REVIEW - Best eyeshadow primers for oily lids

Hi there. Hope you're all enjoying your weekend. I am personally jealous of the entire country right now, as i'm stuck in the house with the worst bronchitis I have ever experienced. I have a headache, my whole body hurts and i'm wheezing constantly and going hot and cold. Nurse! Bring tinctures!

On the flipside it means I can do a review mega post of the many many eyeshadow primers I have used in my time. I have MEGA oily ultra hooded lids, which means when my eyes are open you can see virtually no eyelid, which, in turn means if I haven't primed I will get transference and smudging everywhere, as well as my eyeshadow moving and fading like a mofo. I cannot survive without primer, I JUST CANNOT!

So lets get going, first, with the most obvious of all the eyeshadow primers...

Urban Decay Primer Potion in Eden

So what are the claims?

"Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion is Urban Decay’s bestselling, world famous eye makeup primer in a brand new, easy to use squeezy tube.

Get vibrant, crease-free colour that lasts over 24 hours with these legendary primers. Coveted by makeup artists and makeup junkies alike, Eyeshadow Primer Potion enhances your existing eye shadows – once you’ve tried it, you’ll never want to live without it!"

Well, this is a toughie for me, because this is universally applauded as the BEST THING EVER by EVERYONE, but sadly it's not the best one i've used by far. There are great things about it. As you can see, this isn't the original version, but the tinted version, and for the purpose of evening out lids and giving you a nice base to apply shadow too, it's totally awesome, and saves you having to apply a nude eyeshadow on top. It also helps the colour of your eyeshadow appear more vibrant, 

On the downside, it only keeps eyeshadow uncreased and bright on my lids for about four hours, and I tend to need it to last a lot longer. If this is being used for a normal work day though, i'd say it'll do the trick and then some. 

This is available from department store stockists and stand alone boutiques across the country, or you can pick it up online for the price of £15 here at Beauty Bay

Benefit Stay Don't Stray Primer

So this is a different type of product, or at least, it is dressed as one, lets see what they say.....

"This dual-action power primer works 360° around the eyes to make concealers AND eyeshadows STAY PUT. Concealers don’t crease, eyeshadows stay vibrant and true…you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it!

Comes in a neutral nude shade that is universally flattering and a custom airless pump that is sooo easy to use - just a dab'll do ya! Sodium Hyaluronate hydrates and fills in fine lines. Vitamins C & E help fight signs of aging."

The idea of using eyeshadow primer under the eye isn't actually a new one, i've been using various ones under my eyes for years, but this is the first one i've seen on the market that actually shows people that it's an option for them to use it for this pretty wonderful method. For more info on how to do this see the wonderful Gossmakeupartist below

How to stop your concealer creasing - Goss Make Up Artist - You Tube

The thing about this primer is, for an eyeshadow primer, I don't actually find it 'that' great, it doesn't keep things vibrant for more than four hours and there is significant creasing in that time. Also, being picky, the amount of product it spurts out is very hard to control and for that price, you want to be keeping every ml you can safe! It's other purpose, however, is something it DOES awesomely at, and it is light and airy enough to place under corrector and concealer to keep it locked down on there without it creasing and making you look scary and ancient. 

This is available again, at all department stores and stand alone Benefit boutiques, as well as online. Find it here at John Lewis for £20.50

Too Faced Shadow Insurance

Lets have the blurb then kids...

"What It Is: 

Your full coverage insurance policy against all fading, creasing and smudging. Our skin-soothing formula evens out skin tone and smoothes fine lines to create a perfect canvas for shadows. Color is intensified and locked down until you take it off. 

More To Love: 

• Unique Binders: Volatiles lock down eye shadow pigments for amazingly long wear. 
• Versatility: Use with powder or cream eye shadow products. 
• Fights Fading: Anti-creasing formula holds eye products in place by securing a barrier between the oils of your skin and your makeup. 
• Concentrated: The size of a rain drop covers the entire lid."

