydrating gel primer with hyaluronic acid that grips foundation for all-day hold. Vegan and double-certified cruelty-free.