In 1941 a Swiss engineer named George de Mestral came back from a hunting trip in the Alps and found burdock burrs stuck to his trousers and to his dog's coat. Most people would have grumbled and picked them off. He put one under a microscope, and the tiny hooks and loops he saw became the idea behind Velcro, which he patented in Switzerland in 1954. Something annoyingly clingy turned out to be the whole invention.

I think about that every time I open the e.l.f. Power Grip Primer, because it is the rare beauty product whose flaw is its pitch. It launched in December 2021, and fans on TikTok gave it nicknames before the brand had to: Sticky AF, Face Glue, Little Green Machine. Its views passed 70 million. e.l.f. leaned into it, and its first TV ad, a Super Bowl spot in 2023 with Jennifer Coolidge, was built around that stickiness. The brand itself is an old hand at listening to customers. e.l.f. stands for Eyes Lips Face, and it was founded in 2004 by Joseph Shamah and Scott Vincent Borba, and it is based in Oakland, California.

The trick with everything in the first grid is to treat the tack as a feature and give it a moment. The brand describes the original Power Grip Primer as a sticky, gel-based formula with hyaluronic acid, translucent for all skin tones and non-comedogenic. The Power Grip Primer + 4% Niacinamide keeps the dewy finish and adds the brand's claim of evening tone and softening dullness. The Power Grip Matte Primer is for anyone who does not want a dewy finish, and I would hand it to my friend whose forehead is shiny by noon.

Then there is the poreless side of the shelf: the Liquid Poreless Putty Primer, its Cica sibling and the Poreless Face Primer. The Primer-Infused Matte Blush and Bronzer are the sneaky part, since they fold a little of the primer idea into the colour itself.

Start with your primer and finish with a spray from the same family. Grip at the bottom and a mist over the top means your base is held from both directions, and it is the simplest way to stop a look sliding by lunch. Pat the primer in, give it the 30 seconds e.l.f. suggests, do your makeup, then spray at arm's length with your eyes closed.

The Power Grip Dewy Setting Spray and the Power Grip Rosé Setting Spray are the obvious matches for the primer, and they carry its name for a reason. If your look leans matte, the Stay All Night Micro-Fine Setting Mist has the right promise in its title, and the Stay All Day Blue Light Micro-Setting Mist is the one I would keep in a work bag. The Makeup Mist & Set is the two-step version, and the Dewy Coconut Setting Mist is the one I would take on a trip, when I want a little glow and no fuss.

Outside the brand, Maybelline's Lasting Fix Makeup Setting Spray and L'Oréal Paris's Infallible 3-Second Setting Mist Spray are the two I would compare, since they sit in the same easy, grab-it-anywhere spot on the shelf.

A pairing I like: the original Power Grip Primer under a dewy spray for a glowy day, and the Matte Power Grip under a micro-fine mist for a long, warm one.

What I would skip: drenching your face until it drips. A fine mist from a distance sets a base. A soaking just moves it.

Try this before you buy any grip primer: put a dot on the back of your hand, wait a minute, then press a fingertip to it. If it feels tacky, that is the grip, and it is the whole point. A silky primer that slides is a different product with a different job.

Once the e.l.f. version proved there was an appetite, the rest of the shelf answered. Maybelline made the Grippy Serum Hydrating Grip Primer Makeup, and Fenty Beauty made the Grip Trip Hydrating Primer, which says the same thing in its name. ONE/SIZE by Patrick Starrr has the Secure the Glow Tacky Hydrating Primer with BOBA Complex, and point of view. calls its version glaze it glazey tack primer, with glycerin and niacinamide in the name. The Underglaze from the London brand adds PDRN and hyaluronic acid to the idea, which is the newest note on the list.

Sephora Collection's Hydrate + Glow Primer brings polyglutamic acid to a simpler, glowy formula. Maybelline's Facestudio Poreless Jelly 24HR Hydrating Blurring Primer is the softer option if tacky is not your thing, and REFY's Blur and Hydrate Oil-Control Face Primer is the one I would try if you want hydration without the shine.

A pairing I like: a tacky primer only where makeup travels, like the cheeks and around the nose, and a light moisturiser everywhere else.

What I would skip: a second layer of a tacky primer on top of the first. One thin layer is the job.

Start with where you actually get shiny, not with your whole face. Most of us have a zone, a nose or a forehead, and a mattifying primer belongs there. Everywhere else it can be a light hand or nothing at all.

Fenty Beauty's Grip Trip Mattifying & Blurring Primer is the closest cousin to the e.l.f. formula on this list, matte where the original is dewy. ONE/SIZE by Patrick Starrr has three, and I like how differently they are named: Secure the Blur Makeup Magnet Primer, Secure The Sweat Waterproof Mattifying Primer and the Oil Sucker Extreme Mattifying Alkaline Primer. That last one is for someone who fights shine all day and wants to win.

Dior's Forever Velvet Veil is the matte, pore-refining one, with SPF 15 in the name. Rare Beauty's Pore Diffusing Primer from the Always an Optimist collection is the gentler-sounding one, and Maybelline's Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser Primer is for people who look at their nose in the car mirror. tarte's ballin' base poreless primer finishes the row.

A pairing I like: a mattifying primer on the T-zone and the original Power Grip on the cheeks. Two textures, one face, both held in place.

What I would skip: a heavy matte primer over dry patches. It will grab onto them and show every one.

I think the best thing about the original gel is that it does not pretend to be anything but what it is. It is sticky, it says so, and a whole shelf of imitators has since agreed that grip matters. I would start with the original, add the niacinamide one if dullness is your problem, and reach for the matte version in summer.

Pat it in, wait the 30 seconds, and judge it at six in the evening, not at nine in the morning. De Mestral had burrs on his trousers. You have a dime-size dot of gel and half a minute. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together e.l.f. Blush and e.l.f. Concealer.