This is another of the MEGA HYPE eyeshadow primers, and one that I made a point of scouring shops high and low for because I thought it was going to be a life changer. Firstly, the blurb, it's winning me over right now, even though I have actually used it and it's not changed my life much at all. So lets answer its claims one by one - 

Unique Binders - It does make eyeshadow last longer, this is indeed true, but it's not as vibrant as other primers results, and it went patchy on me after a few hours. 

Versatility - Yeah, well, you can't really argue with that, but most people do use cream shadows as primers anyway, so i'm not sure why this is a good feature.

Fights Fading - Well, it does for a bit, given that my eyelids could fade anything within twenty minutes, so three or so hours will do for me, but I do get creasing and fading and my eyelid isn't evened out particularly

Concentrated - Yeah, it is, but more of these things are so...y'know, shrug.

So again, it doesn't actually achieve on my mega oily lids what it should. If you don't have mega oily hooded lids this could probably do the trick totally, but for me, it was a bit of a fail given what I needed from it.

To purchase, you can pop into a flagship Boots store, or go to good old ASOS here and get it for £17.00

Lime Crime Eyeshadow Helper

BLURB!!!!

"Specifically formulated to withstand heat, moisture and oily eyelids.  Intensifies eye shadow colour, is moisture resistant and prevents creasing.  apply thinly with fingertip, remove using a waterproof eye makeup remover."

Short and sweet! So these claims are ones that get me VERY excited. Waterproof is something that makes me excited, as does the word 'Intensify'. So does it perform???

Kind of! Not totally. It's loved by many many make up addicts, and I do love it myself, and it's cheaper and good value, but it's not quite the dream it claims to be, for me anyway.

It does keep eyeshadow on, it does make it water resistant, and it does make colour pop. However it does also crease, and it can stay sticky for a long time, and despite Lime Crime instructing you to put your eyeshadow on it whilst it's wet, but when i've tried that i've ended up with messy brushes and creases everywhere, and also, my eyelids sticking to my browbone.

Thats not to say this isn't a good product. It is. I know Lime Crime have had much controversy surrounding the owner of the company, but frankly, a good product is a good product, especially when it's cheaper! (I sound so soulless, I generally am not, but I think mistakes in life can be made and I REALLY like their lipstick). 

If you'd like to line the pockets of Lime Crime, you can find this product on Love Make Up here for £13

Nars Pro Prime Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base

Go on Nars..talk at us about stuff....

"No smudging, creasing or caking. This lightweight eye primer is the insider trick of the trade, creating a seamless canvas that keeps cream and powder color looking brilliant, fresh and just-applied all day long. A polymer and mineral-powder blend establishes a firm grip on color ensuring hours and hours of gorgeous wear. Fortified with a special deep-sea extract and an antioxidant rice extract, the Smudge Proof Eyeshadow Base dries on contact and keeps the delicate eyelid smooth and prepared for color application."

You want results??? THIS IS THE GUY. Seriously, nothing I have EVER used comes close to the results that this gives me. I am on my third tube and I love it so much. It makes colour vibrant as it should be, it does not crease, it does not budge, and it does not fade! You can splash your face with water and it'll stick. It really is THAT awesome. 

MUA Pro Base Eye Primer

What's up MUA? 

"If you’ve never used an Eye Primer before, now is the time to invest. Basically, it smoothes the eye lid ready for eye shadow to be applied. It also creates a base, helping the eye shadow last all night long - no more creases! You can sleep all day and party all night with the help of the Eye Primer from MUA, just pop it on the top of your eye lid, pat it in gently and apply your eye shadow directly on top of it."

To finish off i've gone with something for you girls on a budget out there who cannot afford to be spending the best part of twenty quid on keeping your eyeshadow on. MUA is a brand I adore, they give you options for an amazingly cheap price, and they're all pretty effective, and what more could you ask for really?? NOT A LOT.

