To Prime, Or Not To Prime, That Is The Question? Pt. 1

If you haven't already noticed, I am a big big big fan of eye primers, and primers in general. I always feel like its worth it to spend money on decent primers to make sure your makeup stays and looks good, because if you don't you're probably wasting your money on things like eyeshadow and foundation. Now I know what you're thinking, I don't use a primer and my makeup looks faboosh! Ok, congrats on probably having amazing skin and perfect levels of oil and moisture. But if you're anything like me then you can probably benefit from primer in many different ways. So I've decided to do a two part series on primers. Today's bit is going to be focused on eye primer, and tomorrow's will focus on face primer.

Hello. My name is Alex and I have oily eyelids. Yes, the secret is out. If I don't wear eye primer my eyeshadow and/ or eyeliner will either be completely smudged off, or smeared everywhere in about an hour. When I first came across NARS' Pro-Prime I thought that it was too good to be true. I could finally wear eyeshadow and have it last all day without any clumping or smearing. But it was more than that, I noticed a difference in the vibrancy of my eye makeup. Colours were brighter and layered much better.

So I decided to put on my scientist pants and do a little scientifically research. I took one of my brightest eye shadows and swatched it on my cousin's arm. Once with NARS' primer, once with Urban Decay's Primer Potion, and once with nothing. I then took some pictures.

From Left to Right: Urban Decay's Primer, NARS' Primer, and no primer. 

Unfortunately, the on camera difference is minimal. You can tell there is much more pigment in both the swatches with primer, but between them there is a very minimal difference. I can tell you that NARS' primer is white and spreads completely translucent. Whereas all of the Urban Decay primers (I had samples of all different versions) were coloured. This is fine if you're skin colour completely matches, but if you're like me and have super pale skin, or more darker skin this may prove an issue. 

As for staying power, both primers will last you all day. With zero creasing. And I've tested both primers with powder and liquid/ mousse eyeshadow. The thing that I love most about eye primer's is that I believe they can allow you to to spend less on shadows. How you may ask? Well cheaper drugstore shadows may not offer strong pigmentation or staying power. But with one good primer, you can transform those cheap shadows into amazingly beautiful works of art.

As a bit of a side note I would like to add that you may have to spend a bit more to get a good eye primer. I tried the NYX eye primer in pearl and it was terrible. It just creased and clumped the second I moved my eyelid. I know $20-30 may be a bit steep for a primer, but I promise you they last a really long time as you never need a lot (unless you have like giant size eyelids) and it is so very worth it.

What do you think? Are you pro or anti eye primer? Which product do you use?

xoxo

-A

PS- I apologize for the lack of photos but I am currently away from home and do not have my camera or products to take more pictures for you :(