As Bobbi Brown names concealer “The Secret of the Universe”, to me eye primer is the “Worlds Greatest Makeup Invention”.

Urban Decay’s Primer Potion (UDPP) is my absolute Holy Grail in makeup, but wait, don’t run to store to buy it just yet. I have a special bond with this product because when I started to get seriously interested in makeup back in 2010 I stumbled upon UDPP on so many blogs that I just had to try it for myself and it turned out to be the answer to my prayers. UDPP reminds me of that period :).

For those who don’t know what an eye primer is: it’s a base you put on your eye lids prior to eyeshadow. It prevents creasing and brightens up the shade of your eyeshadow making it colorfast.

Ok, so now you know what it is but what are the choices? All the makeup artist brands have them, as do high-end brands and even drugstore brands now a days.

I’m gonna be talking about 3 brands and 5 different options.

After years of using UDPP it still amazes me how good it works. My eye makeup lasts up to 12 hours without creasing. One downside though, sometimes it can be  hard to blend out mat eyeshadows in your crease area with this formula, because it just sticks very well.  Therefore I start applying the primer close to my lash line and blend upwards. The little version in gold is called Sin and  has shimmer in it, I actually only use this when I don’t feel like using eyeshadow but still want some dimension. Another thing that the world complains about is the packaging, it’s not the most hygienic and you can not get all the product out but UD has listened to us and changed it :).

MAC Paint Pots. These aren’t officially eye primers but are used as them by a great deal of people and makeup artists. Paint Pots are cream eyeshadows which dry up and that way form a great base. A lot of people rave about them. For me personally it doesn’t do the job as an eye primer, my lids are too oily for this formula and my makeup starts creasing after 4-6hours. Blending eyeshadows with this does go smooth. I have Painterly which is a nude beige base and Bare Study, a soft beige with gold pearl and really beautiful, but again I’ll use this the same way I use Sin.

Too Faced Eyeshadow Insurance (TFEI). A month a go I bought this for several reasons. It’s quite raved about as well  so I was really curious. Also I wanted a primer with a hygienic packaging for my makeup kit. Last but not least I wondered how the blending would be. For me this product doesn’t top UDPP but it comes close. My eyeshadow lasts 8-10 hours and blending goes smooth.

In resume I would say if you have slightly to very oily lids go with UDPP. For normal to dry eyelids I would go with TFEI as it’s formula is more ‘oilier’ and it’s by far the second best option if you are a UDPP fan. For dry to very dry eye lids MAC Paint Pots are but bare in mind that they tend to dry out when you don’t close them tight.

Here are the  swatches so that you can see the different formulas and shades:

For further reference I would like to mention that I have also tried Smashbox and NYX. Both great for blending and a colorfast finish but in terms of creasing a big no no for oily eye lids.

I hope you found this helpful and let me know if there’s a primer out there I should definitely try out!

Love,

Tanimara