Does this work? Yeah, it does. It's not impeccable, it doesn't keep eyeshadow crease free ALL day, but for a good part of the day, around the same amount as the benefit primer does, and it gives you a nice smooth base to work with as long as you let your eye dry down before you apply the make up, otherwise you end up with creases. It does the trick though, and the best bit? See below...

You can purchase this Pro Base Eye Primer for the CRACKING price of £2.50 from any Superdrug, or direct from MUA's website HERE

Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed my primer run down. Please feel free to give feedback if you think i've been wrong! 

Review - Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Dragon Lady

Nars Dragon Lady Velvet Matte Lip Pencil

I am a lover of Nars. A big lover. However, I have never been able to get on with red lipstick. No matter how many I bought, they NEVER looked right. I had always wanted it to suit me due to my passions for Robert Smith and Courtney Love, in the early nineties this is (although I still love Robert with all my heart). 

Robert Smith. How I adore thee...

Courtney Love, back then, when I wanted to look like her 

Kat Bjelland, from Babes In Toyland

Miki Berenyi, from Lush

As an aside, before you think i'm one of those revisionist dickheads who are running around trying to look like the early nineties. I'm not, I was there at the time, at the gigs, and I used to dress like that at the time. If I did it again, I would feel slightly tragic. Not that that time wasn't AMAZING, but come on, if we don't move forward and keep relishing in the early nineties....what's the point in this generation.

Sorry....back to the review. 

So, this is what the Nars website has to say....

The application of a lipstick combined with the convenience of a pencil in a jumbo crayon design. Lips are instantly saturated with rich pigments and a velvety matte finish. The long lasting, non-drying formula is enriched with emollients for a creamy texture, while a combination of unique silicones ensures long-lasting, seamless color for hours. Use for lining, all-over lip color, or pairing with another lip product.

And the results are, it does what it says on the tin!! You get opaque, velvet matte coverage in one pass, it looks...delcious. This is the BEST red I have ever put on my face, it's amazing, AMAZING. It's almost neon it's so bright. It's the most blue red i've seen, so it makes my very very yellow teeth look less yellow (my teeth btw, are APPALLING, and my budge to visit the dentist to get some confidence currently stands at £0.50). 

So my application method is using one of my beloved Sleek Eau La La multi use pencils in Rouge - £4.99 from here to give a crisp line, because the Nars pencil is particularly thick so hard to get definition with. I then filled in with the Dragon Lady, and gave some 3D sculpture with Nars Venom around the edges. See the results below....

My lips, my sofa, and my H&M Kids jumper. 

As for long wear. Well, it dries to a powder finish, one that you can't blot and powder etc like I generally do when I want long wear. However, you CAN use Lipcote (£3.79 from Feelunique) over it and it works an absolute treat. I can eat, drink, and do whatever for about five hours and it looks great. So yes, I highly recommend Dragon Lady. It makes happy happen.

If you want to make happy happen. You can buy Nars Dragon Lady from the Nars Website here for £17.50 or from ASOS here for the same price. 

NARS MAKE UP MASTERCLASS AT LIBERTY

So today I attended a 'make up masterclass' in the salubrious surroundings of Liberty, which is my favourite shop of all time. You can find me there at least once a week...actually last week in fact, at Vogues fashion night out where I witnessed the most useless dj ever. It's always a bugbear to watch someone you know is getting paid hundreds on exceptionally expensive equipment who can't even press play particularly well, but thinks dancing around in 'clothes' with 'hair' is just as good. Argh!

Ahem. Anyways, I decided to take part in this masterclass that had been sold to me as a chance to experience one of the top make up artists from NARS doing a virtual one on one class teaching me to create a personalised 'best' look for my features, face shape etc etc. It was a £50 deposit which was redeemable against purchases made on the day, which seemed an okay kind of deal, so I was rather excited about the whole shebang!

