Battle of the Brands: Eyeshadow Primer
On the search for the best eyeshadow primer, we took three of the most popular and put them to the test for the Battle of the Brands: Eyeshadow Primer. Up to battle is Too Faced Shadow Insurance, Lancome Aquatique Eye Color Base, and Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion.
Shadow Insurance and Primer Potion are really popular among makeup artists, and Aquatique is underrated and highly worthy (it’s Our Cosmetic Bag worthy!) which is why we brought it to the ring. The test went a little something like this. Each eyeshadow primer went against another separately, for a total of three different tests, and we recorded every little detail in order to make a fair call.
Battle: Lancome Aquatique vs Urban Decay Primer Potion
The consistencies of these two primers are definitely different. Lancome’s feels almost like a light clay and actually gave my lid coverage, making it one solid color while Urban Decay’s has a much creamier feel, very similar to a body lotion and dried clear. We’ll see if those factors effect the performance in any way.
So I applied the appropriate amount to both eyes, then grabbed a few MAC eye shadows and did the same look on both eyes to make everything fair. At times, I dust a small amount of face powder over eye base for extra protection against creasing but this time I went straight for the shadow. At first glance, the amount of pigment that showed up was exactly the same but this battle is all about the details so when I got a little closer I noticed the Urban Decay side was slightly lighter than the Lancome side, which told me that the Lancome eye primer brought the shadows closer to the color in the pan. We still had to see how they both lasted throughout the day to pick a winner.
Around mid-day I didn’t see any creasing on the Lancome side, nor did I see any on the Urban Decay side. However, I did see the beginning signs of creasing on the UD side. In the crease, the pigment was starting to lighten up (not disappear or gather, which was new to me) ever so slightly so I would be keeping my eye on that for the remainder of the day.
At the end of the day, when I would normally touch up before heading out, that threat of creasing was still present. Again, the shadow wasn’t gathering and making that horrendous bump in my crease but instead the shadow in the crease was not staying so I had an area with lighter pigment than the rest. It was still there, and this was the only difference between the two. The Lancome side was still staying strong, as was UD with this exception. Because I not only had to touch up, but edit as well on the UD side, Lancome won this round.
Battle: Urban Decay Primer Potion vs Too Faced Shadow Insurance
Now let’s see how Urban Decay’s Primer Potion lives up to the Too Faced Shadow Insurance since the consistencies of these two are fairly similar. I took out the wand from the Primer Potion and dabbed it on my lid, then blended it in with my finger until it was evenly spread. For the other eye, I squeezed a bit of Shadow Insurance on to the back of my hand and also applied it with my finger and noticed that it took longer than the Primer Potion to dry, causing me to tilt my head back to avoid allowing it to settle in my crease while it was drying. Both have a slight tint in them that could be described as skin tone (just not my skin tone) and dried clear. This time, I used just one shade of NYX eye shadow on both lids and applied it from lid to brow bone. I then applied the bronzer I was wearing on my face with a blending brush to give my eyes a subtle contour. I closely examined both eyes and the amount of pigment showing was exactly the same. So far, these two primers are neck in neck!
I checked up on them around noon, and the Urban Decay eye was repeating the pattern as the last battle– there was a very slight hint of creasing, in which the shadow was getting lighter in the crease (but not gathering). The Too Faced eye was absolutely perfect and looked exactly as it did when I applied the makeup that morning.
And by the end of the day, the Primer Potion side looked as it did the last time and I had a lightened area around my crease where the shadow was disappearing. The Shadow Insurance side was still going strong, so I guess that means we have our winner for this round!
Battle: Too Faced Shadow Insurance vs Lancome Aquatique
Since Urban Decay did not win either of their battles, it’s now down to Too Faced and Lancome. With very different approaches to eye shadow base, one coming in a pot with a much thicker and drier consistency and one coming in a tube with a thinner and slicker consistency I thought this would be an interesting battle.
This time around, to make things really interesting I applied the two different products to one eyelid each and then over them both did a smokey eye, full with eye liner on top and bottom. Since I was doing a smokey look, I also applied the primers to the bottom lid with a concealer brush. Applying the Shadow Insurance was slightly easier than the Aquatique on this area because of its watery consistency. It simply glided along and dried clear, while Lancome’s I had to do short strokes and had a light color to it (making my eye look very strange, but it was going to be covered with pigmented products so I wasn’t concerned). Again, this time I had to wait with my head tilted back in order to allow the Too Faced product to dry without creasing.
I went back to MAC shadows this time and did a smokey look using blacks with purple undertones. I purposely chose dark colors that I would be layering in order to really test the two survivors of this battle. I started with the highlight beneath my brow bone and in the corners of my eyes. It was at this time that I noticed I hadn’t waited (with my head tilted back) quite long enough, because the moment I put the highlight color on the Too Faced eye I saw a hint of creasing already. Isn’t that the purpose of an eye shadow base, to prevent creasing? I smudged it a bit with a concealer brush and continued with my look. I closely compared both completed eyes and if I had to say that one was more pigmented than the other, Lancome would be in the lead but only by a single spec of shimmer. It would hardly be noticeable had I not had my face nearly pressed against the mirror to get a close enough look.
Needless to say, I didn’t go in public during the day with such a heavy eye (a smokey eye can definitely be pulled off in daylight, but not the way I packed this shadow on), so I checked on them around lunch time and the Lancome side was perfect. The Too Faced side was starting to give me problems again in the area I had to smudge earlier, but the area was small and it wasn’t quite at the point of creasing so I decided I would just check on it later.
When I did check on my eyes later, the Too Faced eye did, in fact, begin to crease after about eight hours of wear and with a dark eye like the one I was wearing, that is not good news. The Lancome eye was holding on strong to the shadow and I didn’t see any signs of creasing. So it seems the trick is to get it right when applying the Shadow Insurance, otherwise you’ll run into problems later in the day.
Seeing that Lancome Aquatique didn’t cause me any problems or heartache, it will remain in Our Cosmetic Bag and is the winner of our first Battle of the Brands!
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