Sadly, the class wasn't quite what it was sold as. I turned up and was seated in a beautiful room with eleven other women and six make up artists and a rather stunning array of champagne (which I couldn't drink because of antibiotics) and cupcakes and sandwiches. That was a good a start as any. I got even more excited as I was positioned in front of the below item.

The item above is not available to buy from stores, even the make up artists were gasping over it as it's a very expensive bit of kit that only the artists can purchase, and most hadn't got that much spare cash yet! As you can see, it contains some of the best single and double eyeshadows. Nightclubbing, Night Flight, Lulu, China Blue, there's pandora in there, and the famous Laguna bronzer. It's a veritable FEAST of products to play with!

Anyways, when I glanced towards the 'top NARS make up artist', it turned out to be a man that had served me on the counter of Prescriptives in House of Fraser only seven months ago, and he was rude, moody and abrasive the entire time, as I was having a custom blend made, which I was certain was the wrong colour and texture. I remember I informed him, but he shrugged and said 'take it home and return it if its wrong'. Of course, the counter had disappeared the next week as Prescriptives had shut their counters down. Thanks! So he can't have been long with NARS frankly, and I didn't feel particularly enamoured by this fact.

Then onto the lesson, we were provided with endless bigging up of the NARS products, which was fine, I expected that, and we were told to apply primer, and a pore refiner, which did seem to work beautifully. Then we were told to apply either the Sheer Matte or Sheer Glow foundation (me in Mont Blanc) with our fingers to the center part of our faces and blend outwards, as they don't believe in foundation brushes as the higher coverage covers the 'natural beauty of your skin'. I did my best, and was then handed the Duo Concealer to cover any blemishes/red areas. I ended up feeling rather cakey and scrappy looking. The artists fussed around trying to fix me, but I have to admit, I need a brush, the foundation didn't cover enough for me to just 'press' it in, and the concealer didn't conceal the redness sadly. Then I was told to apply loose powder with a cotton pad and press it in, then dust the loose with the sparse and extremely soft powder brush. So far so....okay-ish.

The next techniques, one of which I really did find interesting, was the use of the Multiples in Malibu and Copacabana. I had always wondered how you used them at all, and for this, they used Malibu directly under the cheekbones, and blended upwards, and then the lighter Copacabana was applied on the cheekbone and the browbone and blended. It created some great dimensions and contouring of the face. Then we were instructed to bronze our faces in a number three motion, from brow bone to under the cheekbone to the jawline in Laguna.

Then it was time for the eyes, all we were told was to take a light base colour to apply all over. Then a darker colour, of which I chose Nightclubbing, a dense dark bronze with a black base and gold pearl. They instructed us to apply it to the socket line, then to blend it with a slightly lighter shadow to take the harsh edge. It wasn't particularly rocket science. Then we were told to use some eyeliner, with a flat lining brush and then some pretty lacklustre mascara.

Last of all I used a beautiful lipgloss in the shade Babe

I did love the shade, as it's virtually the same as my current insane shade of orange hair. However, when I left I realised I'd learnt virtually nothing, and now had to spend £50 on products, which is pretty easy in NARS, but I'd already had a splurge two weeks back so I felt I had to rather than waste the money on nothing.

One wonderful thing that did happen was that one of the make up artists took me to the side and asked whether I was in fact a make up artist there to thieve techniques. She thought I had good skills! I'm such a loser, but it made me happy certainly!

So, in summary. If you know NOTHING about make up, then I would heartily recommend this class, but if you're more au fait with the tools you need to use, and how to do a smoky eye (very basic one at that) and how to contour a cheek, you'll find yourself a little frustrated. However, I have been told that there will be a class themed with the 'Night' eyeshadows, which i'm a huge fan of, so I may consider that if I need to buy some NARS items anyway.

However, to cheer me up I did buy some wonderful stuff from the Topshop Unique A/W 2010 that dropped this week. I LIKE SHORT SHORTS!!!